It's gone way beyond bizarrely amusing and creepily fascinating, this elevation of an unpleasant TV figure to someone whose flagrantly wrong-headed thinking now defines and illuminates a major political party-- and stands as a beacon of hope to just about half of the American public, if you peruse the ever more frightening public opinion polls.

Being an utter asshole used to be something shameful. One tried to hide it or deny it, or at least to employ some social obfuscation and cloak it in political doublespeak. These days, huge ("yuuuge"?) numbers of the morally defective have decided that it's perfectly acceptable to flaunt their rampant assholism, and have lined up proudly behind this glaring example of nearly everything that is wrong with humanity, unacceptable in public behavior and disgustingly abhorrent in representing oneself as a "True American".

"That rich asshole says it's O.K. to show what depths of contempt you have for civil, decent conduct; for manners and decorum, for simple good taste and behavior. He's famous and popular, so it MUST be all right! Yaaayyy! Fuck political correctness! To hell with being nice! We're finally free to shout in people's faces and wave our fists an inch from their noses if we feel like it! No more restraint! No more being told that we have to be polite! Fuck all you foreigners, non-Christians, different- colored immigrants, uppity women, pussy-whipped liberals, and everybody else who disagrees with us!"

How embarrassing, how revolting! How sad and shameful it is to see so many embrace this contemptible display of crude, thin-skinned, petty, mannerless, boorishness. I was one of those who actually laughed out loud when I heard Trump was going to run. I am currently slack-jawed with horror at the wrenching, violent turn away from sanity the country has taken in the wake of that grotesque stunt. Make America Great Again? Take our country back? Back to... what? Back... when? To the greatness of slavery or the subjugation of women? That wasn't great; it was utterly sad and clearly wrong. Back to a time when rich, white people could dictate everything to everyone? To the days when wealthy businessmen could run roughshod over any opposition to their wildest dreams of avarice? Uh... that's still the norm-- though Godnose we keep struggling to supplant it with fairer, more inclusive laws and programs.

I'm glad that we, as a country and as a society, have managed to move (albeit too slowly) toward a place where women, minorities, immigrants, non-heterosexuals, the disabled-- previously outcast, discounted, ignored, shunned, marginalized members of society-- have a fighting chance, a fair shot by law, at their share of The American Dream. I applaud it, wholeheartedly. Others are threatened by it and horrified at the popularity that sort of thinking has gained as we move collectively toward a saner reality. These mental midgets and moral lepers are the people who embrace and revel in Donald Trump's vision for our future.

The poster child --and I say "child" advisedly; he acts like a petulant, spoiled brat who is angry because his constant, vitriolic, nasty behavior hasn't gotten him exactly what he wants and so we have to witness tantrum after tantrum as he spirals into newer and more stupefying levels of hateful, spittle-flecked hysteria-- for this ugliness is a crude, misogynistic, racist, xenophobic boor with a bad spray tan and a ludicrous comb-over. A loudmouthed, bullying, vulgar know-nothing whose demeanor and go-to public persona is that of a drunken, surly, red-faced crew boss bellowing across a loading dock at some minimum wage underlings who aren't performing to his standards. How grotesque and embarrassing a representative he is for America. I am completely ashamed of him, and of us, for putting him forward as a choice to lead us in the world. He is NOT the face we need to show the rest of humanity. He represents the absolute worst among us.

His behavior toward anyone who dares to disagree with him, to challenge him, who may call him out on his lies and his abusive, repulsive, provocative pronouncements embodies all the class and charm of someone who deliberately unleashes a prolonged wet fart in a crowded elevator. He's EXACTLY that appealing.

In my nightmare, I'm on that elevator, and as I try to make my way to the front of the car, I realize that it's full of people wearing MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN caps. My initial reaction (I'd like to think it's also that of every other sane human being) to his deliberate choice of behavior is: "Good lord! Did that really just happen?" This is followed by: "What the hell was THAT all about? That was soooo disgusting!" Immediately on the heels of that comes: "Un-fucking-believable! Nobody else seems bothered by this in the least!" I check my pants cuffs and shoes to see if I got any on me. "I need to get the hell out of here, NOW." I struggle toward the doors, but... all these Trump fans are in the way. They're content to push every button on that elevator panel and to happily ride up and down with this asshole all day long, as he does it over and over and over again! I leap for the maintenance hatch overhead, shimmy up the greasy cables and escape through the doors on the next floor up.

Enjoy yourselves on your prolonged, moist, flatulent, up-and-down-again journey, all you Trump fans. He's got the lack of ethical/moral restraint, the florid psychosis and the intestinal wherewithal to keep you all amused indefinitely. You really, really deserve the ride. The rest of us have better things to do.

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