Trump’s Count of Monte Cristo Moment: A Return with a Vengeance

The following article, Trump’s Count of Monte Cristo Moment: A Return with a Vengeance, was first published on The Black Sphere. Trump’s resurgence feels like scenes straight out of The Count of Monte Cristo—except this time, the plot is not fictional. And the list of targets is all too real. After four years of “wrongful imprisonment” (otherwise known as impeachment, indictments, and relentless public floggings), Trump appears poised to turn the tables on the very individuals and institutions that underestimated him. And as the saying goes, “Payback is a mother—well, you get the idea.” In The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantès was a man unjustly imprisoned by a group of schemers who thought they’d seen the last of him. What they didn’t count on was his resilience—and the careful plotting he’d do during those years of confinement. Similarly, Trump has had four long years to reflect on the people and forces that tried to bury him. And if Dantès emerged with a plan for vengeance, Trump appears ready to do the same; only with a little more panache and a few policy and personnel bombs. Consider Trump’s approach to the “deep state.” First up: tackling the most controversial of...