How anyone who watched last night's debate could continue to support Donald Trump is a mystery.  The man is a bundle of character flaws, large and small.  His behavior betrays his megalomania, his narcissism, and his venal, childish hostility to anyone who dares to disagree with him.  He lies so often his opponents on the debate stage could not begin to counter them all.  

This man should never, never become the president of the United States.  He has never matured beyond the lower elementary school age, and given today's tyranny of political correctness that regulates how even toddlers in pre-school must conduct themselves and restrict their speech, Mr. Trump would very likely be expelled from any pre-school in the country, let alone a high school or university.  The man is the worst America has to offer, an example of the gross deterioration of our national culture.

That this man has a following is a permanent black mark on our nation.  Support for "The Donald" relegates us to just a few degrees separate from those who celebrated Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Juan Perón, or any other tyrant who came to power via a cult of personality, no matter how warped his character.  Has our educational system failed so badly that we have been brought to our knees by an obvious charlatan?  Have we become a reality show nation?  It seems that we have indeed.  We elected Obama twice; Trump would be the natural successor to Obama's duplicity and disdain for our founding document.  It is a safe bet that Trump has never read the Constitution and has not a clue how profound it is.

Mr. Trump offers no specifics as to how he will fulfill his many lofty promises to "make America great again."  In every debate, he betrays his lack of knowledge of all things foreign, domestic, and economic.  He is thoroughly ignorant of the Constitution (as is Hillary) and American history in general.  He has no grasp of the complexities of the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli conflict, or how our fine military functions.  His braggadocio on all these things is painful evidence of his ignorance.  The man is dangerous.

One has only to write a word or two critical of Trump to discover how mind-numbed and vitriolic his supporters can be.  They no longer think critically; they attack, insult, and demean just as their idol Mr. Trump does.  Their weapon against dissenters is vicious invective that proves their inability to think critically.  They never consider the possible validity of Trump's critics' justifiable unease.  They just go verbally for the jugular.    

The left in America has, over the past forty years or so, become ever more radical, more willing to overturn the Founders' intent, to "transform" the country to its socialist vision of equality of outcome rather than equality of opportunity.  This will never happen; no government can legislate the sameness, the mediocrity, of its populace.  The left has long had control of the media and academia.  Anyone paying attention can see the damage it has done to every level of our polity and culture.  That Donald Trump is the likely nominee for president as a Republican is the saddest commentary; it is Obama's dream come true, his gift, and the certain death of the Republican Party and possibly our once great nation.