Circling the Drain

The brash boy from Queens thought he finally had it all.

Despite the best efforts of Louise Sunshine, New York society never accepted the self-regarding young man from the Outer Boroughs. The dinner invitations he wanted did not come. And so he gave up. Eventually he found Jeffrey Epstein, who may have been his only real friend in town.

He went to Washington, and the permanent government there also rejected him. But he had his own club in Mar-a-Lago, and he has always seemed happy and comfortable there. 

Still, there was something missing. The adoration of inferiors could not replace the affirmation of peers. But then there was Vladimir Putin, and later others like MBS, and they finally gave him what he wanted but never had before.

Now I think he is terrified they may drop him as his power slips away. Even he must be aware that he is circling the drain.

I don't think he'll wind up like Mussolini, hanging by his feet at a gas station in Milan. But I think he's facing a future where he will no longer be in the club of strongmen. He will be alone once again. Except for his flunkies.

Trump does not care about the little people who wave signs in the street. But it seems they will have the last laugh.

(If you read this early Times profile of the Donald, remember that he is not Swedish and he did not graduate first in his class at Penn.)

See also Somotomo, Little Karl. The 800-Pound Gorilla in the Oval Office.