Having read ten thousand pages of world history at a clip, as well as at least that in increments, the United States of America is pusillanimous compared to any other world power. We ain't noble, we ain't great, but this constant need to pretend that the United States is somehow exceptionally bloodthirsty or despicable only serves to illustrate naïveté.
Trump is no malfunction. He's a perfect representation of who, as a country, we are and always have been: an insane monster. I thought the bit I put in bold was insightful. There's a great temptation to pin all the ugliness on Trump because the alternative is far harder to face. Trump is the tip of a very large iceberg.The Trump movement culturally represents an absolute denial of our sins from slavery on – hence the intense reaction to the removal of Confederate statues, the bizarre paranoia about the Washington Monument being next, and so on. But #resistance is also a denial mechanism. It makes Trump the root of all evil, and is powered by an intense desire to not have to look at the ugliness, to go back to the way things were. We see this hideous clown in the White House and feel our dignity outraged, but when you really think about it, what should America's president look like?