Washington burning: Trump’s bitter path to the White House

There's a brilliant scene in the Alan Parker film Mississippi Burning where Gene Hackman’s grizzled and world-weary Rupert Anderson delivers a monologue about his father. The scene begins with Anderson’s younger, more earnest colleague, Alan Ward – an equally terrific Willem Dafoe – asking “where does it come from? All this hatred".

Pausing thoughtfully, Anderson replies with the tale of his father’s wounded pride and jealousy upon discovering that his neighbour, an African American, had procured a mule. The tale ends with Anderson’s father poisoning the water and killing the mule, and his chilling excuse to his son: “If you ain’t better than a n*****, son...who are you better than?”