I come today to praise Donald Trump, not bury him. With less than a month to go before Election Day, and with an oversized mug of tea at my side, I would like to take the moment to celebrate the former president and all he has brought to the nation.

Nine years ago, most of the nation laughed at the brassy businessman when he descended his golden escalator to announce his candidacy for President of the United States in front of a crowd of paid extras. We laughed because Donald Trump has always been a laughable figure. Those of us who grew up in the New York area had long been accustomed to the braggadocious real estate developer elbowing his way in front of cameras, pontificating on the love lives of the famous, celebrating his own sexual conquests, bankrupting various businesses, and generally making a buffoon of himself.

Nobody’s laughing now.

For better or worse (worse), Donald Trump receives full credit for reshaping the American political landscape. Trump’s greatest accomplishment isn’t achieving the presidency. Rather, it’s red-pilling an entire nation. Gone forever is the illusion of political comity and decorum. Although Mike Judge predicted it, and Sarah Palin rang the bell, it was Donald Trump who ushered in the WWE era of American political life.

I don’t just mean that political flamboyance, always a minor component of American life, has now become de rigeur on both sides of the aisle—for every Lauren Boebert, there is a Jasmine Crockett—I mean that Trump has shone a light on the hypocrisy, absurdity, and scripted nature of the entire American political landscape.

The conventional wisdom used to be that politicians required a certain........

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