The Editor and the Demagogue
𝐼𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝐼𝑡 𝐶𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝐻𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑒, 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝐿𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑜𝑔𝑢𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝐵𝑢𝑧𝑧 𝑊𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑝—𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦’𝑠 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎, 𝐴𝑟𝑛𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑆. 𝑆𝑡𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑔𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠.

The rallies began to feel less like politics and more like rituals. Crowds swarmed arenas draped in flags, chanting in unison while Stump basked in the adoration. He no longer pretended to be a politician bound by law; he spoke as though the country were his inheritance. Promises of wealth and protection for the faithful, punishment and exile for his critics—his words blurred into threats, and the crowd cheered louder each time.
In a small New England town, Wilber Weberman, an aging editor, watched the spectacle unfold with despair. Running a modest online paper from his cluttered office, he tried to sound the alarm in articles no one wanted to read. His neighbors waved him off with…


