15 September—Reluctant Trump apologist Michael Barone writes today in passing that the upward “shift in Trump’s approval ratings, from 45.9% in 2016 to 46.8% in 2020 to 49.8% in 2024, wasn’t overwhelming.” True enough. Problem is, though, the shift in Trump’s approval rating has in fact been downward and is currently at 45% according to Morning Consult Pro, 44.2% according to Nate Silver, 41% according to YouGov, 40% according to Gallup, and an even more embarrassing 38% according to Pew—with fully 60% of Pew’s sample disapproving of the Philistine-in-chief.

On the delightful subject of Donald Trump, on his website a few days ago he opined with some justification that St. Charlie Kirk’s murder was “a dark moment for America.” That could be said about virtually any murder. (Yes, we all can think or dream of murders that wouldn’t be dark moments, but we mustn’t specify the victims.) Trump normally bloviates in superlatives, so it’s rather surprising he didn’t call St. Charlie’s martyrdom “the darkest moment for America.”

In all events, as it happens, another dark moment for America was the presumably fair and honest election of Donald Trump as president in 2016; and beyond any reasonable doubt the absolute darkest moment was Trump’s unfortunate election in 2024. And that includes all the wars, disasters, and cataclysms the republic has suffered since even before its establishment. I.e., ever.

Almost as dark a moment—arguably an even darker moment when you think about it—was the Supreme Court’s inconceivably irrational ruling, not long before the 2024 election, in Trump v. United States that effectively made American presidents—not just Trump—virtually omnipotent tyrants essentially above the law. We’d like to think that people of presidential caliber wouldn’t abuse that power.

But then there’s Donald Trump, Satan’s gift to America and the world.

And apropos nothing, today is the 90th anniversary of the Nazi Reichstag’s passage—in special session, of course—of the infamous antisemitic Nuremberg Laws that among other things stripped German Jews of their citizenship . . .