The case against esoteric Trumpism

The only way people with a certain kind of dignity or intelligence can convince themselves that Trump would make a worthy president is through an elaborate form of self-delusion

Trump in the abstract.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Image courtesy Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

"But it's not about Donald Trump."

This sentence brought me up short the first half-dozen times I heard it come out of the mouth of someone smart who was implausibly but passionately arguing that I should support Donald Trump. It is now very familiar. It is the response I got every time I pointed out that Donald Trump is not reliable, has a wicked character, is enslaved to his passions, and is kind of stupid. Now I recognize this sentence for what it is. "But it's not about Donald Trump" is the verbal initiation into what I call the esoteric case for Trump. It comes in many forms, but they all share a basic outline.

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.