It is important to bear in mind that in one respect Trump is a true genius: Branding.

He created the TRUMP brand. He puts the brand on buildings that he doesn’t own; he outsources the brand and monetizes it. There are apartment buildings that he didn’t build, doesn’t manage, and doesn’t own branded TRUMP. As he showed during the primaries, he has TRUMP wine, TRUMP steaks, TRUMP everything.

He branded his opponents in the Republican primaries to ridicule them: “Little Marco,” “Low Energy” Jeb, “Lyin’ Ted.” Anyone who was within reach of him got branded and demeaned.

Then in the general, it was “Crooked Hillary.” How many times did he say that phrase? Hundreds of times? Thousands of times? He said that within the first week of his presidency, he would direct his Attorney General to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her many crimes. What was the chant at his rallies and the National Republican Convention: “Lock her up!”

Now he is in the process of demonizing the mainstream media: the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS: they are all liars, the reporters are the most dishonest people in the world, they spew “fake news.” They lie. All of this from an administration that lies every day and calls its lies “alternative facts.”

Now we see a presidency that has a curious connection to the rest of the world. Trump demeans our allies but says nary a critical word about Putin. Strange.

During the campaign, James Comey announced that the FBI was investigating Hillary’s emails because she used a private server and might have compromised national security. In June of 2016, he announced that the investigation was over and that no prosecutor would prosecute her based on the evidence at hand. Then, as we all know, Comey announced 10 days before the election that the investigation was being reopened because of the discovery of emails on the computer of Anthony Wiener, husband of Huma Abedin, Hillary’s close associate. Three days before the election–after millions of early votes had been cast–Comey once again cleared Hillary. His intervention in the election was unprecedented for any FBI director.

He said he had to intervene because he promised to keep Congress informed.

What he never told Congress was that the FBI was simultaneously investigating links between the Trump campaign and Russian government operatives.

Why did he report on one investigation, but not the other?

What were the contacts that the FBI was investigating?

Why were campaign staff communicating with Russian officials?

Will the FBI investigation be controlled by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, one of Trump’s closest allies?

Why was Hillary smeared as “Crooked Hillary” every day of the general election, but there is no special prosecutor?

Is it true that the President uses an Android cellphone that is not secured?

Is it true that Trump discusses matters of high national security in the restaurant of his private club?

Is it true that the top officials in the Trump administration use private email servers?

Is it true that this administration is “running like a finely-tuned machine”?

We will have to leave these questions for historians to figure out.

Since Trump filed for the 2020 campaign on Inauguration Day, the nation will be in campaign mode nonstop for the next four years.