The strangest show on earth: lightning, imperial hubris and a boring tour of Trump’s rhetorical back alleys | David Smith

Would we get a 21st-century Gettysburg address? Or YMCA, gripes about his legal woes and boasting about Iran? The astronomer Carl Sagan once described the earth as a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. “Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot,” he wrote.Donald Trump took the stage on Saturday night imagining himself the master of the universe, not the temporary custodian of a country born around the same time as the hot-air balloon. The last decade was proof that “divine providence” had made Trump president for America’s 250th anniversary of independence, his aide Stephen Miller posted on social media. Continue reading...