Donald Trump has taken presidential politics from the ridiculous, past the sublime, lapped the ridiculous, and is in hot pursuit of the rabidly insane. His statements confound most people, even those who doggedly cling on in support of him. He started with “build a wall” to keep out those Latinos he has labeled rapists, thieves, and murderers. He moved on to Muslims, all of whom he considers terrorists or complicit in terror, so “don’t let them in…” When challenged by the son of a fallen Muslim hero, Trump disparaged the wife and mother, “…maybe she wasn’t allowed to say anything…” In case Hillary Clinton might win against him, he encouraged the “…Second Amendment people…” to “..do something about it…” Locking up “Crooked Hillary” just wouldn’t be enough. That was the last straw for some folks, but Donald wasn’t out of straws. He labeled Barak Obama, sitting President of the United States, “..founder of ISIS”. Even worse, to drive home his assertion that international leaders don’t respect the President, Trump says Vladimir Putin of Russia has used the “N-word” in discussing President Obama, although Trump  is alone in his awareness of this. Now, he’s literally inviting voter intimidation under the guise of concern about fraud, urging Pennsylvanians to “..go into those areas and watch what’s going on, and make sure they don’t vote 5 or 15 times…” Does anyone doubt where “..those areas..” are, or who inhabits them?

What is sad is not the fact that Mr. Trump says these things. What’s sad is that the more of them he says, the more popular he becomes with roughly 40% of the American electorate. Bolstered by talk radio and Fox News, these folks are solidly, even violently behind the notion to “Make America Great Again”, essentially by getting rid of those who can be defined as “other”, or those who would defend them.

Decades ago, in an African nation called Rwanda, the media called out for the Hutu majority to do something about the Tutsi minority. It resulted in husbands hacking wives to death with machetes, and members of the same congregation murdering their fellows at church service, because after all, they were “other”, and you’d be better off without them. Trump hasn’t yet called black and brown people “cockroaches” as the Tutsi were labeled in Rwanda, but is the animus not as recognizable?

The hatred is contagious, extending far beyond the American borders. Italian Olympic gymnasts muse about needing black skin to win contests, as their coach asserts that blacks, not suited for management, aren’t buoyant enough to win at swimming. You see, people watch Fox News all over the world.

Common decency, if not common sense, should compel people to reject these notions and their champion, Mr. Trump, before we cross the threshold of lunacy that plunders the world into turmoil and millions to their grave.