Here is a curious artifact of digital age. Behold a grainy billionaire, Donald Trump, earnestly incensed, exhorting the President of the United States to carry out a military operation on foreign soil, barking the words into a smartphone held by a trembling assistant.The camera shakes, the Donald frowns, then comes the entreaty, "President Obama help those poor families get their girls back, and do it fast, before it's too late," then it is posted on Instagram.And what of the intent? Does Trump perhaps actually believe that this will be transmitted into the White House, where an aide will observe it, nodding with furrowed brow, taking notes? Might he honestly think he is affecting policy? That he is sincerely helping those kidnapped Nigerian girls? Does he merely anticipate the cheers of his irascible followers? Or does he not think and merely act, his greasy ego teased out by tens of thousands of followers, so that he is incapable of recognizing his delivery is indiscernible from the thousands of other ruddy-faced malcontents issuing advice to the president on social media?It will remain forever nebulous.As will whose shaky hand gripped this iPhone, or is it a Samsung Galaxy? A sympathetic co-conspirator, or an intern barely restraining an eye-roll? What is the smartphone of the super-elite, anyway? Would the blustery magnates of the 1980s ever have considered videotaping themselves delivering political advice, and mailed the tape to the White House?Probably not. But Donald Trump isn't just any magnate, which would be clear to any future historian from this Instagram post alone. He doesn't even use a filter.
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