It’s rare that we get an archetype as pure as Trump. He’s the apotheosis of greed, its avatar. The brutality, the swagger, the cold-heartedness, the deliberate and constant lying, all to feed his enormous ego: he’s the logical conclusion of basing a culture on the worship of wealth.

How clear does it have to get? Everything about him is so over the top, we hang on to every sliver of breaking news in horrified fascination. This is the worst of America. This is capitalism gone rancid.

Trump is a bully. His answer to everything is to threaten. He’s a spoiled brat who has always cheated to get what he wants, and has never suffered the consequences. He believes that other people are stupid, and his people keep proving him right.

And yet the man has done us a favor. He has shocked us awake.

Democracy is the sleeping giant in America. Theoretically, the government belongs to the people it serves. Theoretically, we can elect representatives to safeguard our interests instead of just shunting more of our wealth to the rich. But 40% of us don’t vote.

Non-voters are largely working class, the very class that has increased productivity and yet lost ground economically ever since the Reagan era. These people have come to believe that all politicians are alike, both parties are owned by large corporations, and their own votes would change nothing. There is just enough truth in these beliefs to make them self-reinforcing. If you don’t believe change is possible, you don’t try to change anything.

In spite of the complete disorganization of the Left, once Trump was elected, women, people of color, immigrants, students, teachers and their friends began to fill our streets in protest. COVID-19 put a stop to street demonstrations. But resistance to Trump’s oligarchy continues online, in ways quite separate from politics as usual. The Democratic party is not organizing protest. Nobody is. It’s happening anyway.

Unfettered greed in the form of anything-goes capitalism has not only ruined millions of lives but is quickly making the earth uninhabitable. When we recognize the crisis, we shake off passivity and begin to fight.

Trump is what happens when Americans abdicate our responsibility. We have been asleep at the wheel. We have to take back control of our country, grab that wheel and change direction. If we don’t stop the greed-heads from running our country, they will run it right over the cliff.

Trump is a symbol of everything this country has done wrong. Democracy is the hope that we can make things right.