It’s the question of our time: How can anyone still support this guy? He says something crazy and destructive, you scream into the void how crazy and destructive what he said was, and they still support him, leaving you and even the most vaunted political philosophers to wonder out loud, “Seriously, what the hell?” Consider this: What you see as a bug, many Americans see as a feature. The chaos you warn about is the the exact outcome they crave. Derek Thompson in The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Americans Who Need Chaos. “‘These [need-for-chaos] individuals are not idealists seeking to tear down the established order so that they can build a better society for everyone … Rather, they indiscriminately share hostile political rumors as a way to unleash chaos and mobilize individuals against the established order that fails to accord them the respect that they feel they personally deserve.’ To sum up their worldview, Petersen quoted a famous line from the film The Dark Knight: ‘Some men just want to watch the world burn.'” To avoid concluding on a negative note, I’ll share another quote from the same movie. “I promise you, the dawn is coming.” (Of course, that line is in a speech from a guy whose nickname is Two-Face…)

+ Our current political state can probably best be examined through a psychoanalytical lens. So pull up a couch, because Freud saw this coming a century ago. “In classical Freudian psychoanalytic theory, the death drive (German: Todestrieb) is the drive toward death and destruction, often expressed through behaviors such as aggression, repetition compulsion, and self-destructiveness.” (If only that could fit on a bumper sticker.)