"May you live in interesting times" – that old (supposedly Chinese) curse seems to define the world today. "Interesting" is meant in the snarkish sense: it is a euphemism for unpleasant, or even intolerable, although in the present context I think a more appropriate term is baffling.

The political elites are baffled by the rise of Donald Trump: how is it that the celebrity equivalent of a circus clown could be number one in the GOP presidential race? Here, after all, is someone who wants to deport upward of some 11 million people – kick down their doors, put them on a train, and send them off to Mexico, in spite of the fact that many of them were born here. Asked by Hugh Hewitt if he's an authoritarian, Trump didn't deny it: instead he answered: "Everyone is weak. We need someone strong."

At the considerable risk of sounding like an old fogy, I must confess to waking up some mornings and thinking: Where in the hell am I?