Esquire: Trump "Hater in Chief"
the picture speaks for itself
Donald Trump has turned out to be a useful tool. He has stymied—at least for the early part of the Republican presidential sweepstakes—the effect of Citizens United, which flooded our politics with money from oligarchs eager to buy government leaders. But even more usefully, he has forced a wide range of political figures to admit that tolerance is a crucial part of our national makeup. "Trump! Fomenting Tolerance 2016!" That is quite the accomplishment at a time when one of our two political parties is pretty much bent on divisiveness and cultural warfare as its strategy for capturing the White House.
I don't think Donald has any real idea of the effect he's having on the country beyond the cheering crowds and the newspaper headlines. But, for him, that's plenty. He's an entertainer; he's giving his audience what it wants. The idea that his words have consequences never penetrates. The idea that Open Carry members' harassment of mosques in Texas could have something to do with him just never occurs to him. During his unusual interview with Scott Raab (which goes live on Esquire Classic tomorrow)—which took place a few days after he first suggested registering Muslims and shutting down mosques, and the same week that a protester got roughed up at one of his rallies—he was strangely disconnected from politics. It was business as usual inside Trump Tower, and he broke off the interview right in the middle to give me a call.
After he bragged that he had "destroyed" Ben Carson ("I had to do it"
, he was off on a conversation very much like the one I wrote about in my editor's letter two months ago. <...> Esquire
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