Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and other Republicans are including Christian nationalist themes in their messaging and campaign rhetoric in the final days before the midterm elections.

This past weekend, Johnson appeared on “The Week on Capitol Hill,” a right-wing Christian program hosted by Tony Perkins. Perkins asked Johnson what advice he’d give to conservatives “who are considering sitting this election out.”

Many observers have posed the question, “How did the US end up with a psychotic president who displays no regard for truth?” A critical and historical understanding of the political economy of politics helps to explain the self-aggrandizing transactional presidency and make sense of the seemingly nonsensical.

With the midterm elections shaping up to be a stinging rebuke of his gold-plated presidency, the tempo of Donald Trump’s political prosecutions—a hallmark of his second term—has increased. Headlines and story-framing lead paragraphs, however, routinely fail to highlight the authoritarian nature of these persecutions.

At one of his final midterm rallies, the president showed just what a spent political force he has become—and what little grip on reality he still has.

“It’s pure fricking genius.”

Donald Trump was, of course, describing himself—or rather his rhetorical stump style, which had been trained on the crowd of MAGA faithful assembled here at Dubuque’s Five Flags Center for more than an hour. He’d been complaining about how his wife, Melania, wants him to be less demonstrative at the rally podium—less dancing, no more impersonations of female weightlifters getting bested by transgender competitors. The first lady, Trump protested, wants him to be “more presidential,” which prompted him to do an impersonation of a typical campaign stiff: “Ladies and gentlemen of Iowa, it is a great honor to be with you this evening.” (The impression came across a good deal like House Speaker Mike Johnson, who did a cameo turn at the podium during Trump’s performance.)