This Is Not the Natural State of Things

Not your ordinary journalist, Josh Marshall - founder and editor of Talking Points Memo - is a prolific writer and thinker of broad scope.  This piece which he just republished captures the dangers of the current moment.  It may not last only a moment, but be the beginning of a period of profound discord. - gwc
This Is Not the Natural State of Things//Talking Points Memo
by Josh Marshall  first published July 14, 2016

***I believe generally in what Democrats believe in rather than what Republicans believe in. It informs almost everything I've written in almost twenty years as a professional writer about American politics. But both have been able to govern the country within a broad consensus of what we consider acceptable behavior. Trump represents something quite different. The kind of menace he represents is amplified by the rise of complacent instability and reckless behavior we see today in Europe, in the conflagration in the Middle East and the still distant but rising specter of great power confrontation on the borders of Russia and in East Asia. The belief that we can roll the dice with no consequences, that we can provoke and act out with no consequences is a dangerous illusion. We are indulging that illusion along with many other peoples across the globe. But there are consequences. They can come upon us suddenly, like a mugger in the dark and then multiply and spin out of control.