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We've got to get out the vote and try to stop him.

But he didn't come from nowhere. There seems to be a lot of people his "platform" speaks to. This sort of candidate will probably keep coming back like a bad penny. I don't know what it will take to heal this country and make it great again for real.

I'm still hoping that someone from the Republican side steps up as an independent so that they split their party's vote and either Hillary or Bernie can waltz on in. I am terrified of both Trump and Cruz (possibly Cruz even more so than Trump).

Bringing this back up because tonight I'm just really freaked out by all this. This trump thing has reached the point it legitimately scares me. Like, I've read about things leading up to the worst of the nazis and I know we're not there but I could honestly see it happening. And what the ever loving f*** is up with that? How did we get here? How, in this day and age in America, am I genuinely too afraid to go to a protest of an actual possible future president? They pepper sprayed the protesters in Kansas City. I have no idea if the cops were out of line, but that's really immaterial. This is what it's come to. A legitimate candidate offering to pay the legal fees of anyone who gets arrested for assaulting protestors. Protests getting broken up by police. How?!

I just keep thinking that this is what it must have felt like in Germany as Hitler came to power. You just keep thinking it can't be for real and it won't get that bad. But one day they woke up and it was that bad. And surely, SURELY not here. But I do not like what it says about people that he has so much support.

I'm just terrified.

There are several people on my Facebook that support him to a scary point, they refuse any logic, and are incredibly ignorant. I just don't understand, though it speaks volumes that his support comes largely from the uneducated.

I wonder if he's elected and does something illegal, as he's promised to do several times, we can impeach him and wash our hands of this mess? There's no doubt in my mind the democrats will control congress because of the down ballot effect this shitshow will have.

I'm also embarrassed that the rest of the world is watching this.

It's truly terrifying. I was glued to the tv Friday night watching what was going down at the Chicago rally in disbelief. This isn't a partisan issue. It's not happening at Cruz or Rubio or Kasich rallies. This is a Trump issue, and for him to play the victim is so absurd. This video is sort of long but worth a watch.

http://www.vox.com/2016/3/12/11211846/donald-trump-violence-rallies

I read a great analysis that uses census data to analyze what predicts voting for Trump in primaries thus far. Three of the biggest predictors are:

1) Share of population that is white and lacks a high school diploma (positive correlation)
2) Share of population living in trailer parks (positive correlation)
3) Labor force participation rate, particularly for men (negative correlation)

While there are certainly richer or more educated people who vote for Trump, his core supporters are whites without a high school education, living in trailer parks, who have been out of employment for so long that they've given up looking for a job. I assume this is also a demographic that watches a lot of reality TV.

We can ask how people can vote for him, or why now, but basically there is nothing new under the sun. The core of his supporters are at the very bottom of U.S. society, they are scared and angry but oftentimes don’t have the education or worldliness that would allow them to reason through what needs to be done to improve their situation. So sadly, they are voting for the person who in reality probably has the most scorn towards them.

MLK gave a speech after the march from Selma to Birmingham that nailed the problem on the head. He said (more eloquently than I can summarize) that he doesn’t blame poor whites that try to hold back African Americans, because the great con is the politicians who tried to convince them for their own gain that blacks caused all their problems, when in reality it was white politicians’ policies that contributed much more.

Trump is basically the same problem we had in 1965, and in fact, voting for segregationist George Wallace for president is another strong predictor of voting for Trump. And it’s a problem that won’t go away until political leadership stops scapegoating minorities and immigrants for the problems faced by poor whites and does something to cushion the blow for people who are going to get left badly behind as the economy throttles full force into the 21st century. And does more to make sure their kids don’t get left behind – the inequality in education in this country is appalling.

@hb3233: interesting!! Thanks for sharing!

I also just think Trump sees an opportunity where all this anger is and exploits that. I can see how people get sucked in. I've also heard some educated people say they are pro-Trump because he knows how to delegate, which is the most convincing argument IMO. On the topic of failed businesses I've heard the argument made that we need someone who knows when to pull the plug when something isn't working.

I personally if I got to pick would be pro-Kasich, and if HRC was more trustworthy maybe pro-her. So please don't jump to conclusions when I say this, but I don't think he is the *sole* cause of the violence at the rallies. Sure he's definitely part of it, but some of these protesters really are violent. I bet some of them who claim to be BLM aren't even really for BLM. And while I don't blame Bernie I can see how rhetoric on the left and right *both* anger people and divide people. And honestly threads like this where we all sit around and say that people voting for him are either racist or dumb/uneducated probably just make his supporters dig their heels in more. It's unfortunate because I live in a diverse area (as I know many of you do) and although it's by no means perfect, when people mostly just see each other as people, most people really just get along.

@Golden: OMG I thought the same about climate change. Then yesterday I met someone who feels that way and that's about the second person I've ever heard actually say it... I have to admit I'm just trusting scientists here and haven't really read up on it a ton but I was surprised.

@dagret: I did the same thing!

@travellingbee: ugh I know

This is terrifying.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: it's horrifying. I'm so devastated to see that he's won everything but Ohio.

"It's been my intention to make you proud," Kasich told supporters at a rally in Northeast Ohio. "I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land."

Since my man Marco Rubio dropped out, I'm throwing my support behind Kasich, although his odds are slim.

I'm just horrified. And heartbroken that this is the America my children have to live in.