He's temperamentally unfit to serve as president. He's ignorant of policy. He's corrupt. His early choices to serve in his administration are racist, anti-Semitic, extremist, unhinged. And of course the whole thing is frightening, terrifying, horrifying.

Most of that is true, and it's perfectly appropriate that we focus on the considerable dangers the nation now confronts. Yet it's also the case that our appreciation for the distinct character of the threat Trump poses to the country's political order would be enhanced if we devoted a little more time to acknowledging that the risks are at least as much a product of Trump's talents as they are of his many faults.

The ominous fact is that Trump is undeniably one of the greatest intuitive political geniuses in history. Think about it: A wealthy businessman with no political experience at all takes on more than a dozen experienced politicians and manages to prevail, winning the presidential nomination of a major party. He then runs what an army of experts and analysts consider to be a train wreck of a general-election campaign and nonetheless manages to prevail to become the president-elect of the most powerful nation on Earth. It's an astonishing accomplishment.