Mr. Trump goes to Yalta

I think I understand soon-to-be new President Donald Trump pretty well: he's a huckster who wants people to buy what he's selling; he's a wheeler-dealer who will say anything to make the sale.

He of course would inflate the notion to "close the deal," but at bottom he's the same person gilding the hood ornament of the bombed-out junker he's trying to sell you. Throw in the threat of top-dollar lawsuits and voila!

My political id casts him as Mr. Mendacity: a head with a mouth at the crotch of a star-spangled pair of flaming pants, fueled by a continuous stream of lies.

Who's he selling to? The American people. Not Congress, not the media. It's why Twitter works so well for his purposes. It's why he can so easily and without second thought swat away his critics, however large or influential, as if they were no more than flies. "That buzzing you hear? Don't pay any attention to it. Did I tell you about the way this thing feels when you get behind the wheel?"

What's he selling? Himself. Well, gosh darn it, we the people got sold. So, now what?

He's not a Republican ideologue. His wish-list, such as it is, comes from a different source. Think about this:

1. Despite what he has said about Obamacare, he now says he wants healthcare for everyone, and at a lower cost. He wants to show that he can do it better!
2. His closest rapprochements internationally have been with the UK and with Russia.
3. He wants secure borders and control over certain hem-haw "uncertain" elements of the population.
4. Manufacturing, manufacturing, manufacturing!

What does this sound like? It is a barely-updated version of the USA during World War II, when Social Security was solidified, Churchill and Stalin were allies, the borders were fortified, Japanese-Americans were forced into camps, and American factories were running full blast.

Those were the clarified times that he just missed as a child. It all became disappointingly complex after that. Back then, during World War II, America was Great, and Donald Trump wants it back. (With a few changes, of course: ISIS and "radical jihadists" are the new peril. I would not feel at all secure if I were Muslim-American.)

It's as simple as that.