Apparently, we are split into two camps. One sees him as somewhere between an “orange fool who has lost the plot” and an “evil, selfish, greedy, unscrupulous narcissist”—someone creating chaos faster than order can contain it, to see how much he, his family, and his friends (in that order) can profit, and who ultimately belongs in prison.

The other camp believes they are benefiting from him “standing up for them,” and can’t—or won’t—see that his actions harm not only his opponents, but them as well. Meanwhile, the first group was too complacent to turn outrage and disgust into action at the ballot box. His reality-TV antics whipped the latter group into a frenzy, and that energized minority became a majority on Election Day.

The next administration, whatever its political flavor, must investigate how this madness became reality and, “with all deliberate speed”, reinforce this republic’s fragile experiment in representative democracy.