General Discussion

to manipulate them and develop them into his cult members.

We've all met and known bigots , and probably had them within our own families, but until he gave them permission to be and act out on their own ugliness, no one until 45/47 had been able to rise to the presidency. There have been many like him before, but no one ever became POTUS. There was George Wallace the racist and Charles Lindbergh the Nazi, but they didn't live in the period in America that 45/47 found himself in, in which it was rich with opportunities to exploit the shallow minds of those enamored by the cult of personalities like the Kardashians (famous for being famous) and their ilk. And even trump, who had achieved notoriety for his putative real estate "empire", never quite attained much status outside of NYC until he went on television and supposedly played the part of a flamboyant and savvy corporate mogul to the slack-jawed viewers who believed what they saw on a scripted television series. It says more about the American population at large than it could ever say about the man himself. He caught the American zeitgeist of the times and managed to get himself into the WH (whether it was legitimate or not). TWICE. That does seem to suggest a 'considerable talent'.