Shortly after real estate billionaire Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president on June 16, it was reported his campaign paid actors $50 a piece to cheer him as he made his announcement.
I couldn't help thinking: How desperate must someone be to do something like this for only $50?
In his speech announcing his candidacy, Trump said that the Mexicans who were coming to this country were drug users, criminals and "rapists." To make sure his criticism was received in the spirit it was intended, he added: "And some, I assume, are good people."
To Trump's surprise, offense was taken.
Univision, the Spanish-language television network, responded to Trump's comments by saying it would not air the Miss Universe pageant on July 12. Trump is half-owner of the Miss Universe organization.
On Tuesday, Trump filed a $500 million lawsuit against Univision for breach of contract.
Critics, then and now, have assailed Trump as a racist, egomaniacal, self-deluded bully. But this, of course, doesn't tell the whole story. He is also a loathsome, self-absorbed, fear-mongering creep.
But this won't keep him from running for president. Given the state of politics, timing may be on his side. Our contempt for politicians has perhaps no historical precedent.
For instance, the approval ratings for members of Congress is not quite 16 percent, which means they're less popular than pestilence and famine and only slightly more popular than Alex Rodriguez.
How much worse can things become?
They can't get any worse.
We have Donald Trump to thank for that. Thank you, Donald Trump, for showing us what rock bottom looks like.
We've never had anyone run for president who was so contemptuous of our laws and history that he thought our democracy was his own personal reality program.
We've had entitled billionaires run for president before. But there's a difference between Ross Perot and Trump. Perot had a roguish, engaging Ernest T. Bass quality to him -- and, unlike Trump, Perot was a self-made billionaire.
Trump's opinions about blacks are as abhorrent as his opinions about Mexicans. He blames blacks for most of the problems in New York City. To be fair to Trump, he doesn't like most whites either.
Trump believes professional wrestling is real but that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. After Obama released his birth certificate, Trump still wasn't convinced.
Trump's grasp of issues would be idiotic if he were just another right-wing talk radio commentator. But he's a candidate for president. He thinks global warming is real, but that it's untouched by human hands.
Like his comb-over.
Good God, man, you're a billionaire. Fix that mess on your head. And fix that mess that's inside your head.
Thank you for showing us what rock bottom look likes. Thank you for your service to the country. Now drop out of the presidential race.