A Question of Causation

What are we to infer from the photo here?  Do bankruptcy and divorce lead to drinking, or does drinking lead to bankruptcy and divorce?

These are important questions because of their connection with the current-day political s***-show in American politics, where we’re wondering if Trump is the cause of our social malaise or simply a symptom.

We live among tens of millions of hateful, selfish morons, but:

Have Trump’s horrific values encouraged them to be visible and to expand in number, or

Did something else cause them to grow in number, and Trump came along at precisely the right time to be the beneficiary of their votes?