At least it was possible to disguise Joe Biden’s senescence.
asserted
it → disguise → senescence
The old boy could be wheeled out to smile and read a few stumbling lines while the decisions were apparently made by his wife, his staff and a coterie of senior Democrats.
uncertain
decisions → wheel → Democrats
He seems determined to broadcast his instability as widely as possible, using his own social media platform – and thereby, incidentally, boosting his private income.
asserted
He → seem → income
Far from being controlled by others, he has an uncanny ability to make previously decent and respectable politicians jump to his command.
asserted
politicians → control → command
Have American voters finally had enough of his antics?
asserted
voters → have → antics
I think so.
asserted
I → think → ?
Travelling through the US Midwest last week, I came across a sense of weary exasperation, not only about Trump’s tariff policies, which badly impact the states along the Canadian border, but over the grotesque freakshow behind them.
asserted
which → travel → them
There is still a MAGA base, but I am struck by how much smaller it has become.
asserted
it → be → ?
At a recent rally in Tennessee, he told the crowd: “I could say the stupidest things and you’d clap.”
uncertain
you → tell → things
Sure enough, the audience clapped.
asserted
audience → clap → ?
Commentators often underestimate the extent to which Trump’s vote was a protest against his unelectable opponents.
asserted
vote → underestimate → opponents
Yes, having made their choice, albeit in a hesitant way, his voters tried to justify it to themselves, talking up his achievements (which are real enough, especially on border control) and averting their eyes from his flaws.
asserted
which → make → flaws
There comes a point, though, when those flaws become impossible to ignore.
asserted
flaws → come → ?
The cruelty and stupidity of Trump’s online posts, the chaos of his trade policy, the brutish way he acts like a Russian ally, his apparent inability to distinguish between private interests and public role; the general sleaziness.
asserted
he → act → interests
Voters are set to give Trump’s candidates a whacking in the midterm elections on Tuesday; and I am afraid that the Democrats will draw the worst possible lesson, and will double down on the far-left posturing that played such a large role in enabling Trump in the first place.
asserted
that → set → place
Let’s start with online evidence of the president’s growing erraticism.
asserted
’s → let → erraticism
We might ignore the AI-generated images.
uncertain
We → ignore → images
He has posted pictures of himself riding a lion, having his features added to Mount Rushmore and as a Jesus-like figure.
asserted
features → post → figure
We might set aside his threats against opposition politicians.
uncertain
We → set → politicians
“Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL,” he announced when several Democrats reminded military personnel that they were not required to obey illegal orders.
asserted
they → arrest → orders
“SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOUR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL,” another post said.
asserted
post → say → LEVEL
“Punishable by DEATH!”
When he pronounces on foreign policy, though, that is not mere knockabout.
asserted
that → pronounce → policy
It has real-world consequences – of which the most immediate is to cheapen the American republic.
asserted
immediate → have → republic
Trump’s apocalyptic threats against Iran (“A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again”), would be bad enough had he actually been winning the war.
asserted
he → die → war
Set alongside his inability to force the straits, they made America look petty and vindictive.
asserted
America → Set → straits
His rage at not getting the Nobel Peace Prize persuaded the sycophants around him not to deal with the leader of the Venezuelan democratic opposition, who had won it instead.
asserted
who → get → it
He even threatened to start a war over Greenland apparently because he was upset at the Nobel Prize Committee.
asserted
he → threaten → Committee
Armies of sophists are on hand to explain, to reinterpret, to justify.
asserted
Armies → explain → hand
Still, there comes a point where the president’s craziness becomes impossible to ignore.
asserted
craziness → come → ?
My sense is that we have reached that point.
asserted
we → reach → point
According to Pew Research, Trump’s approval ratings are down to around 30 per cent.
uncertain
ratings → accord → cent
What has brought voters to this point?
asserted
What → bring → point
His tariffs have neither raised significant revenue nor led to any major reshoring of industry.
asserted
tariffs → raise → industry
Nor, indeed, did they deliver what Trump was bizarrely and ignorantly obsessed with, namely narrowing the trade deficit.
asserted
Trump → deliver → deficit
America has been running them without a break since 1975, and has outgrown the rest of us over that period.
asserted
America → run → period
By definition, a trade deficit must be matched by an investment surplus and vice versa.
asserted
deficit → match → surplus
When Trump demands both more investment in the US and a trade surplus – indeed, simultaneous surpluses with every other nation – he disqualifies himself from the conversation.
asserted
he → demand → conversation
But, as I say, he has a weird ability to make clever people behave stupidly, and no one around him dares point out that his approach is based on a misunderstanding.
asserted
approach → say → misunderstanding
In any case, even by his own test, the tariffs have failed.
asserted
tariffs → fail → test
A sharp drop in imports from China has been offset by a rise in imports from Mexico, Vietnam, Taiwan and elsewhere.
asserted
drop → offset → Mexico
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
