The Dictator’s New Shoes March 11, 2026March 11, 2026 AT ROOT: INEQUALITY Robert Reich: Why do Americans hate each other while Canadians love each other? Before he entered the White House, 47 percent of Republicans and 35 percent of Democrats said people in the opposing party were “immoral.” By 2022, after years of Trump’s venom: 72 percent of Republicans and 63 percent of Democrats called people in the opposing party “immoral.” Since he’s been back in the Oval, it’s got even worse. . . . As Barack Obama said at Jesse Jackson’s memorial, “Each day, we’re told by those in high office to fear each other and to turn on each other, and that some Americans count more than others, and that some don’t even count at all.” . . . But I can’t help wonder: How much of our distrust and resentment is the byproduct of something more fundamental that’s been unfolding in America for over four decades — something Trump took exploited but that would have invited a hateful demagogue like Trump eventually: the increasing concentration of wealth and power in fewer and fewer hands? Trump took advantage of anger and distrust that had been building for years — at a system increasingly seen as rigged against most of us. Join the Patriotic Millionaires if you are one; their Money Agenda if you are not. THE DICTATOR’S NEW SHOES Trump demands his subordinates wear the same footwear. “All the boys have them,” one female White House official told the Wall Street Journal, and another added that “everybody’s afraid not to wear them.” Join Indivisible! Wear sneakers! Support the opposition! SILT ACCUMULATES Suggested here a whole bunch of times, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (GLDD) is being acquired at $17 on April 1. Hardly much reward after 20 years for some of us, mostly at prices ranging from $3 to $6, but better (as they say) than a kick in the head.