The sensational, conspiracy, dirty tricks and plot of the most gripping game of thrones in America's modern history is best captured by two images.
The first is from Donald Trump’s extravagant third wedding at his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2005: The junior senator from New York, glowing in gold silk and pearls, smiles up at the mogul in white tie with genuine delight as he says something that cracks up Hillary, Bill and Trump’s bejeweled bride, Melania. Donald and Hillary look “just like teenagers in love” in the flashbulb moment.
The second is the latest NY Magazine with Barbara Kruger's Trump “Loser” Cover. The cover features a close-up, black-and-white photo of the Republican presidential candidate with a red banner reading “LOSER” plastered across it. Nowhere is his name mentioned. It’s the perfect insult for a candidate who has made the word his trademark, hurling it at nearly every person, place and thing that dares criticize or disagree with him. In the same time Trump is one of the most famous people alive now, and what he wants to do with that fame is unclear.
The 2016 election cycle has cast into relief the widespread distrust that many communities feel for government. Government is increasingly seen as unresponsive, unaccountable, and prone to capture and, in many cases, rightly so. America is emerging as racially blended, immigrant, multinational, multicultural and multilingual a diversity that is ever more central to its political identity. We are not talking here about trends, but profound demographic changes accompanied by a dramatic shift in values.
Trump has already changed America, not much for the better. He is America’s existential threat. On Tuesday, the American citizens has the obligation to defend themselves.