There’s one Trump supporter a few blocks from my house who, four years ago, put an empty chair in his yard, with a copy of the Presidential shield affixed so his meaning wouldn’t be lost. I had SO yearned to put a binder in that chair–the cover of which would have read “Mitt’s Chicks”–but alas, it would have required taking a few steps onto the chair-owner’s property and nobody seems to be able to find the humor in trespass anymore…

No, I’m not saying the Clintons are saints, just that no one could possibly be as evil as these two have been painted. Not even Richard Nixon. The hatred was seamlessly shifted to the Kenyan, Muslim, Socialist Makaka, but his 2008 and 2012 victories showed that only the Right ever bought into those lurid fantasies either. Remember how astonished the GOP was when they found out that over half the country’s voters never took their Birther nonsense seriously? The narrative they had so carefully constructed and so completely swallowed was only obvious to them, not to anyone else.

To understand 21st century American politics you have to look at it like this. GHWB was a qualified and competent Conservative, but he committed the unpardonable sin of realizing taxes on the rich were too low. He was torpedoed by his own party.

Bill Clinton was wildly popular and his two terms were prosperous and peaceful. The fact Bill was dipping the wick at the office simply wasn’t a hanging offense any more.

Dubya was supposed to be the new Reagan, but he wound up being the new Hoover, instead. And now, it looks like Obama will be remembered as the new Roosevelt, providing something awful doesn’t happen in the Western Pacific, Eastern Europe or the Middle East over the next few months. The Republicans ran two competent and reasonable men against him during his term, but the Right now wants ideological purity and political incorrectness. Well, it got both with Mr Trump.

Right now, the American public is dying to vote for a Republican, ANY Republican, not because Clinton is so bad necessarily, but because the electorate likes to switch parties every few years, just for a change. Any Democrat would already have two strikes against him, or her, regardless of who he or she was. If Trump manages to lose this year it will be a testament to how totally screwed up the Republican Party and the Conservative Movement is, and how completely they have fallen for their own propaganda.

The Trump fans love him, and the Hillary fans love her. Only a minority of voters really hate their party nominee and are only voting for them for ideological, not personal reasons. Democrats might like to think that most “decent” Republicans are embarrassed by Trump, and Republicans have spent years trying to convince themselves Hillary is a gangster and none of the “good” Democrats like her. I believe only one side is saying “we have a lousy choice this year”. The truth is that this election is ideological and represents two governing philosophies, two cultural blocs, two economic and social agendas and two ways of looking at reality, and both are inconsistent and incompatible. I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I’m voting the way I am because I don’t want to live in a country governed by the other side. And I’m convinced at least three quarters of the electorate feels that way too.

In this kind of an ideological divide, bumper stickers and yard signs aren’t going to sway anybody. In fact, I suspect even carefully crafted and meticulously researched TV commercials aren’t going to change too many minds either.

Your second and third reasons make a lot of sense. I know in my case, if my candidate loses, I’m dropping out of sight as far as political allegiances and activity are concerned. I will make myself scarce, and become as invisible as possible. No, its not because I believe the new regime will necessarily start rounding up people like me and start locking us up into re-education camps. But I do believe that people who do feel that way are going to be a lot less reticent about proposing it as a viable alternative.