A key aspect of 45's appeal, and this pertains also to bad country music and right-wing talk radio, is its message to people who are bewildered and frightened by the world's complexity: the world, so the message goes, is not really so complex; in truth the bewildered and frightened ones understand it better than do people who try to grasp its complexity; inasmuch as the latter don't look to conspiracism or knee-jerk nationalism/racism in the attempt, they haven't really got a clue.

Mike Pence must hate himself, probably always will. He was in mortal danger, and mortal fear, from a murderous mob sent by his boss. And of course he wasn't too pleased with either the mob or the boss about this. But he's continued to suck up to said (former) boss, because the fear of the mob, which is upwards of seventy-five million strong, has taken up permanent residence in him. As the mob itself has seemingly taken up permanent residence in American life. (It is, of course, nothing altogether new there, but it's in a rowdy mood, reveling in what it takes for its newfound power.) And Republican officeholders en bloc, with a few exceptions, are Mike Pence writ large.