I wanted to return to what is certainly the stupidest and yet also one of the most important debates of the 2016 cycle: Trumpers, angry racists or economically stressed victims of globalization? By calling it the stupidest debate I don't mean to insult anyone. I've participated in it to some degree and I generally place myself on one side of it. But like any debate which seeks to make a fixed ideological orthodoxy over whether the chicken preceded the egg or vice versa, it can't help but degenerate into something semantic, embattled and ultimately stupid. In any case, it is still a critical question since Trumpism is a hugely significant development in contemporary US politics. So we need to understand what it is, where it comes from and where it's going.

It's a small detail. But a telling one, I think. On Friday the Trump campaign put out word that Paul Manafort had been fired. "Asked to resign," as the euphemism has it. One more gratuitous indignity. It's part of the man (Trump) and the culture.

Trump on Fox explained the disastrous lives of African-Americans who have no money, education, or really anything, as he tells it. Things are so bad "what do they have to lose" by voting for Trump. Video after the jump.

I want to strongly recommend you watch this video clip from CNN after the jump. It's a simple package of a segment of a Donald Trump speech followed by a brief interview by CNN's Brianna Keilar with former Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA), now serving as a Trump surrogate.

Paul Manafort presided over the most calamitous stretch of presidential campaigning in modern political history. Behold the trainwreck.

I want to respect that empathy comes hard to monsters. But I don't think video of this transparently craven stunt will wear well. It's like someone told Richie Rich he needed more extracurriculars on his college app. Video after the jump ...