Trump No Trump

Fuller Brush Salesman (New England Historical Society)

You can’t even write the man's name without feeling not only exasperation, but a deadening boredom and tedium. It’s like the same jack in the box. In his recent speech there was a denial of the obvious intent of the infamous phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and an assertion that presidents can instantaneously declassify any documents they want. One lie followed the next. Is that The Art of the Deal? The thing about salesmen is they have to be unrelenting and unquestioning advocates of their product. This is particularly true if you're selling snake oil. The pitch is what is all important. There are ways and ways to say an election is "rigged and stolen." Some pitchers could never get away with it. Fuller Brushes were once epitomized the lot of the door to door salesman items and there were undoubtedly famous purveyors who broke all the records. What is terrifying about Trump is that his speech is an incantation that lulls you into a state of narcotic state of belief--until you wake yourself up to remember both the messenger and the message. 

read "Trumpty Dumpty's Great Fall" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star

and listen to "Sympathy For the Devil"by The Rolling Stones