Deals with the Devil

During the 2016 primaries, Republican politicians watched with dismay, trending toward wonder, as Trump attracted increasing numbers of Republican voters. Abetted by propagandistic right-wing media, he appealed to their worst instincts, which turned out to be abundant, and he won the nomination.

Republican politicians who had held him in contempt followed him like sheep, most of them, I suspect, thinking of themselves not as sheep, but as foxes using this repellent character as a tool for solidifying political power. They forgot that deals with the devil don’t work well. Trump is a human-shaped substance made of glue. Republican politicians got stuck to him. It would take the right stuff (decent moral character) to pull free from him, and they don’t have it.