“That liberal literati in the US were, and remain, singularly un-shocked by so much that was awful pre-Trump is troubling. Neither historical accuracy nor political realism is well served by harping on ideals that are blatantly at odds with the actual deeds of a country Martin Luther King once called ‘the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.’ In 2017, we retain this distinction, with a military budget roughly the same size as the next seven largest combined.”