Why This Election Terrifies Me

Last weekend a man who was getting a head start on Halloween attended a University of Wisconsin football game in a costume that depicted Barack Obama with a noose around his neck.

.. He has modeled contempt for civilized norms and even the rule of law, endorsing violence against protesters, expressing admiration for a Russian autocrat, pledging a clampdown on the press, suggesting that Second Amendment enthusiasts might want to take a shot at Clinton, and promising to throw her in jail.

.. But I can’t identify a single issue like that, domestic or foreign, in 2016, because no campaign in my adult lifetime has turned so little on policy and so much on character.

.. it feels as if we’re coming out of this election with four parties:

  1. the Paul Ryan Republicans,
  2. the Freedom Caucus,
  3. the establishment Democrats and
  4. the Elizabeth Warren/Bernie Sanders brigade,

which is raring to use the muscle that Sanders flexed during the primaries for legislation more progressive than anything that the House would ever approve.

.. Trump prophesies a “constitutional crisis.” Republicans raise the specters of “impeachment” and “indictment.” And Rudy Giuliani demands an assurance from Obama that he won’t pardon Clinton, who is favored to win even though only 47 percent of the people who are planning to vote for her can muster any considerable enthusiasm about it.