Donald Trump wins, Republicans lose. The Indiana primaries on 5 May, in which five of seven Trump-backed candidates ousted stalwart conservative Republican state legislators who had refused his command to redraw congressional districts, has been the only victory Trump can claim recently. Indiana, happily for him, is not Iran. His appeal still prevails at least over the increasingly narrow band of Maga voters. But the persistence of Trump’s domination is a sign of mounting haplessness. His victory is an augury of repudiation. Maga devotion is hardening in response to his dwindling popularity, a telltale reaction of true believers to a failed prophesy. The cult survives, the party withers.

On the same day the Indiana Republicans went down to defeat to sate Trump’s vengefulness, a Democrat won a bellwether Michigan state senate seat by 20 points in a district that Kamala Harris carried by less than a point. The bell tolls for thee.

The Republicans have no instinct for separation from Trump, no will to stage an intervention, no ability to muster an ultimatum. They have been complicit in their captivity, co-conspirators in their demise. As the ballots were being cast in Indiana to terminate the Republican dissenters, Republican US Senate leaders proposed $1bn for security improvements to Trump’s extravagant ballroom. Originally, Trump promised that corporate donors, many with federal contracts, would finance his vanity. But this is apparently insufficient. The Republican Congress has now been prompted to throw in the extra billion, compounding the corruption . A tribute to Trump, momentarily assuaging his desire to be worshipped as a god, is a major campaign gift to the Democrats.

While the world burns, Trump spends a good deal of his time talking about interior decorating – more swirling gold lettered signage at the White House is a priority. From the balcony of Ned’s private club across from the treasury department, a new favorite hive of Trump officials and the lobbyists clustering around them, one has a bird’s-eyed view of the demolished East Wing. The place appears as if it has been hit by a targeted bomb. Six historic magnolia trees, including some planted by presidents Warren G Harding and Franklin D Roosevelt, and Jacqueline Kennedy’s garden, have been destroyed. The wreckage of the White House grounds is representative of Trump’s presidency. But then he’s already defaced the White House as though it is a mere addition to his collection of clubs as decorated by a more tasteless Liberace. For this, the Republicans have handed him another billion dollars.

From the beginning of Trump’s second term, Republicans instantly adjusted to the abnormal as the new normal. One of his first acts, on his inauguration day, was to pardon the sentences of the........

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