As the US midterms unfold Robert Reich reminds us that Trump isn’t the single cause of America’s woes. He is a symptom of decades of neglect and a broken system.

Years ago, my dear friend the late Alan K. Simpson, Republican senator from Wyoming, explained to me how America viewed our two major political parties. “Democrats think Republicans are stupid, and Republicans think Democrats are evil,” he said with a grin. “You’re in the evil party. I’d rather be a member of the stupid party.”

That was before Trump turned the Republican Party into a neofascist cult, premised on the lie that he won the 2020 presidential election.

The most immediate choice Americans will make tomorrow is between politicians who have led and enabled that neofascist cult, and politicians who have rejected it.

But the real choice goes much deeper.

More than a decade ago, with the 2016 political primaries looming, I asked hundreds of people in America’s heartland who they thought should be our next president. At the time, Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush were the two parties’ presumptive favourites, but most people told me they preferred Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump. Many mentioned both.

When I asked them why, they told me........

© Pearls and Irritations