An Arsonist Posing as a Firefighter

‘The whole aim of practical politics,” wrote H. L. Mencken, “is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”

A century later, we have entered the era of government by hobgoblin. The nation looks on as our president creates imaginary crises that — you guessed it — only he can solve. President Donald Trump continues to be the guy in the neighborhood who smashes storefront windows and then begs glass-repair shops to support him because of his economic stimulus plan.