Trump Does Not Believe in America

WASHINGTON -- Even for those of us who braced for catastrophe, the first year of Donald Trump's presidency was worse than expected -- more divisive, mean-spirited, erratic, unhinged, incompetent and egomaniacal than could have been imagined. Any glimmer of hope for a better Trump after the election, any speck of it once he took his oath of office, all that is now extinguished.

Sure, there are glimpses of the seemingly reasonable guy beloved by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the one who on Tuesday says he'll "take all the heat" on immigration, who wants to sign a "bill of love." Do not be fooled. He is a chimera.

By Thursday he will have vanished, leaving you feeling slimed and gaslighted. Graham was right the first time: Trump is a "kook" who is "unfit for office."

Even after all that came before, this presidency does not lose its power to horrify. 

Nothing -- not even the Trump campaign and Trump transition -- truly prepared us for a president who behaves as Trump has. 

The biggest lie ever told by a candidate to the American people came from Trump, repeatedly, during the campaign: "At the right time, I will be so presidential, you will be so bored." Now we know: He is characterologically incapable of fulfilling this vow.

But it is important, as we steel ourselves for Year Two, to identify what is so extremely, so uniquely wrong with Trump's presidency.