We have a dangerous/deadly/psychopath occupying the presidency.

We have a criminal Republican Party that will go along with any evil. Literally, ANY evil.

And we have a minority of hateful, vicious, incredibly ignorant people, who are now in control of America.

How did this happen? Gerrymandering, voter suppression, "lost" voter registrations, "lost ballots," physical intimidation, directing people to the wrong polling places, police (in some states) blocking roads to voting sites, laws against early voting, demanding to see long lost birth certificates, intentionally creating eight-hour-long voting lines, closing polling sites in "selected" districts ... damn ... do I really need to go on?

We know how countless black/brown/and "other" Americans are kept from voting, or having their votes ignored, "lost," or just plain stolen and shredded. We know how the Republican Party keeps a minority in power. We know that America is fucked until we can put an end to the criminal organization called the GOP and replace them with an honest, worthy opposition party.

And then add Russian interference into our elections, and what do we have?

We have a Republican majority that is, (with the help of our enemies), successfully fucking America, and trying to destroy the very concepts of democracy/individuality/personal choice/and freedom itself.

Those who vote to keep them in power are fools who are destroying their own lives. Those of us who vote against them are playing against difficult odds that we must overcome.

Perhaps, just maybe, if a massive number of us show up to overwhelm them at the polls, and therefore win the presidency, we will have pulled back a bit from the edge. But even with the presidency and the House, we won't win the Senate. Republicans have rigged more states than we can overcome at present. And that will prevent us from moving forward in so many ways. Especially in the courts. the Supreme Court included. (Remember that the Senate is controlled by some of the worst pricks imaginable.)

The road ahead of us is long, difficult, and probably very ugly. But no decent person can or should ignore it, avoid it, or give up and turn away.

I'll end this rant on a positive note. I believe that we, together, will eventually succeed in making the world a better place. Why? How? Call it "faith" or some such. I'm a devout agnostic, but my instincts and observations of the better attributes of human nature, lead me to believe that the laws of the universe are balanced, immutable, and perhaps even what we might call "sane."

(Edited for grammar/spelling)

We're seeing it up close and personal. It's been building for decades. And it has now come to the point where between 30% to 40% of Americans are eating shit and believing it's sirloin.

Germany, in the early 1930s, was an "advanced" country by most metrics. But during a period of a few short years, they plunged into barbarism. They turned from the future to the past. They embraced a self-destructive nationalism. They were manipulated by a small group of clever/malignant people who were seeking absolute power. And hatred of "The Other" was one of their major tools. -- Not every German bought into it. But enough did.

The majority of Americans denounce/reject Trumpism. But you don't require a majority to succeed. All you need is just enough people to buy the snake oil/drink the Kool-Aid/believe the well-packaged hate/spread the poison/become infected with the disease/despise their fellow human beings.

Not only can "it happen here." It's been happening here, in slow motion, for about 50 or more years. In short, John, Martin and Bobby are dead and Nixon's "Southern Strategy" has spread throughout the land to the ignorant everywhere. (Hatred, bigotry and ignorance don't recognize state lines.)

Perhaps the biggest lesson humanity can learn from this era is that bigotry/hatred outweigh self-interest. Those being hurt most by Trumpism are the MAGAs. Yet, they seem to have no problem fucking up their own well being, as long as they can "get the THEMS."

Does this tell us that hatred of "The Other" is stronger than self interest? I can't say for sure, but it certainly seems so. And if that's true, it makes humanity a suicidal species.

Disagree with this? Well, take a look at some old photos of what Germany looked like in 1945 after the civilized world bombed them into total rubble.

No one is going to bomb us back into the stone ages. But when/if another world war occurs, it will last for perhaps a few hours and then, humanity will be over. We will have turned out to be an evolutionary mistake.

Republicans refuse to learn from history. What about the rest of us? Have we learned? Do we finally "get it?" And the biggest question of all: What are we going to do about it?

The Republican propaganda machine.

For the past three or four decades, the Republican propaganda machine has established how the country, and tens of millions of uninformed Americans, view Democrats.

Hilary was demonized from the moment she set foot in the White House in 1992. The GOP machine spent 24 years attacking her and turning her into "A horrible witch/bitch who must be hated." That's why she lost. And, yes, Russia, gerrymandering, and "lost votes" helped, but it wouldn't have worked without that built-in hatred.Those who hate her can't tell you why they hate her. But they just know they hate her.

Obama was demonized by the "birtherism" bullshit. He's the only president to ever have to present his birth certificate, and then it was called a fake. Forcing the president of the United States to show his birth certificate? I'd say that's a pretty powerful propaganda steam roller.

And at this very moment, Robert Mueller is in their cross hairs and they're trying to turn him into a horrible, lying, piece of shit before he appears to testify in front of congress. And who knows? They may succeed.

The majority of Americans really don't pay much attention to politics until it's pretty close to an election. But they hear the background noise, the rumors, the lies, and they just aren't informed enough to know they're being manipulated.

The Democratic Party has had its collective head up it's ass for those past three or four decades. They've let the Republicans control the story line, the images, the views, the way people think. And now we are on the edge of American fascists running everything because the Dems, we, didn't counter them, attack them, stop them.

Until the Democratic Party as a whole recognizes that they're up against a ruthless, lying, dug-in enemy who intends to win at any cost, nothing will change.

The Republican Party has declared war on the Constitution, and therefore, America. So what are we going to do about it? And when are we going to do it?

My biggest fear is that it may be too late.