The mentalists

Trump apologists say he's

• A businessman, therefore he won't act in a manner that is detrimental to commercial interests
• A "deal maker," and therefore will be an able and pragmatic negotiator in his dealings with the wider world
• Half-British, and so will give us a sympathetic hearing in his dealings with us

and so on.

They say this to try and reassure us about the consequences of his presidency, to allay our fears given his complete unsuitability for the office. But that completely misses the point.

We shouldn't be having to try and read his mind like a two-cent mentalist. This should not fall within the province of the tea leaf and the crystal ball. We shouldn't be inspecting and interpreting vague and deranged tweets.

In a democracy, clear policy statements are subject to scrutiny and their content debated. It is only in a dictatorship that people have to guess and speculate about the whim and caprice of their leaders.

Furthermore, politics must be about more than business interests. Is our ambition so cramped we are going to disregard ethics? Are we going to limit ourselves to consideration of the contents of our pockets, and not our hearts or our heads? Are we happy with leadership if it proves to be merely tolerable?

We are approaching a post-scarcity economic scenario in which real and artificial stimulants for economic activity are being transformed or eliminated by technological innovation and clean energy. The turmoil we are witnessing in the world arises from tensions that occur when old ways of generating and accumulating wealth become obsolete and unsustainable as a result.

So things are not "business as usual." A response is needed.

However, Trump and the Fascist International coalescing around him is the diametric opposite of what is required. Now is not the time for a "dash for fash." They represent a doomed beach-head the past is trying to establish in the future. They are the fingertips of fallen empires clinging to the brink of oblivion.

A failed businessman whose tedious fantasies of greatness have been insulated from reality by money he inherited from his father is the very last thing we need. A stunted man-boy for whom affection was replaced by money, leading to a florid and delusional narcissism, offers nothing of use. His disregard for truth has succeeded because it encourages and confirms bitter, thwarted fantasies that will never come true. All that can happen as a result is disaster.

But we should not be confronted with a case of damage limitation.

We should be working out how our concepts of work and leisure can evolve to allow us to become fulfilled as individuals rather than enslaved by insecurity and poverty as our world is transformed around us. We should be rejoicing as we work together to make the most of the opportunities we are being offered by these transformations.

That's what we should be investing our efforts trying to work out. Not trying to guess the inclinations of a notoriously inconsistent and shallow imbecile to whom we have somehow handed the highest office.