At least since Isaac Newton formulated his laws of motion, we've understood that every effect can be explained by its cause. This insight was a radical break from more primeval beliefs that things just happened or resulted from the will of often inscrutable deities and phantasmatic beasts.

Trump opponents reject this foundation of science and logic. Going beyond their grotesque comparisons of him to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, they now cast Trump as a mythical beast – like Golem, Leviathan, or Kraken – who wreaks whirlwinds of destruction without prodding.

Trump's chief primary opponent, Nikki Haley, says that "chaos" accompanies him. Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan argues that "impeachments, embarrassments, scandal, [and] 1/6" follow in his wake. Democrats and their stenographers at once-great news organizations say Trump's description of his enemies as "vermin" upon whom he will seek "retribution" is proof that he plans to rule as a murderous dictator.

In their telling, all of this has come out of thin air – the uncaused cause and inevitable result of Trump's movement across the landscape. Like the winds and thunderclaps of yore, he unleashes himself upon an innocent people. The tumult is solely a reflection of his evil nature. This is superficial to the point of being laughable, but it's the story they're telling.

Trump is not the cause of this uproar. The behavior they deem beyond the pale and disqualifying is largely the effect of the vicious and dishonest attacks they have leveled against him since he announced his candidacy in 2015.