Madman.

The headline screamed the state of affairs at the highest level.

“Americans disapprove of his handling of the situation with Iran by 66 percent to 33 percent. His rating on the economy has declined by seven points, to 34 percent, as gas prices have spiked. His approval rating on inflation has fallen five points in that time to 27 percent and his lowest rating comes on perceptions of his handling of the general cost of living, with 23 percent approving vs. 76 percent disapproving.” Washington Post, May 3, 2026

How did we get here when we didn’t have to be here?

We could have stopped him in November 2024. The evidence was right in front of us.

I was reminded of a New York Times report headlined, “Judge Unseals New Evidence in Federal Election Case Against Trump.”

The reporters Alan Feuer and Charlie Savage described the legal brief, which was unsealed on October 2, 2024, just a month before the election.

The brief was described as sprawling, using other adjectives such as extensive, expansive, voluminous, and sweeping.

I’m thinking epic.

The special counsel at the time, Jack Smith, laid out his case in the unsealed brief explaining why Trump “is not immune from prosecution on federal charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election.”

Feuer and Savage wrote that this new information “adds new details to the already extensive public record of how Mr. Trump lost the race but attempted nonetheless to cling to power.”

Back in 2024, I remember how excited I was when the news confirming that Trump is a crook came in. 

The reality back then, however, was that Trump’s legion of cultist succulents, who suck in too much bullshit to survive, as well as those who only want power and could not care less that Trump is a danger to himself, them, and this nation, as long as they have the power to transform the nation to their specifications.

In the brief, there is something about a social media post that Trump sent on January 6, 2021 (the closest we’ve come to the overthrow of this nation since at least the Civil War).

He told supporters his Vice President, Mike Pence, had “let them all down.”

Smith argued that the post was an unofficial act by a loser (my word, not his) rather than an official act that might qualify for immunity under the (can I say this word bullshit?) ruling from the right-wing Supreme Court.

But this isn’t the best part of the story.

“After Mr. Trump’s Twitter post focused the enraged mob’s attention on harming Mr. Pence, and the Secret Service took the vice president to a secure location, an aide rushed into the dining room off the Oval Office where Mr. Trump was watching television.

The aide alerted him to the developing situation, in the hope that Mr. Trump would then take action to ensure Mr. Pence’s safety.

Instead, Mr. Trump looked at the aide and said only, “So what?” according to grand jury…”

Tell me that the Orange Man is not a Madman.

And you know, the best part is that no one cared, again. 

A MAGA judge killed the resulting legal actions.

The voters said no way are they going to vote for a Black-Indian woman for President.

And half of this country would go on to vote for this Madman.

A Madman who, when faced with the prospect of his life falling apart at the seams and dark consequences looming, is pretty much willing to do more than knock down the social guardrails of civility. 

Hell, crash, burn, and pulverize them. Make sure there’s no trace of them. Ever.

In November of 2024, everyone knew this.

I mean, even the so-called low-information voters.

You know, those people who are not interested in issues, who never cared about their country other than all the patriotic symbolism, and the last time they saw a television newscast, read a newspaper, or visited a news site was when they wanted the sports scores or maybe to find out what’s trending in fashion or when the latest reality show is streaming.

Every time I think about how we, as a nation, could have prevented this man from being elected President of the United States of America, I stop trying to understand it.

I’ve written on it in The Cult of Hate.

There are countless other similar articles, including The ‘Shared Psychosis’ of Donald Trump and His Loyalists, Can Red-Baiting Save Trump’s Flailing Campaign?, What too many Republicans still don’t understand about Donald Trump’s agenda, and Trump’s Old News.

And yet, his acolytes, his subservient ground-scratchers, could not care less.

Throw so much excrement, mud, dirt, manure, the kitchen sink, and the bathroom toilet at facts and truths, and you’ll never be able to find them, so you’ll give up and move on.

The chickens are coming to roost this November, 2026, or not.

So, we are faced with another decision for this election.

Banish the acolytes of Trump and the GOP from Congress. Elect a counterweight to them who will stop him for the next two years, or not. 

No matter how often I tell myself that maybe I’m just too obsessed with this, that the sane people will see through all of this and conclude what I did, which is that we need to stop this Madman, but won’t.

Despite all the bad economic news, the mounting evidence that he is a grifter, the broken promises, the cruelty of his policies…

Study American history. The clues are all there.

Trump is a Madman.

As American as apple pie.