Great post!

I have certainly found Trump's tenure to date as both disconcerting and entertaining.

Both are true for me too. The entertaining part has a small silver lining (small): A lot of people are now familiar with the constitution, the amendments, the most important role of each supreme court justice, the checks and balances, the role of the FBI in investigating the president for example which FBI reports to the AG who reports to the president and why it's like that (Ken Star's fault), etc etc. I don't remember a time when millions of people could talk about those things in detail.

On the entertainment level, I have been banned twice by Breithart.com for my Disqus assaults
on the their 'journalism'.

Ohhhhhhh..... Congratulations sister!!!! Ohhhhh would you mind sharing more on that topic???? Would be delicious to read.

They are blind to the way they have been manipulated by elites that are beyond national and party
identity, living in the world of global capital.

I think a lot of people are stating to see what you are referring to when for example they read about Jared Kuchner and his loan (without even any personal guarantees) by the Deutsche Bank whose criminal charges (for fraud, nothing less) in the US were settled right after the election. The Deutsche Bank had also been fined for having failed to report transactions with Russia. Can't wait to read the next leaks from Mueller's investigation about Kuchner (yes, this presidency IS entertaining).

They angrily believe that the reason for U.S. economic decline is Democratic 'libtard' policies and values.

Pure projection syndrome.

England, further along the down escalator of national power than the U.S. and arguably with a
superior educational system,

So, I believe what you say is that even with a superior educational system (which education secretary devos is fighting hard to prevent), the US can't be saved?

There are many Republican politicians that are younger, smarter and more devious than Trump who share his nationalistic racist views.
Fortunately they were not elected president.

An endless supply of trumps emerging in the foreseeable future? We better get used to it. An example of the young trumps is the students of Penn State U who want to bring back the statue of Joe Paterno.

Trump's presidency is an opportunity for each of us to do some 'mental housekeeping'.

trump made a lot of people think, that's for sure. One example is the fact that the EU is now "liked" by 20% more European poll respondents than 6 months ago: They see what leaders like trump can do, they don't like it, and they vote for people like Macron (bless his heart).

In the US though, the increased thinking has enlarged the gap between the left and the right: It's now wider than ever, with no signs of healing any time soon. The more people think, the more they develop defenses and find arguments in their favor. Personally, I find the US to be a toxic environment. A two minute chat with a table neighbor at a coffee shop for example spontaneously generates feelings of "I hate people like you" on both sides: the 2 customers might remain civil and stop talking or change the topic, but the hate is loudly present. According to your post, we better get used to it. I see the same phenomenon on this board: The posters on the right can be momentarily swayed when a very good point is presented by a poster on the left, but it lasts only the time of one post; right away, the poster on the right will come swinging full speed with his racist theories.