This is one of Trump's big problems. Or – rather – it is our big problem. Because it is a problem when a person so addled by grand mal egomania – perhaps let loose by early-stage dementia – can order nuclear weapons to be used, among other things.

Trump also said – in the same social media post – that "A RIGGED ELECTION TOOK PLACE LAST NIGHT IN THE GREAT COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA!" – in reference to the voters' approval of a measure that will allow the Democrats to gerrymander political territories in VA to their advantage. Is it possible this vote – it was not an election – was "rigged"? Of course. Almost anything is possible except a violation of the law of identity (which says that a thing is what it is and cannot at the same time be something that isn't the same thing as what it is).

Trump produces no evidence (as opposed to assertions) in support of his claims and – more important, arguably – doesn't see the result of the vote in VA as an early warning, a sign that the voters – not all, of course, but a lot of them – are tired of his thug-like mafia don pronouncements, his serial lying and most of all, his war.

Of course not.

He is no loser. He is an "extraordinarily brilliant person" and it is everyone else that is – his words – "low IQ" and "stupid."

Well, was it smart to start a war that didn't need to be started – at least not in terms of anything having to do with the interests of Americans? (Trump's attempt to sell them on the lie that it was necessary, in order to keep the Iranians from having a nuclear deterrent, like the Israelis have, hasn't sold any better than his lie that the Epstein Stuff was in fact all just a "Democrat hoax.")

Was it smart to dismiss the cost of gas as "worth it"? To trump the stock market – i.e., the gains made by speculators in the know – while denying the affordability problem regarding everyday necessities his rank-and-file supporters are having to deal with? Is he not at least smart enough to see how such things are perceived by ordinary Americans and that these perceptions are not benefitting him and the MAGA movement?

His are not the actions of an "extraordinarily brilliant person." At least not if taken at face value; i.e. if the underlying assumption is that Trump actually wants to make America great again. Perhaps he doesn't. Perhaps the underlying assumption is wrong. What if his purpose is not to make America great again but to put the final nail in the coffin of what was America?

As mortifying as that sounds – as crazy as that sounds – it fits the facts. Occam's Razor. Sherlock Holmes. Any good detective would agree. The fails all fall one way, don't they?

It makes sense when viewed in this light. Everything he's been doing. It's all part of a plan. The actual plan – not the one his bedraggled supporters were urged to trust, the facts be damned. Pieces of evidence float around in the background. Does anyone remember that press conference Trump held shortly after his inauguration with the three Tech Bros, including Sam Altman and Larry Ellison? A strange event, to say the least – as Tech Bro billionaires pushing data centers and an AI panopticon are not exactly "MAGA." It felt wrong, like noticing your spouse came home late and looking a little ruffled, but you put it out of your mind . . .