If the Koch bro formula for the nearest practical thing to utopia actually did produce the nearest practical thing to utopia, we pragmatists would take it more seriously. But it doesn’t. In real life, on the ground here in the good ole USA, it doesn’t. So we don’t.

What the Koch bro formula for the nearest practice thing to utopia actually produces is a further concentration of “freedom” in the hands of the already very, very free. For far too many of the rest of us, it bleeds freedom away and leaves bitterness in its place.

Yesterday, as you might have heard, a rightwing wag named Dinesh D’Souza came to Trump’s rescue on a matter of pronunciation. Trump — clueless and reading a teleprompter at an event — saw the word “Thailand” and pronounced it “thigh-land.” D’Souza, who is tight with Trump — especially after Trump pardoned him out of the blue for an election law violation — tweeted that the word “Thailand” is in fact pronounced “thigh-land” quite commonly in the English-speaking world.

News to me! I’ve never heard anyone — as in, anyone — pronounce it that way. D’Souza presumably is well aware of this, and he’s merely doing his schtick, being all rightwing contrarian to “own the libs.” Which brings me to my point. For plenty of people in public life, I think, what matters most is the brand. They’ve made themselves into a brand, and what they say and do must be consistent with the brand. Integrity and truth are fine if they happen to dovetail with the brand. D’Souza is a brand.