Aaron: There was no short-lived triumph undercut by Trump’s mistakes. The whole premise is incorrect: Trump was never going to run for president. This was a con from the beginning, a play for attention by a huckster who lives on publicity. The cornerstone of this charlatan’s PR strategy is pretending to be much richer than he is, and it’s fanciful to think that he would ever submit to the financial disclosures associated with a presidential candidacy. His “campaign,” a xenophobic mix of economic illiteracy and conspiracy theorizing, was an insulting parody of conservatism by a rent-seeking thug to whom the philosophical underpinnings of limited government are completely foreign.

If we must give Donald Trump the attention he craves, it should be served with a heavy helping of the contempt he deserves.