New Caesar, same old strategy 

JC Wilcox is doubtless correct that we are increasingly a planet of brainwashed zombies. I write this sitting in an airport lounge as 300 travellers fiddle with their mobile devices, me included. Not one person is reading a book or newspaper.
But it’s downright silly to claim that Donald Trump is in the vanguard of the movement to save mankind from mindless self-destruction. Here is a guy dominated solely by self-interest and duplicity. He certainly has great expertise in planning to confuse his worldwide business interests with the potential position of US president. He shamelessly uses Twitter soundbites to switch in his favour a seriously negative media agenda (the Trump University fiasco) to a trivial one (saying the “Hamilton” players should apologise for their non-existent insult to Mike Pence). In reality, Trump is team-leading the zombies.
It was said of the doomed Bourbon dynasty in France that its kings learned nothing and forgot nothing. Trump admittedly doesn’t know much to forget anyway, certainly as regards foreign affairs. But he will follow the Caesars and hold his circuses for his mesmerised public – throwing them illegal immigrants and Mexican fences – as the world gallops towards a global-warming catastrophe that the Donald says is a Chinese hoax.
If Trump played football, his strategy would be summed up as “Never mind the ball, folks – get on with the game.”
Barry Kenyon