PRAGMATIC ISSUES

By Solin | Pragmatic Issues

Everyone wants him. Not in the noble way you want a leader. In the same way you cannot look away from a reality show that should have been cancelled five seasons ago. The cameras cannot quit him. The headlines feed him. The microphones practically drool. America has fallen for its own bad habit and the name of that habit is Donald Trump.

He knows it. He drinks it. He wakes up and asks who mentioned me today. The answer is everyone. He is the main character of a nation addicted to spectacle. He posts and the country loses five IQ points. He rants and the stock market hiccups. He lies and everyone scrambles to decode the performance art.

This is not leadership. This is a thirst trap with a Secret Service detail. Trump has turned democracy into an influencer brand. He sells resentment as patriotism and cruelty as honesty. His rallies are not political events. They are fan conventions for people who think shouting is thinking.

He calls it strength. It is insecurity wrapped in hairspray. He stands before crowds like a golden idol someone forgot to plug in. Every insult becomes merchandise. Every scandal becomes a rally. He cannot spell redemption but he can monetize grievance.

The Republican Party trails behind him like background extras in a show they once headlined. The Democrats stand frozen like an audience that knows the joke but forgot the punchline. America pretends this is a system. It is a circus with corporate sponsors.

He flirts with chaos. He flirts with tyranny. He flirts with the idea of being Vladimir Putin in a golf cart. The crowds cheer because the cruelty feels like confidence. They confuse dominance with leadership. They call it strength when it is simply narcissism wearing a flag.

The truth is America is not ruled by policy. It is ruled by content. Every outrage feeds the algorithm. Every scandal funds the campaign. Trump is not a president. He is a subscription model. Democracy is just the upsell.

South Park would show him standing in front of the burning Capitol saying this is fine and everyone would laugh because that is the only way to survive it. He is a cartoon that refuses to end. A rerun that keeps pretending it is new.

He has turned truth into an accessory. He waves lies like confetti and calls it victory. He plays the victim and the hero in the same sentence. He loves America the way a conman loves his mark. It is not affection. It is opportunity.

He does not govern. He advertises. He does not build. He brands. Every policy is a post. Every crisis is a photo shoot. He promises to save the country and then sells the ashes back to it with a discount code.

The Republican Party should have stopped him long ago. Instead it sold tickets to the show. The Democrats should have been the firewall. Instead they became the commentary track. Everyone talks. No one acts. The crowd boos and claps at the same time.

He looks in the mirror and sees destiny. The mirror sees a salesman who never learned the difference between fame and respect. The nation sees a joke it keeps laughing at to avoid the silence that would follow.

This is not about politics anymore. It is about addiction. The country is hooked on outrage. Trump is the dealer. He supplies the drama and America keeps overdosing on it.

The joke has gone too far. The parody has become prophecy. The cartoon has become the news. He promised to make America great again. He made it a meme.

That is the thirst trap. America cannot look away. The crowd keeps cheering. The cameras keep rolling. The empire keeps crumbling while the ratings stay strong.

He is not the disease. He is the symptom. The disease is a nation that mistakes attention for worth and cruelty for power.

The flag still waves. The anthem still plays. The laughter still covers the sound of collapse.

That is the thirst trap presidency. Pretty on the surface. Poison underneath.