Donald Trump has become more dangerous

And so American politics came to this: the day after a jury concluded in a civil case that Donald Trump had committed sexual abuse and then defamed his victim, he preened on national television as the front-runner for the presidential nomination of the party of family values and law and order, of American greatness and American pride. Mr Trump’s gall should not surprise anyone, of course, not after his success for seven years in defining Republican values down. Yet what a degrading spectacle it was.

When Mr Trump attacked his accuser all over again, calling her a “whack job”, members of the audience of Republicans and independents, convened on May 10th by CNN for a town hall in the early primary state of New Hampshire, laughed and applauded. They laughed again when he insisted that “crazy Nancy Pelosi”, not he, was responsible for the mayhem during the insurrection of January 6th 2021 at the Capitol. He called that “a beautiful day” and said that he was inclined to pardon many of the convicted rioters, who had “love in their heart”.