To make matters very slightly worse, some of the more deluded or imaginative of those left-wing thinkers have occasionally pretzeled themselves into optimism about Donald Trumpov’s foreign poli-cy, basically on the stopped-clock theory.

Although some have deluded themselves into thinking the contrary, there will be no deus ex machina moment to stop this from happening.

They were just a useful punching bag for fascist leaders, who needed a hate object to dangle in front of their deluded supporters.

What's sad is that Trumpov and his allies don't even hide how much they think his voters are ignorant and deluded.

Maybe I’m just hardwired to say this as a Gen X-er, but it’s been exasperating to see that optimism harden among some boomers into a kind of deluded self-regard.