Donald Trump Is More Deranged Than Ever

Alex Shephard: “His Youngstown rally, even by the former president’s recent unhinged standards, hit operatic new heights of myopia, narcissism, and self-delusion. Much of the speech read like dark and gritty reboot of his 2016 address at the Republican National Convention…”

“Mostly, though, he just wanted to talk about himself. In a series of self-pitying screeds, he claimed that the ‘death penalty’ would be brought against him if he had ‘spied’ on campaigns the way he claims he was spied on during the 2016 election—yes, he’s still bringing up grievances from more than six years ago. He went on to characterize the seizure of highly classified documents that he’d been hoarding in his personal residence as an ‘unhinged persecution.'”

“But even this was just part of the build-up to what ended up being a full QAnon passion play, as the rally culminated with Trump fulminating—reciting a series of grievances over swelling strings. His followers, commanded to raise their fingers in salute, did so—resulting in a scene that looked like it was freshly plucked from Leni Riefenstahl’s back catalogue.”