reality that opened the door for an authoritarian thug like Trump to enter US politics and legitimized the brand of grievance-based, xenophobic bile that defines his political movement in the eyes of half the country. I realize that probably wasn’t what you were going for, but this whole notion of cities under siege, invading hordes of illegal immigrants, and the “alternative” being some kind of hellscape that looks like a mash up of the Purge, Escape from New York, and 1984 only exists on that particular plane of “reality.”

I’d add that one of my biggest pet peeves is excusing Trump supporters on this lazy notion that well paying blue collar jobs got “sent overseas”. Trump supporters are by and large not even working class — mostly the undereducated middle class (small business owners), people who work in mid tier corporate jobs and folks who are rich but generally less worldly and more hostile to diversity and change (some might even use the r word). There also is this “bad boy” appeal to much of America who just hate politicians and prefer a strongman goon who can “make things happen” without all the mealy mouthed platitudes and robotic political speak, but that’s about as salt of the earth as Trumpism gets. Most everyone I know who supported him knew damned well they made a faustian bargain but are either so poisoned by their version of media or just fed up with democracy they don’t care.