I haven’t said much about Trump. What is there to say, really? He’s about what I expected to get after America refused for four decades to deal with its problems.

While it isn’t exactly predictable in its particulars, the general outline is not something unexpected. “I told you so” doesn’t really help though it’s fun to say. As the nominal “left” party blamed all its difficulties on the real left and all true political choices melted away, America chose rightward soft fascism as the default.

Trump is just a continuation of existing trends, not some outré norm-breaker, and he is very much in line with most of American history.

We are getting a version of what could have happened during the 1930s, when for the most part better decisions (after much resistance then too) were made.

No, no, nitpickers, it’s not a repeat of the 1930s. But there are certain obvious resonances.