If Biden were put in Hillary’s place, I’d probably vote for him rather than a protest vote. I think a lot of never-trump republicans might be willing to do the same. The problem is the never-trumps are dwindling the closer we get to the election which was totally predictable.

Worst case scenario: During the final debate only a few weeks from election day, Hillary keels over from a fainting spell and hits her head, giving herself another concussion.

and the fate of humanity hangs in the balance…

Whatever Hillary gets accomplished will be ignored, and every one of her shortcomings, real or imagined, will become part of the wingnut litany forever. The Right will be telling us how much worse she was than Obama–regardless of what she does or doesn’t do.

OTOH, a Trump victory in November will give us four years of repeated obvious catastrophes and undeniable embarrassments. By the time he’s finished (if he goes that long), the Republican Party will be doomed and forgotten. Maybe Bernie’s followers were right; better Trump (and the Revolution) than Hillary. Let’s bite the bullet, take the laxative, and get it over with.

Remember Robert Graves’ novel “Claudius the God”? Roman Emperor Claudius is a Republican at heart, but knows the Roman people prefer a brutal and vicious father figure in charge. So he decides to give them one, by disowning his own son and heir and marrying his harpy niece Agrippina (Caligula’s sister and Nero’s mother by a previous marriage). He formally adopts Nero, fully believing when the boy becomes Emperor the Romans will give up on the Empire and go back to being a Republic once and for all.

He does this full well knowing Agrippina will probably assassinate him (Claudius) in order to speed her little boy to the throne. She does, (poisoned mushrooms), and Nero succeeds him. You know the rest of that story. Unfortunately, the Romans never do get their Republic back.

Maybe we’ll be luckier.

No, this won’t cause her to withdraw for health reasons, unless some highly unlikely complications arise.The harm here is that it plays into the false conspiracy theory narrative that Trump and his surrogates have been peddling, and the media has been all to eager to give time to.

Bush the first puked on the Japanese prime minister, and Bush the second nearly fell victim to a lone pretzel…

So there is absolutely no reason this should count against her- but of course it will. Despite the fact that Trump has yet to offer any medical information about himself, it will be Clinton that will be portrayed as covering up…

Despite the fact that Trump has been proven to have broken the law many times, he still gets away with calling himself the law and order candidate, and claims Hillary is the crooked one. Despite the fact that this weekend – for the umpteenth time- Trump’s son tweeted yet another neo-nazi meme, it will be Hillary that is called divisive.

I have no idea how this shit-show will turn out- I do know that a Trump victory would be a mortal wound to our nation, he has made it clear that the constitution is nothing more than an inconvenience to him, that war-crimes are exciting to him, that racism is a tool he will use to pit one group against another for his benefit alone. His bizarre advocacy for Putin SHOULD have the right wing patriots up in arms- instead they politely ignore it.

The GOP probably would have taken a harder line against him- even actively sabotaged him- were it not for the death of Scalia. Instead, now, they tolerate the madman in their midst because they know if Clinton wins and appoints several Supreme court justices their agenda is finished-

So they gamble with the future of humanity- they tell themselves that they can control the monster they have created, and survive another 4 years. But by then the damage will be done.

Assuming that we haven’t gotten engaged in a nuclear war because someone in France insults Trump’s hair, we will have destroyed our international credibility, our allies will no longer trust in our ability to behave rationally, our enemies will know we can be manipulated by fear and stupidity. All attempts to deal with the imminent threat of global warming will be irreparably destroyed by a know nothing president that has declared it a hoax. A president that wants to do away with the DOE:

On top of Trump’s plans to maintain costly programs like Social Security, he’s also proposed a massive tax cut and pledged to balance the federal budget within seven years. Yet anyone who looks closely at Trump’s proposals comes away with the same question: How would a Trump administration pay for all this?

For starters, Moore said, major cabinet-level agencies should be eliminated. Walton asked him specifically about eliminating the departments of Commerce, Education and Energy. Together, these agencies employ an estimated 150,000 people, and they oversee things ranging from nuclear security to federal student loans to the U.S. patent system.

“I’m going to press as hard as possible to [eliminate the agencies],” Moore said. “We’re putting a budget together right now that is going to not only pay for the tax cut, but balance the budget in six or seven years. And to do that, you’ve got to make very significant cuts in those kinds of programs.

“I mean, my God, why do we need an Energy Department?” Moore asked, semi-exasperated. “All the Energy Department has done in the last 25 years is make energy prices more expensive!”

(The DOE runs numerous national labs- including 2 that I worked at)

What has brought us to this dark, ugly place?
Was it the internet that allowed extremists from all points on the political spectrum to congregate and reinforce eachother- allowing for the extreme polarization of our country?
Was it the proliferation of conspiracy theories that found fertile soil on our airwaves and online?
Was it the calculated dumbing down of our media and news services in the name of profit?

Maybe all of the above, but in the end the blame rests on those that willingly gave themselves to what they knew was madness. The useful idiots that knowingly embrace the lies, because the lies make them feel so good- ‘Your failures are not your fault, it is the fault of the poor, the immigrants, the muslims— now look the other way while we give your money to a needy corporation!’

Even more of the blame goes to those that knew better,the true believers that recognized the dangers, but defended the GOP every time it took another step down the road to racism and insanity. Those that know and respect science, yet defended the right’s attacks on science- because the alternative was admitting that their side was wrong- and that could never be allowed. Because WINNING is all that matters, ethics and facts are less important.

We have had the Useful Idiots, and the True Believers here- but now the True Believers have gone silent- they recognize this has blown up in their faces and they recognize their own culpability in this disaster.

May they rot in hell, for they have worked hard to create a hell on earth for others.

If Clinton wins, it will take a Herculean effort to fix all that these bastards have done, if Trump wins nothing will will ever undo the damage he openly promises to do.

This is not Left vs right, red vs blue…. this is about deciding if we will surrender ourselves to ignorance, fear, and bigotry. This is about the survival of our constitutional democracy, and the future of humanity.

I really have no idea. I don’t even know what the rules are for something like that.

I do know we are terrifyingly close to electing Trump… someone that is, by any objective measure, an evil ignorant narcissist supported by an ocean of ignorance and bigotry.

If I thought there was a place on earth that would be safe from the repercussions of that eventuality I would now be looking into moving. Unfortunately there is no hiding place…

More tomorrow… I must sleep, and try not to think of how many nations in history have fallen due to the ignorance of their own people.