I started writing the other day about the fool's errand of deciphering Donald Trump’s supposed plans or strategies behind the tariff policy. Then I stopped.

It's not a strategy, I concluded. We're just seeing a behavioral or operational mode for the president: to generate chaos, fear and hate, and to violate norms and normality. He thrives on this and it wins him free media and social media attention beyond anything ever seen in America.

In light of that, here are my own Top 10 Questions. They mostly come from actual opinion writers and political analysts in credible publications.

  1. Why did Trump win in 2016 and 2024, and why did the Democrats lose in those years?
  2. What’s the strategy behind the on-again, off-again global tariffs, and what is the desired end-state?
  3. When will some Republicans abandon cowardice and complicity to address the egregious lawlessness of the Trump presidency?
  4. Are we, or are we not, in a constitutional crisis? When will we know? Or are we like the frog in the pot of water, slowly coming to a boil?
  5. When will the Democrats find a strategy, message or mode of effective resistance to Trumpism?
  6. Is Trump an unwitting or knowing accomplice in Russia’s campaign against democracy, NATO, Ukraine and Europe?
  7. Why does Trump treat our traditional allies so badly while coddling Putin, Orban, and other autocrats/dictators?
  8. Why do Trump’s MAGA followers believe his lies, especially the most egregious one, the “Stop the Steal” myth/conspiracy theory that he won the 2020 election?
  9. Can the judiciary and the Supreme Court successfully roll back and deter the most egregious overreach of the administration on agency cuts and immigration?
  10. Why do working class Americans continue to swing toward a party that is of, by, and for the billionaires, with policies to match?
  11. And a bonus question: Where did these crazies, crackpots and extremists come from, and how did they find so many outrageous initiatives to launch?

Let’s face it: these are live questions, but can they lead to an insight or concrete action?

And, I know, you have the answers to some of these questions – or have read some answers that speak to you. But not everyone agrees on these answers, or we would have seen an eloquent, effective resistance by now.

To my mind, the questions quietly illustrate a couple of things:

If these are the questions, the answers are few.
How this happened in America is still a mystery.
What is unfolding now is disturbing, but hard to stop.
There is no clear vision of an alternative future that can change the current trajectory of events.

Too many questions, not enough answers, not enough clarity and courage. It’s disturbing, and we can’t normalize it. We need answers soon.