David McElroy

The letter came by email. No name. A subject that said only, “Hello from the Past.” Just a message from a ghost who knew how to open old wounds.

It was only three paragraphs long, but I kept coming back to the final sentences.

“I will always love the man who loved me best, even though you won’t believe that and even though I’m sure you feel nothing for me now,” the letter said. “I miss your love and attention more than anybody knows.”

There was no signature. No clue. Just quiet regret and longing, poured out across an anonymous digital connection. There was no anger. No accusation. I keep reading the words over and over, wondering which woman wrote them — and wondering why she needed to send this.

She said she had run across a photo of me online which had triggered old feelings. She said she tries not to think about me anymore.

“You’re still a fire that draws me and now I can’t touch that fire, so I shouldn’t even look and let myself be tempted,” she wrote. “I feel this mostly when it’s late at night and I allow my brain to stop processing the distractions of my normal life. It makes me feel the almost uncontrollable urge to pick up the phone and call you again, but I know you probably wouldn’t want me to do that and probably wouldn’t answer if I did call.”

But who is she?

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By now, it should be obvious to anyone with a functioning moral compass and a shred of intellectual honesty that Donald Trump is not a conservative. He never was. He never will be.

Trump is not a defender of tradition or a protector of liberty, much less a champion of moral decency. He is a narcissistic liar whose entire political identity is built on the cultish appeal of populism — a dangerous, tribal nationalism that has replaced principle with grievance and replaced wisdom with obedience to his sick ego.

He is a con man with a narcissist’s lust for power, a pathological liar whose every instinct tilts toward authoritarianism and a demagogue whose only consistent ideology is self-worship. The American right has been hijacked — not by a champion of conservative principles, but by a dangerous populist who sells emotional sugar to the angry and fearful. And millions have bought this poison.

It’s time to stop pretending. Trump is not Ronald Reagan reincarnated. He’s not even George W. Bush. He’s not interested in smaller government, individual liberty or constitutional fidelity. He’s interested in himself — his image, his control, his personal vengeance. If you think he’s fighting for your freedom, he’s fooled you. He’s fighting for your loyalty so you’ll protect him.

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I’m not sure whether I’m more impressed by the technical proficiency of the software developers behind ChatGPT — or if I’m more alarmed by the dystopian future that I see such software leading to.

What we call “artificial intelligence” is nothing but software. It isn’t intelligent. It has no consciousness. It has no actual awareness or understanding of what it produces. It’s just lines of computer code written to produce material that mimics human behavior. If you think of AI as some form of semi-consciousness, you’re buying into science fiction. This is nothing but software written by clever people — and it’s nowhere near as “smart” as you’ve been led to believe.

But AI software — such as ChatGPT and its competitors — is getting better and better at spitting out content that mimics what a human might have created with real thought. And I think this is dangerous.

As an experiment, I asked ChatGPT to create an essay in my own writing style. I didn’t give it a subject. This is the only instructions I gave the software: “Write an 800-word essay in the same style used by the writer of davidmcelroy.org.”

The results shocked me.

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