The Rise of Donald Trump is a big flashing neon sign that something is very wrong in this country

[Cyrano]

9. The ignorant, hateful bigots have always been here,

seething and lurking just outside of the spotlight.

Every few decades, someone like Trump comes along and brings it all out into the open.

In the 1930s, there was the hate preacher, Father Coughlin, who spewed his sewage through the radio for years.

In the 1950s, it was the McCarthy witch hunt for communists which destroyed the reputations and lives of so many good people.

There was Strum Thurmond and then George Wallace appealing to the ignorant, and their malignant message was received far beyond the South.

Rush Limbaugh picked up on the profits he could make from selling hatred. And then Rupert Murdoch joined the game with his Fox "news" poison.

And now, a demagogue is running for president and we're all "shocked." In truth, the GOP has been peddling hatred and divisiveness for decades and Trump just said it clearly, with no niceties, and very loudly. That's how we got here.

You or I have a better chance of becoming president than this buffoon.

The problem we will face is shaming the haters/bigots/know-nothings back into their caves. It will take time, but it will happen.

And Trump will forever be reviled as one more disgusting specimen of humanity who tried to advance himself by tapping into the worst of human nature.

This too shall pass.