Aha!! My sudden flash about why we should be worried.

[Hortensis]

6. Donaldism is above all one of the many populist

movements arising in our nation and around the planet in these uncertain times. You must be right about the "entertainment" aspect for many of those who show up to the rallies, but of course it's the anger that will drive many of these people to the polls.

I've been reading about populism a bit lately for obvious reasons. Every populist movement starts with people prone to blame all their problems on an evil "elite." Sound familiar?

People who think this way are always a part of us, but of course when times are troubled, or it's actually at least somewhat true (such as the growth of extreme wealth inequality in the U.S.), their resentment gains power.

Interestingly, that anti-elite resentment transcends almost all cultural differences and can combine with virtually any "host" ideology to become a political movement focused on taking down the "elites," which always means government. The word is "reform," but much of the energy is unfocused acting out which can endanger not just bad governments but essentially good ones too.

And we should be worried about the need to protect our democracy. Populism is seething on both the right and left in the U.S. Right now truly malignant plutocrats are looking for ways to combine the left and right to create a critical mass that will give them power to reinterpret our constitution. And foreseeing populist failures to win in 2016 also has many populists agitating right now for the left and right to come together to create a voting majority.

It could happen here.