A Tale of #TwoTrumps

[Content Note: Bigotry.]

I've got a new piece up at Blue Nation Review, on the Two Trumps—the performer and the deceiver:

On March 11, Donald Trump got a curious endorsement from Dr. Ben Carson:

I've come to know Donald Trump over the last few years; he's actually a very intelligent man who cares deeply about America. There are two different Donald Trumps: There's the one you see on the stage, and there's the one who's very cerebral—sits there and considers things very carefully; you can have a very good conversation with him. And that's the Donald Trump that you're going to start seeing more and more of.

For his part, Trump initially agreed with Carson, saying, "I think there are two Donald Trumps: There's the public version, and people see that, and, I don't know what they see exactly, but it seems to have worked over my lifetime… Perhaps there are two Donald Trumps."

Then, later, in the same press conference: "I don't think there are two Donald Trumps. I think there's one Donald Trump."

So one Donald Trump agrees that there are two Donald Trumps, and the other Donald Trump does not agree that there are two Donald Trumps.

Well, that definitely clears it up.

Trump is certainly a man of contradictions—though not in the way the phrase is flatteringly deployed to underscore the complex humanity of a person of profound integrity. To the contrary, to say that Trump is a man of contradictions is to highlight his utter lack of a principled core.

Read the rest at BNR. With my thanks, once more, for their terrific support.