Marx said history repeats first as tragedy, then as farce. Something that amazes me is just how many ways Donald Trump embodies the second coming of so many of the Presidential tragedies of the Baby Boomer era. Nixon was a man who used resentment and greed to win, a crook unpunished who escaped out the back door. Trump has all Nixon's worst qualities, and none of his intelligence or reverence for the office of President, and so we get All The Presidents' Men by way of Yes, Prime Minister. Bill Clinton was a genuine Aristotelian tragedy; a man whose appetites drove him to overcome a terrible childhood and become President, only for that lack of control to lead him to some horrible acts against vulnerable people. Trump too is a man who made it to the Presidency purely because of his appetites; his overwhelming desire for respect and love drove him to pursue the Presidency, and then his inability to control that desire meant that he was singularly unable to navigate a pandemic in a way that would make people feel the sort of psychological comfort that could have helped him cruise to reelection. Even now, he and the Republicans are reenacting the tragedy of Hillary in 2016; party leaders convinced that they have the only possible candidate, an alternative pulling 20-40% who is ignored by those leaders Even though it should be a giant, flashing warning sign, and an opposite party running a guy who most people think can't possibly win, even though he's actually better at campaigning than his detractors give him credit for.

I firmly believe that the current Trump drama is the denouement of the Baby Boomer era. Catharsis is coming.