Tribune and tyrant
The night was, like most in Paris, a fashionable one. It was Oct. 1, and a luminous collection of aristocrats had gathered to fundraise for the standard-bearer of the reigning world order. Though in most respects this event was not much different from most of Secretary Clinton's rarefied gatherings — unlike Trump's rallies, which share more in tenor and audience with an Indiana State Fair or a South Chicago flea market than they do with a haute Paris gala; trust me, I've been to two — the attendance of Barbara Bush, daughter of George W., must have raised a few eyebrows. Yet Barbara's attendance at the event, alongside Anna Wintour and other gentility, is not so surprising. George H.W. Bush, Barbara's grandfather, was vice president to contemporary rightist fetish object Ronald Reagan, the 41st president, and the father to a veritable clutch of Republican figures, not least our nation's beloved 43rd chief executive. Yet in a September conversation, H.W. announced he would be abandoning the GOP’s candidate for the presidency, who had been nominated with a deafening majority of delegates by primary voters even before the Democrats could finalize their champion's investiture. What does it say about the Republican candidate that much of his own party runs in fear from him? What does it say about this man that the two great dynasties of American politics — House of Clinton, House of Bush — are unified in opposition to this menace to their interests?
