Shortly after John Roberts, the conservative United States Supreme Court Chief Justice, sided with the Court’s four liberal justices to uphold President Barack Obama’s major health-care reform, he joked that he was leaving the country for the “impregnable island fortress” of Malta. Roberts was referring not so much to the mainstream media’s speculation about the reasons for his surprise vote, but rather to the fury and thirst for retribution among conservative bloggers and pundits.

Indeed, “traitor” was one of their common epithets, as were “coward” and “sellout.” Real-estate mogul Donald Trump, with his customary charm, thought it appropriate to refer to the brilliant and scholarly Roberts as a “dummy.”

The apoplectic rage that followed the Supreme Court’s decision on Obama’s health-care legislation is becoming routine in America’s public discourse, and it is a bipartisan malady. Though it may have started on the left – in response to Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush – it has become increasingly a right-wing phenomenon. Radio personalities like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck (who recently signed a $100 million deal to spew more hatred on the airwaves) dwarf liberal commentators in audience size. The age of information and communications has given way to an age of anger.

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What could Romney’s handlers be thinking when they hyped his connection with Donald Trump — fundraising with Trump, offering supporters the possibility of a meal with Trump, relishing Trump’s attention and endorsement? 

Trump signifies everything Romney presumably doesn’t want people to associate with himself — conspicuous wealth, arrogance, hubris, and a distinct preference for money over all other human values.

Trump, like Romney, represents almost everything that’s wrong with the American economy today — an unprecedented amount of wealth and power at the very top, widespread insecurity and declining real wages for everyone else, and a form of casino capitalism that places huge bets with other peoples’ money and depends on everyone else to bail it out when the bets turn sour.

But wait a minute. Perhaps Romney’s handlers are smarter than they seem. Maybe Mitt has decided to let it all hang out. Rather than try to hide what’s obvious to everyone, the new strategy is to make Romney’s liabilities into assets by flaunting them. Be even bigger and bolder. Money rules!

In fact, they’re mulling an even bigger and bolder move. They recall how Bill Clinton’s choice of Al Gore as running mate in 1992 — someone very much like Clinton — accentuated Clinton’s youthful energy, the new generation he represented, and the new start Clinton wanted to give America.

So they figure Mitt’s choice of Trump as running mate will allow Mitt to celebrate his boundless capacity to make money, the “I’ve got mine and the hell with you” financiers and CEOs he represents, and the social Darwinism that he and the regressive right are convinced will be good for America.

The new bumper-sticker: ROMNEY-TRUMP IN 2012. YOU’RE FIRED!

Donald Trump on Thursday endorsed Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination, a move with little likely impact on voting but rich with billionaire-meets-millionaire symbolism.

"Mitt is tough, he's smart, he's sharp. He's not going to allow bad things to continue to happen to this country," Trump said at an event staged in his own Las Vegas hotel, with Romney and his wife, Ann, standing beside him.

"There are some things you just can't imagine happening in your life," said Romney. "This is one of them."

The sideshow — which included the hint of a double-cross to Newt Gingrich and Trump-size hype — dominated the campaign two days before the Nevada caucuses, where polls show Romney headed toward a Saturday win.

Yet Trump's backing may do more harm than good.

For direct impact on voters, a Pew Research Center survey last month found 20 percent of likely Republican voters said a Trump endorsement would make them less likely to support a candidate, while 13 percent said it would make them more likely to support the candidate.

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In the race for the Republican presidential nomination, the media has focused on a succession of colorful Republican contenders and pretenders: Sarah Palin, Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann, and Herman Cain.

Meanwhile Mitt Romney, still the odds-on favorite to capture the GOP nomination, has entered the “Mittness Protection Program,” avoiding scrutiny whenever possible. As a result, his actual views and record are still largely unknown. Here are 99 facts about Romney you may not have known.

1. As head of the investment company Bain Capital, Mitt Romney laid off thousands of workers.

[CBS News,  01/28/2008]

2. Mitt Romney's advice on the foreclosure crisis: "Don't try and stop the foreclosure process."

[Mother Jones,  10/18/2011]

3. The former Bain Capital managing director said of Mitt Romney's tenure: "We had a scheme where the rich got richer."

[Los Angeles Times,  12/16/2007]

4. Mitt Romney set up shell companies in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda to avoid U.S. taxes.

[Los Angeles Times,  12/19/2007]

5. Mitt Romney calls Obama's payroll tax cut that would save middle class/lower income families $1,500 a year "temporary little band aids."

[Yahoo! News,  10/18/2011]

6. Mitt Romney's first budget as governor included $240 million in fee increases.

[Meet the Press,  12/16/2007]

7. As governor, Mitt Romney made it more expensive to use an ice skating rink, register a boat, take the bar exam, and transport hazardous waste.

[Associated Press, The Boston Globe,  08/28/2007]

8. Mitt Romney's plan for a "middle class tax cut" would provide zero benefits to 73.9 percent of the middle class.

[ThinkProgress,  10/14/2011]

9. In 2008, Mitt Romney proposed a $233 billion "stimulus package" to boost the economy.

[USA Today,  ...