Assuming that you have maintained the ability to be astonished by Donald Trump’s antics and insolence, The Washington Post reported last week that in 2017, before Trump was to deliver a speech to Congress, he “huddled with senior adviser Jared Kushner and [Stephen] Miller in the Oval Office to talk immigration.” As The Post reported:

“Trump reminded them the crowds loved his rhetoric on immigrants along the campaign trail. Acting as if he were at a rally, he recited a few made-up Hispanic names and described potential crimes they could have committed, such as rape or murder. Then, he said, the crowds would roar when the criminals were thrown out of the country — as they did when he highlighted crimes by illegal immigrants at his rallies, according to a person present for the exchange and another briefed on it later. Miller and Kushner laughed.”

That Trump is a racist and white supremacist is settled fact at this point.

After Charlottesville, and the “shithole countries” comment and the use of MS-13 — “These aren’t people. These are animals” — as a coded cudgel against all immigrants, if you still don’t believe that Trump is a racist — and most people do — then you’re not paying attention, are willfully ignorant, or are probably a closet racist yourself.

The racism has become almost routine. Now it is the continued revelations of the degree to which Trump takes the presidency as a giant game, in which he is all-powerful, in which supplicants must come pleading, in which he has an unmatched ability to retain power by manipulating and deceiving the populace.

Its like he’s playing the role of the Wizard of Oz, only this man is a weasel.

This isn’t even the first time that we’ve gotten a peek behind the curtain and have seen Trump’s hubris about his ability to tap into people’s anxieties — and hatreds — and his ability to bend reality to suit his designs.