What got into everyone?

You really have to ask yourself that. You see the nonsense (toxic nonsense, but nonsense all the same) that is the Trump campaign and you have to ask--what got into everyone? I don't think that everyone in the middle of the country is a hick, or a redneck, or an imbecile, or even a bigot. For one thing, I'm too smart for that and for another, it never does to underestimate people. Part of my husband's family is from Kansas and Missouri, and you would think that they would be the most flagrant of all in their conservatism, but they're not. So don't judge. And it's not even the "Make America Great" again thing (but seriously, did they pick that slogan out of a hat?) but it's the complete and utter nonsense now that Trump is spewing. It's his Twitter rants. It's the LIES. Lies that can be disproven in the wink of an eye, the snap of a finger. What is WRONG with everyone? Not that there was much to choose from in the field of candidates, Republican edition, at the beginning, but they had to go for the fourth carbon of P.T. Barnum? Who was probably more truthful himself, even as he was pitching the circus. I am mortified for my country. I am so glad that I am not going to be abroad, specifically Germany, until after the election, because I have no desire to try to explain something I don't understand in German, slightly buzzed, in a place with very bad acoustics (a bar, a beer hall, you get the idea) to someone who wants to hold me personally responsible for Donald Trump. Hey, I'm a registered Democrat who didn't even vote in the primary because I truly couldn't decide between Bernie and Hillary. I have become an obsessive stalker of the Five-Thirty-Eight page, and I especially like the "who would win right now" part. I keep waiting for Trump to go below 10%. Doesn't look like it's going to happen, but I keep waiting. But he's like every bad thing about America rolled into one big orange package with a fright wig on top. I can't even list it all, but he's it. He's bombastic, germophobic (which must make him really great at pressing the flesh), greedy, poorly-informed, opinionated, xenophobic, has a tin ear for almost anything....it goes on and on. And of all the politicians in America, he's what the Republicans came up with to run for president. It boggles the mind. Hillary....well, it was certainly her moment to run. She's certainly got her faults, but I do not see them as grave as those of her opponent. Is she less than honest? Well, not really, according to the fact checkers, but I do think she has a tendency to at first prevaricate, which then looks bad. Her husband is certainly a philanderer....but that's not her fault and if she chooses to stay with him, that's her business. Is it for political gain? If it is, it's certainly no different than John Kennedy, who banged everything that walked and stayed with Jackie because he was smart enough to know that an upper-class wife who spoke perfect French and was endlessly chic and photogenic was an asset. But I digress. I don't even really have anything big to say tonight other than--you must be kidding. You're kidding, right? Jeb Bush is really the nominee, and you've been stringing us along all this time. Or someone! I'd take Marco Rubio at this point, even though I think he'd set women back a million years and other than that I don't agree with one thing he says. I hate this. I really hate this. I hate what my country has become. I hate that there is so much ugliness right below the surface and that honestly, it took so little to bring it out. I have always believed, truly, that America is great because she is good...but I'm really starting to wonder about the good.