"Give Us Trump!"

If real-life current events were unfolding as a work of fiction, the aggrieved masses would be demanding retribution. With cops assaulting dark-skinned young people in front of recording devices and bodies hanging from trees in various parts the country, the people's cries for an accounting would resonate. Reform measures--budget reductions, extensions of legal liability, armament cutbacks--would be far lower on their agenda. Some would be demanding police lives by way of rough justice.

If real life were a work of fiction, there would be a widespread conviction among the citizenry that the sociopathic president of the fictional nation depicted had incited and sanctioned the violence of officers toward dark-skinned people. Above the law in the fictional account as in real life, the leader would see mobs gathered outside his residence. They would come every day to denounce him and demand retribution. After some days, they would defy curfews and conduct round-the-clock vigils. They would accuse him of being responsible for murder.

Protesters would be removed and jailed, but there would be new arrivals every hour of every day to take their places. There would be speeches and spectacle. With each new report of police brutality, the mob's demands would mount.

It wouldn't be long before the leader would fall into panic over the prospect of violence directed at him personally. There would be intense pressure on the people around him--bodyguards, advisors, family members--to honor their legal obligations and abandon him. A time would come when the mob would resolve to indict the leader himself, put him on trial and put him to death following his conviction.

The case against the leader would be as compelling in the fictional account as it is in real life. The media would resist efforts to bring them into the lynch mob, but they would eventually have to concede that justice should prevail. A gallows would be erected within view of the leader's residence.

Of course, none of this can happen in real life. Retributive justice is not popular with us, even in the case of villains who are above the law. Don't hold your breath waiting for a crowd to chant, "Give us Trump."