Trump embodies every vice we have grown to expect in politicians, just to a sharpened degree. Is he vain, thin-skinned, and vindictive, convinced he doesn’t get enough credit for everything and that criticism of him is always motivated by bad faith? Sure, but if you’ve followed politics for the last decade, some of that has got to sound familiar to you. Is he impulsive and undisciplined, seemingly driven by his emotions and appetites? Yes, but I started writing about politics in the 1990s, and I can tell you this definitely seems familiar. Since Democrats are working themselves up to the idea of nominating Joe Biden, it will probably be really familiar again.

Does he seem out of his depth, overmatched, and ill-informed on policy issues? So are half the members of Congress, and that’s an optimistic estimate. Does he pander to the prejudices of factions in his base and refuse to renounce connections with radicals who promote nefarious ideologies? Complain about that to Bill Ayers and Reverend Wright.