I had a math teacher in, I believe, the ninth grade, who would occasionally refer to a laggard student as "a carbuncle on the buttocks of humanity." This would no longer be acceptable, of course, but the phrase has been recurring to me with some frequency recently, in connection with our president. Is Donald Trump "a carbuncle on the buttocks of humanity"? I'm thinking the answer is yes. His most recent tweeting, suggesting that sitting members of Congress should return to - where? - reinforces the concept that he is a capacious reservoir for the most evil and vile sediment of American history. I do have a hopeful thought. Perhaps, if we can lance this festering boil of pus, the larger body politic will actually find itself drained of at least some of the racist, sexist, misogynistic venom that he has helped to bring to the surface. Undoubtedly further therapeutic interventions will be required, and perhaps, as with third stage syphilis, it is simply too late. But I continue to have some hope.
See also Narcissism and Dictatorship and What Can Pierre Laval Tell Us About Donald Trump?
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