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I suspect that the idea of ‘America first’ was an outward projection of the inward idea of ‘Trump first’, an idea of such dominance that it generated the maxim, “My whole life is about winning”. If what gives a life its ‘whole’ meaning is ‘winning’, then the meaning of ‘winning’ is of paramount importance.

If ‘winning’, in essence, means getting everything you want, there’s the problem of other people wanting the same. How should you deal with that? He tells us, “When somebody challenges you, fight back. Be brutal, be tough.”

The ultimate defeat and disgrace is to lose, and not get what one wants. Any such loss threatens to deprive one’s “whole life” of meaning, which is unthinkable. No wonder he tells us, “I don’t like losers.” To become one would compel him not to like himself.

This ‘unacceptability’ of losing is what makes lying essential and inevitable. To take the culminating example, I wanted to win the presidency for the next four years. I can’t contemplate the possibility of losing, and so it’s not possible that I’ve lost. It’s been stolen from me. I have to “fight back, be brutal, be tough”.

If ‘winning’ necessitates blatant lies, these must become ‘alternative facts’. If it demands lawless mobs, these must become ‘patriots’ and ‘defenders of freedom’. A lie which is existentially necessary cannot be understood and acknowledged to be a lie. It MUST be the truth, and so it IS the truth. I believe it, because I MUST believe it.

This deeply flawed man must never again be entrusted with such a position of leadership. This goes beyond party politics. It is in the best interests of us all.