Historian here: We will not be baffled. Cruel kleptocrats and societies whose elites don't care so long as they get theirs too are pretty normal over the long run of history. https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/1291752049831485442

what's unusual is justice.

the easy linear pathway from goldwater to trump is already clear. it will be easier to see with distance. In a few centuries or seven, there will not be a "gilded age" and "new gilded age," but rather just one arc of kleptocracy from the late 19th century to today.

Hearst, Murdoch, Zuckerberg: the kleptocratic infotyrants of the long 20th century U.S.A. (Phobos Polytechnic Press, 2629).

"Andrew Johnson and Donald Trump, two white supremacist presidents in the long 20th century." (Betelgeuse College Press, 3381).

take it from a medievalist: time blurs minor variations in decades. Donald Trump will appear perfectly normal in the arc of American history. That's the problem.