When it seemed implausible that Donald Trump could win the Republican nomination, his endless barrage of crass insults, his ignorant demonization of immigrants and Muslims, and his total absence of knowledge on any issue, could be seen as fodder for good political comedy.
But now that he is in the lead for the nomination, and his rallies have tapped into the violent rage of some of his supporters, Donald Trump is no longer funny. He is scary.
Trump has reawakened the darkest, most hateful and most sinister people in our country and is inciting them not only to hate, but to physically punish anyone who doesn't support Trump. And with Trump blaming Bernie Sanders for the largely peaceful protesters at recent rallies, he has encouraged his followers to direct their ignorance, and violent rage towards Sanders and his supporters. This is unprecedented in our country's history. This is far from politics as usual. In fact, it is far from politics.
Trump is cultivating a modern day lynch mob that could possibly kill Americans in the coming days of this pathetic and depressing campaign. He has appealed to the worst in all of us and brought out the worst in Americans who had never been involved in previous elections. The increased turnout is good news only to those who want to have more racists, homophobes and white supremacists voting. Beyond the violence at his rallies, students have defaced the stately Alice Millar Chapel at my alma mater Northwestern University with racist, anti-semitic and homophobic comments and the name "Trump" scrawled on the chapel's organ and walls. Trump has pledged to pay the legal fees of the white supporter who punched a black man at a rally and then said "we might have to kill him next time". Trump himself has vowed to punch protesters in the face.
The mainstream media has forsaken all journalistic integrity by enabling Trump with wall to wall coverage, and asking very few tough, challenging questions. Because all the cable news networks care about is that their ratings for debates, and for primary coverage, has hit historic heights. So to them, the darling of white supremacists and the worst people in America, is their guy.
What must happen now is for Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich to hold a news conference and declare they will not support Donald Trump if he wins the Republican nomination. Every other Republican official as well as Republican Senators and Congressmen must stand up and say that Trump does not reflect the values of the Republican party.
Donald Trump must be stopped now. And only Republicans have the power to do that.