Star Trek Discovery and the Power of the Brand

The following op-ed was written in fifteen minutes.

The power of the brand. It’s what propelled Donald Trump into fame and celebrity and ultimately the Presidency.

His facade of financial prowess afforded him a level of respect and admiration and even worship from millions. After all, Bernie’s hopes and dreams aside, America is and always will be the home of capitalism and what is more capitalist than a vulgarian with no qualifications, no moral compass, no ideas or originality, and no skills beyond promoting himself, rising to literally the highest office in the history of the species. (Sorry Pope, call me when you get smart bombs).

You have to give Trump credit for being able to stick with the grift — it is ultimately that consistency that empowered his cult-like devotion. There was never any doubt where Trump stood on issues or how he would behave. Trump had made his brand unassailably consistent. It was, ironically, something Real Political Pundits had — and still have — no idea how to cover or analyze. The rules don’t apply to Trump because the rules dont exist. Norms are just constructs of memory meant to reign in the future. This was the greatest source of strength for Trump and his clan of incompetent and cartoonist criminals — he burned it all down because he simply didn’t care if it burned down. America…