The continuously spiraling Trump administration scandals have culminated in a series of strange and baffling revelations and developments, which by no means mark the end of this slow-motion wreck.
The inquiries about self-pardons for the president and his family were especially surreal, but the blatant crassness of that culminating moment may clear some of the bafflement.
What is clear is that this affair will do lasting damage to the presidency as an institution, as well as the body politic's conception of itself and its relation with itself. With the procession of this presidency, everyone has caught a glimpse of a new horizon of possibility in the political world, and certainly someone more cunning and competent will angle for the reigns, counting on a climate such as this.
Further, we have a large swathe of right wing supporters who will not change their minds; whose concepts and worldviews are now irreparably damaged - if one is being generous enough to describe those concepts and worldviews as anything close to functional, whatever that may mean.
It is a nice idea that people learn from their mistakes, but no, with such dogma the erring vision becomes baked into the mind as it were, the resent searing and branding bad belief into a lasting commitment.
A divided and soured body politic continues to cave inward towards its point of polarization. Without trust - the right continues its flight into an insular and detached worldview, while the left loses all respect - this process can only continue inexorably in the direction it has been going.
