On July 21, Donald Trump stood onstage at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland and said five words: "I alone can fix this." He sounded like a dictator. He looked like one, too, what with his last name in all caps on the jumbotron behind him. He fearmongered about crime and a crippled America, but he kept returning to that first person pronoun: "I."

Everything about Donald Trump is "I." His singular appeal is that he's unafraid to be "I," that he's proud of "I," even if that "I" is someone who boasts about grabbing women by the pussy, or belittling war heroes, or shaming minorities, or mocking the disabled. Trump alone wins. That's how this whole thing works.

So here's Trump's closing argument—a two-minute campaign ad he released on Friday night before Election Day. He hits the same notes he's hit over the past year and change, with one big difference.

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This is the nut of it:

"The only thing that can stop this corrupt machine is you. The only force strong enough to save our country is us. The only people brave enough to vote out this corrupt establishment is you, the American people."

It's a good pitch.

It's also a direct contradiction to what he said in Cleveland. He was the savior, the only one brave enough to stand up to the system, the only one who could be trusted to tear it all down. But now, suddenly, it's not about him, it's about you. You, the Deplorables. You, the Pepe's. You, the ones who don't really want to vote for Trump but know that you sure as hell hate Hillary. You, the person Trump thinks he can con because he's already conned you this far.

Trump sees a non-binary world in binary terms. Read this brilliant piece by Andrew Sullivan over the weekend if you're still on the fence. It's not about you; it was never about you. It's about Trump, who, from the moment he rode the golden escalator, was about "I."

John Hendrickson Deputy Editor John Hendrickson is the Deputy Editor of Esquire.com, where he oversees the site's 24/7 news operation as well as all politics coverage.

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