When America's Flaws Rise to the Top

The collapse of civility at Trump's rallies wasn't surprising. It was inevitable.

Chicago made the dividing lines pretty clear.

What's the progression here?

1. Donald Trump starts his campaign for president by accusing Mexican immigrants of being rapists and thieves (and some, he imagined, were "good people").
2. Rather rapidly, he moves on to saying, in essence, "Also, no Muslims."
3. He appears to enjoy protesters at his rallies getting roughed up. "Get 'em out. Get 'em outta here!"
4. He says everything's "a disaster" and that he'll Make America Great Again. His message resonates with angry whites.
5. His message resonates with blacks, Latinos, Muslims, and their white allies, only the opposite way.
6. He keeps up the vitriol and race-baiting for months on end.
7. Black Lives Matter activists begin to crash the party.
8. Not long after declaring "Islam hates us," the party crashes in Chicago, with a precursor earlier in the day in St. Louis.
9. Anti-Trump protesters now have a model to follow. Will they?
10. How will his angry whites react now?

There's no question there's a thing called the Trump phenomenon. And there's no question this phenomenon caused angry whites -- the so-called Reagan Democrats, which actually means the angry whites who moved to the GOP after Nixon executed the Southern Strategy so well -- to gather around his campaign, which has from day one been fueled by resent toward "the other."

So, welcome, America, back to the days when men were men and blacks knew their place. We never got very far from there, did we? It's ingrained in our history as well as, sadly, our national character. We stir it up at our peril.

But, no question, it has been stirred.

"Get 'em outta here. Get 'em out!!" (Then he says, "I'm a unifier." Right.)