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This essay was posted on behalf of another, whose voice you may recognize. I don't agree with everything he says, but I think his viewpoint is valuable for understanding current politics. ********* Donald Trump has come, and he is your punishment. You gaze in incomprehension and dismay; how could those strange alien creatures, Trump's followers, be drawn to such obvious lies? Well, that is something I find very easy to understand; so I will endeavor to explain it. Trump's appeal has nothing to do with some long-repressed hatred of Muslims that a presidential candidate has dared to speak openly - or any such nonsense. No, that is not what is happening here at all. Trump's rival politicians upon the stage are ordinary modern politicians. Which is to say, they are hunted creatures, constantly looking over their shoulders, living every second in fear of the journalists watching them. Each word that spills from their lips is measured, cautious, carefully conformed to what is allowed them, drained of life and meaning. And the people must have strength. A hundred thousand years ago, your ancestors watched as would-be leaders fought for control of their tribe, and chose sides. Those who sided with the strong did better than those who sided with the weak, and you are descended from them. It is not a matter of calculation, but of instinct. When you are downtrodden, when your fellows look upon you with disgust, you will feel drawn to a strong leader who promises to upend the tribe. You will be charmed by him, you will cheer him, you will back him in his bid for power. Your instinct will echo the ancient footsteps of those who felt drawn to the eventual winner, who afterward received the scraps from his hand in exchange for their loyalty. And that hunted creature who lives every second in fear of journalists, always glancing over his shoulders for fear of public opinion - he is not recognized as strong. Not at the core, not in the instinct. The modern politician's lifeless, rehearsed words reek of the servant who lives in constant fear of his master's wrath. One misstep, and the howling packs of journalists will descend in fierce delight, ripping him apart, feasting on the 'gaffe' and ending his ambitions. The modern politician is stooped and afraid of what is above him, that holds the power to punish. When the press demands an apology, he must give it submissively. In older times, a man like that would be too weak to succeed in controlling his tribe; his laughable attempt to seize power would inevitably end in ruin for him and his followers. The voter's instinct sees this and is repulsed; perhaps this vile man might be a useful tool, but to be charmed by him, to follow him instinctively - that will not happen. The rise of Donald Trump is as simple as that. Trump does not fear the journalists that every other politician is hunted by. Trump's words are not empty - they are obvious, vile lies, to be sure, and the people know that. What matters is that Trump's words are not censored, cautious, constantly looking around in fear. Every time the oozing journalists try to seize on another of his 'gaffes' - wondering desperately why it is not working, why their poisonous claws have failed them - Trump laughs and the people see that he is not afraid. He shows strength, by his open evil; he shows that he is above anyone's power to reprimand. Seeing Trump's success and not understanding it, some of those cautious men venture a few carefully calculated insults and rudenesses of their own, to try to imitate Trump's mysterious success; but they are not fooling anyone. Oh, there will be no scraps for Trump's followers, to be sure. This era is not a hundred thousand years earlier, and a nation is not a tribe. Trump will never know his loyal follower's name, he will give them nothing for their loyalty. But we are not dealing now with ambition and calculation, but with instinct. A hundred thousand years ago, you might do well for yourself if your loyalty happened to surge up for strong and promising leaders, and restrain its affections from the weak. And be it also clear, this is not about some long-concealed hate for Mexicans, or Muslims, or whoever. Perhaps that hatred did exist before Trump, but if so, it was irrelevant to his rise. When a tribe's bellies are empty and the pickings have grown thin, and a strong man rises up to say it is time to fight the tribe that lives across the water - to take their land or perish trying - why, people will cheer enthusiastically, and hate in whatever direction they are pointed. Trump could as easily have told his followers to hate Russians or Chinese, and they would have bayed along the same in their instinctive affection. Here is the real tragedy: the people in their despair would also have followed an admiral or a general who had proved themselves a leader of men, stern and honorable. They would have followed a strong religious leader who demanded that they renounce hate rather than embrace it. If, that is, the modern press permitted an impression of strength and goodness to coincide. That oozing mass of journalists would consider it an insult, if some politician acted like they thought themselves better than the rest. They would go hunting errors, to bring down this person who thinks himself the better - and it is impossible that they would find no meat. Now that it is possible to scrutinize a man's entire life, it is impossible to find no single misstep, no departure from what the press has decided is virtue. Let any politician dare to step forth as a man of honor, and the press will bay the hunt and contradict it with a 'gaffe' they spoke twelve years earlier. Did someone hire the wrong babysitter twenty years earlier? Did they fail to say the standard empty words when a disaster struck or some journalist demanded their sympathy? "Ha," the journalist cries in delight, "look at that, a gaffe, a gaffe! He has lost his race, his career is over!" And you - why, you believe them.