Remembering America’s Escape from an Abusive Relationship
An old conversation with a psychologist turned out to be a prophetic analysis of Trump’s menacing hold over America
Four years ago I wrote a piece that hit a nerve. Not that I’m much for stats, but I think it attracted more readers than just about anything else I’ve put up in this space.
The topic, back in those fraught days leading up to the 2020 election, was our coming bad breakup with Donald Trump. I’d been talking to a psychologist friend, and mentioned that what the election most reminded me of was the emotional and physical dangers people face when trying to escape an abusive relationship.
That nails it perfectly, he told me. Then came the even-more ominous part. He said the most dangerous moment in an abusive relationship is when the abuser realizes you’ve decided to leave him.
It was a strange way to describe an election. It proved to be a frighteningly accurate prediction of what would come. In the piece I wrote:
“At best a decisive win in November still leaves the months before a new president takes office in January. Picture the awfulness the next four years of a Trump administration would have brought — all condensed into three months. A failed star…
