He's the prince of self-pity, the bard of bellyaching, reportedly worked up over the imagined injustice or trickery of Harris's late replacement of President Biden on the Democratic ticket. The more assertively Trump presses a complaint, the more you know it's bunk. He operates on the theory that if you're selling falsehoods, peddle like the wind; your audience might well assume that you'd never speak that extravagantly and be that audacious if there weren't some legitimacy to your claim.

So it is with his underdog yap - his pantomime of Cinderella when he's really her wickedest stepsister.

He was born to a rich family. His father's money and connections greased the start of his career. Legions of lawyers helped him skate away from bankruptcies and bad behavior. The moral cratering of the Republican Party gave him license to do and coup as he pleased. Friendly judges - including on the Supreme Court - afforded him impunity.

The forces arrayed against him are infinite and omnipotent. When children exhibit persecution complexes this severe, they're sent to their rooms or to a therapist. Trump may be sent to the White House - for a second time. Woe is us.