Trumping decency

Commentators on both the left and the right are horrified by the spectacle of Donald Trumps' rise to the brink of capturing the republican nomination for president, although for wildly different reasons.  The republican "establishment thinks only of the havoc a Trump presidency will play with their program of tax cuts for the rich, preference for the military industrial complex and business as usual for the 1%.  The mixed signals he sends terrifies these people who are used to candidates who mouth the dog whistles about race and misogyny in order to get elected by the rubes who make up the base of the party.  Once in office, the Reagan, or Bush has for the most part done the bidding of the donor class.  So far, Trump has not taken their money and he shouts out loud the racism and sexism the base so obviously wants to hear.  Should he win the presidency, he is the wild card no one can control.  On the left, the hand wringing involves the passions Trump is unleashing and the divisions he has utilized to build support.  Most of us know the racist, patriarchy is held in check by societal norms and laws which nominally hold back the worst behavior.  The hate and fear is channeled into "2nd amendment solutions"  which encourage gun ownership for self defense against imagined government overreach.    Now we have a mob of well armed vigilantes with allegiance to no one and looking for a cause.  A President who complains to the citizenry he can't enact his program due to obstructionists could well spark the revolution Bernie Sanders advocates, but not quite as he envisioned it.  Instead of a well informed public voting for social democracy, it will be a well armed mob of fascist thugs backing an authoritarian regime.  This vision terrifies me.