I’d be skeptical of anyone who claimed to become a radically new person on the basis of a single event, however traumatic. It might seem for a time like the person has fundamentally changed. But true transformations like that are extremely rare. And one from a 78-year-old life-long embittered narcissist in the middle of a political campaign that could benefit from an unexpected change of direction? Gimme a break.

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Trump did seem humble and a little shaken as he described what he called “a providential moment,” though his 6th-grade-level vocabulary and digressive way of speaking often seemed to undercut what could have been a rhetorically powerful evocation of the events …

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But last night was still useful as a reminder. Oh yeah, this guy is nuts! I hate this guy! It’s been said a million times over the past eight years, but it’s worth rehearsing one more time: It is truly remarkable that this man with this way of speaking and thinking has completely taken over one of two major political parties in the world’s oldest and most powerful and prosperous liberal democracy. That he won the presidency once, governed for four years, lost re-election, attempted a self-coup, set out to run again, and has led the race for the past year is astounding.

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In a sensible and sane country, the man I saw on stage at the RNC Thursday night should be polling at 10 percent or lower. As it is, he’s leading.

Damon Linker