The triumph of egotism is not as you might imagine its willing admission but rather its flagrant denial. Trump and his sycophantic minions have proven the success of the posture. But before you or anyone else gets too enthusiastic about defeating this demonstrable display of engineering it is first wiser to recall the universality of the contamination.

To pretend for a moment that the self-absorption of Trump and his allies is any less prescriptive than the conduct of his opponents is narrow at best. The fact that Trump’s own shallowness and coarseness approach the necessity of whores and golden toilets is evidence enough that the argument has long surpassed gentility and refinement of any order. Instead his is a world of unabashed vulgarity to which his more successful soldiers like Giuliani and Pompeo have openly subscribed; and upon which his Wanna-bees like Cruz and Rubio persist to rely while employing logical subterfuge to shield their escape from braggadocio.

The resurrection of the American psyche to the more estimable semblance of altruism is the pinnacle upon which rests unadulterated thinking and genuine spirituality, not normally the hallmarks of either business or politics. Assuming as I do that that epiphany is not soon to transpire – and certainly not likely before next November – the road to Damascus is littered with nothing more natural than the Shit of the Dog – and just as elemental, just as revolting. Humanity though clouded with illusive and high-flying ambition is like all other natural productions cultivated by dung! Accordingly the strategy of defeat relies upon basics rather than ethereal proclamations.

The failure of the American dream is not the advent of Trump but only the reluctance to recognize his short-lived provocation which is as wistful as too much cheap chocolate sauce. The palate for Trump’s stimulation is waning – as evident if for no other reason by the perverse activity of the threatened Republican Party. The Republicans – like mongrel dogs who have tasted the blood of meat – are not about to abandon their dominion. The outrageous disputation of evidence and witnesses in a trial is but the most diminished illustration of the expiry of their rhetoric. The erstwhile habits of unseemly lies and preposterous denials have succeeded only to ventilate the wind that surrounds them.

Though the retail is that Trump knows what he’s doing – that somehow he of all others in history has mastered the impudence of failing intellect and incapacity – is of course an utter absurdity! Just as Trump is unwilling to admit his own inadequacy so too does he laughingly promote his ingenuity – usually on an Olympic scale! Given that everyone has acknowledged the elephant in the room – and the nature of the monarch’s nudity – the question isn’t an estimate of the fool but rather the foolishness of the estimate. The problem is not Trump – his biases, prejudices, vulgarities, pusillanimity and plain imbecility have existed long before in many others. What more importantly however hasn’t changed is the character of the masses. By a quirk of the Electoral College (a demon which has long been predicted in even the most inconsequential prep school debates) the crude violence of visceral inclination overtook the competing distillation.

I have not a shred of concern that Trump’s clown imitation is to endure – at least not at the behest of the voting populace which is all that will count. Meanwhile the Republicans – who have unwittingly succeeded to emasculate themselves of both purpose and authenticity – have a manifest interest in perpetuating their heinous sideshow to this on-going entertainment. It is worthwhile recalling as well that the putative attraction of mindless head-bobbers like Pence to the lowest orders of religious bias is no accident. There is a reason the fringe religious orders are on the periphery of popular sentiment.

This brings us back to the start; namely, deny the obvious. Inadequacy is a misfortune not a peril. The isolation of the Republicans to their corner of incongruity and unparalleled malfeasance – not to mention the mockery of supporting a clown – is something for which they should unequivocally be unforgiven. The contest lies not within the theories of democracy or civility but instead on the battlefield where bashing and cutthroat behaviour are the winning legacy. As Bette Midler in the movie “The First Wives Club” mockingly urged, “And world peace!”