Bruno Kavanagh

Most commentators see Donald Trump’s election as a stiff middle finger to the elites, and a rejection of the neoliberal economics that’s left the working class behind. Others believe it’s because Trump is a TV star, and celebrity impresses low-information voters more than competence (or facts). Whatever. The bottom line is that Americans have fallen for a con-man, and not even a subtle one. ('It’s going to be tremendous…a beautiful, beautiful thing', Trump would say routinely on the stump, about almost anything, like a third-rate timeshare salesman.) Any change is good change, these millions feel, so Trump is worth a try. Worth a try. Strange indeed that we’re talking about the leader of the free world, but Obama himself carries some of the blame.

The 'pursuit of happiness'—an infinitely debatable formulation to describe a distinctively American activity. As Jefferson wrote the phrase as the climax to his triad of inalienable rights, 'life' would presumably have been a fairly non-controversial no-brainer, while the peoples of other nations had begun by 1776 to aspire to forms of quasi-democratic 'liberty'. And then there it is in black and white quill ink: the 'pursuit of happiness'—and a uniquely American idea is enshrined. For a large number of people, Donald J. Trump represents perhaps the ultimate incarnation of this idea. And it’s hard to argue that 'the Donald' is not, in his way, happy.