Donald Trump recently met with The Washington Post's editorial board. For anyone following this year's race for the presidency, the interview is worth reading in full. (If you don't feel like reading, an audio version is also available.)
For starters, if Trump takes the presidency, the days of (any semblance of) American global leadership are over. More specifically, Trump still shows no interest in smart, principled democracy promotion abroad.
Another takeaway from the interview (which has been mentioned by numerous commentators already) is that it's still quite unclear how a Trump presidency would work in practice. Trump continues to have a hard time explaining how he'd implement his ideas. On other occasions, he doesn't really answer questions. The Donald is, quite frankly, drowning in vagaries and obfuscation.
"I know China very well," Trump tells us.
Shortly thereafter, Trump expands upon his nuanced view of Middle Eastern affairs. "My prognostications, my predictions have become, have been very accurate, if you look," he claims.
"I'm an intelligent person," he reminds us. And then he reminds us again, moments later.
"I am the least racist person that you will ever meet," he asserts.
"I think there's a change in weather. I am not a great believer in man-made climate change. I'm not a great believer," he says.
Philip Bump has a good piece that's aptly titled "The most baffling moments from Donald Trump's Washington Post ed board interview".
Here's a paragraph from Bump's article:
Immediately prior to the question about the nuclear strike, for example, Trump spent 550 words and several minutes defending the size of his hands ... and correlated appendages. Why did he bring up size during the debate? 'I don't want people to go around thinking that I have a problem.'
Yes, dear reader, this is actually happening. A racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, isolationist strongman is the favorite to win the Republican Party nomination. Many months into the race, Trump doesn't even have practicable policy proposals.
Thoughtful Republicans should be angry, worried and embarrassed. What will happen to the GOP?
Democrats too should be concerned. We're all Americans, after all.