Trump, soberly.

In my two years of writing this op-ed column, I have rarely spoken about President Donald Trump. I think if I were to read another takedown of the president, I would not be able to get through it, for there is rarely any new information, any new insults, or any new term that can be hurled at the man in the form of a list.

Two years ago, I was hired by Wrong Speak publishing to write a continuing op-ed column based on some written political and social observations with literally no boundaries. To Wrong Speak’s credit, I have written about art, culture, pumpkin curry, and a myriad of other topics with no editorial oversight concerning the subject of my pieces.

In the years of 2020-2023, my more political writing took aim at the excesses of the left, and during that timeline there was no shortage of opportunity to critique the woke movement and its sillier ideas. The woke was a clear threat to many of the positions I have as an artist, expressionist, sensualist, individualist, etc.

Even as I broadened my topics, still, very little mentioning of President Trump. Perhaps, I avoided the subject because there was already so much noise around him, and there existed an idea that everything had already been said, whatever the final verdict of his character. Too, there is this kind of belligerence of opinion–as though one can only either hate the man or love him as if taking part in a fever dream.

Trump Derangement Syndrome. When I first heard the term, not knowing its reference, I initially thought it referred to those who were deranged in their support of him. It was not long before I realized it was the drunkenness of those who were his most fervent detractors that had earned that coinage. Still, I believe the term, objectively, could have gone the other way, both ways, more or less equally.

I think it was avoiding that belligerence, avoiding the stigma of both sides, that kept him a practically unmentionable force, the elephant in the room of my political and social writing. I belonged to no camp, made no assumptions, and had family members and close friends on both sides of that derangement.

Perhaps I didn’t want to appear, or even worse, actually be a victim of targeted propaganda. I was well aware of the legacy media’s bias against Trump, and the ways in which besmirching his character could drive up ratings, appear virtuous, and was the correct thing to do from the perspective of polite, liberal society.

A society that, as a high school dropout, a transgressive writer, a rebel at heart, and an individual, I was never a part of. And I can also say, Trump, in many ways, was also charming. I found his rambling, off-the-cuff, unapologetic nature to be entertaining, refreshing, and invigorating. It is not that I had no qualms with his personality; mostly, I believed they were hyperbolic, overblown.

And then he was elected for his second term in office. A campaign during which he was repeatedly called a fascist, was shot, and stood trial in Federal Court. A campaign during which he made many promises to enact common sense, to end wars, expose governmental corruption of a pedophile ring (while also draining the D.C. proverbial swamp), to bring down grocery prices, to fix America where it was broken, and, as we know, all in all, to Make America Great Again.

To say that Trump has his head on a swivel would be a gross understatement. This second term feels like a whirlwind of his own derangement. I can be reminded that he promised common sense, but what he has delivered is abject, unpredictable chaos. Everything he interacts with, he turns into either a scandal, a hoax, or a battle cry.

He exhibits the behavior of a warrior who does not know the difference between a good fight and a bad one, a debater who doesn’t know a good argument from a bad one, and a humorist who has lost his sense of where the joke should begin or end.

Throughout that campaign, I also objected to the many times and ways in which Donald Trump was referred to as a Nazi (as he is quite literally not a National Socialist, not Hitler, etc.), but now must confront the ways in which he has not assuaged the authoritarian concerns of many, but appears to only lean into them.

His usage and referencing of the military could be described as more than just trigger-happy. His handling of the Epstein files clearly raises more questions than it answers. His apparent takeover and effort to rename the Lincoln Center after his wife suggest a deeper, crucial insertion into the arts and culture of American life.

His lack of leadership concerning the removal of illegal immigrants and the excesses of that operation under ICE is more than concerning. His inability to give a speech, anywhere, under any circumstance, without mentioning “sleepy” Joe Biden, suggests stubborn, unhealed rivalries that should have been laid to rest at the very beginning of his term.

It seems that there are no aspects of American life that have gone unmolested by his forceful insertion into them. And when political violence and violent rhetoric become the topic du jour, he can only really think that the responsibility of our decrepit, toxic conversation lies conveniently at the feet of his ideological opponents. The observation that Trump himself is full of vitriolic, hyperbolic, and irresponsible rhetoric could only be offensive to his most ardent, sycophantic supporters.

Too, his flirtation with a campaign in 2028, clearly prohibited by the constitution, is also more than a cause for concern, as it would presumably entail the most visible and well understood violation in American politics–a presidential refusal to give up power, the constitution be damned.

This is not to say that every Trump supporter is a sycophant or is delusional. It is not to say that Trump does not have some clear ideological victories in his ten years at the center stage of politics. It is not to say he can’t make some sense, articulate legitimate grievances, or represent the values of many Americans.

But while doing so, he has also shown me, just me I am referring to, that he can no longer be trusted in the ways a leader should be. He is flailing, and represents the belligerence that I mentioned before–the kind I was trying to avoid.

I don’t hate Trump supporters; I don’t hate Trump. But he is drunk, drunk off power, drunk off his own legacy, drunk off the sycophantic nature of his much adoring fan base. I can say this without being woke, without being deranged, and without ever having voted. I can say it, now, finally, soberly.

And I have to say, and perhaps too late, maybe certain folks were just right. That I didn’t want to see it, or I just didn’t want to believe it. That Trump, after all, was always Trump. And within his shadow, America is certainly close and inching closer. Closer to something it never wanted to be. And it just ain’t that fucking cute anymore.

I fear I had written the essay I previously claimed I had read too many of already. But, alas, there are things more important than originality. One of them is writing your piece, no matter who you may be lumped in with.

Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author’s own.