My 8-year-old granddaughter knows not to call people names or make fun of someone's looks, and she rarely makes funny faces when she hears something she doesn't like. So, she already displays more maturity and readiness for the presidency than does Donald Trump. (She lived overseas for two years, so there's a good chance she knows more about foreign affairs than Trump, but I'll give that to him for now.)
I had been inclined to hold Donald responsible for the incessant stream of elementary schoolyard personal insults, jutting chin arrogant responses to anyone who challenges him, and the other bile and gibberish he has gotten away with for the past three months, but now, well, it is time to blame his supporters.
If Barack Obama went around the country saying the American dream was dead, that the nation was in deep trouble, and that we are not great anymore, as Donald often does, Trump's fans would demand the President's (what they all seem to believe is his Muslim) hide. But when Donald rambles incoherently about how bad things have become in America, they cheer. Loudly.
Donald is given a free pass by his backers no matter what he does or says or doesn't say -- such as pretending not to hear a supporter's question about getting rid of Muslims. This is a candidate who could hear a compliment about him in a category 5 hurricane, but doesn't hear an offensive, hateful question shouted from a man a few yards away from him? Really?
Trump's ignorance and/or disinterest in matters of substance from immigration to foreign policy to childhood immunizations is by now so well documented that anyone willing to let him slide is likely as ignorant or disinterested as he.
Enter the cheering throngs at his events. Donald doesn't offer anything other than anger, xenophobia and the promise of easy fixes for hard problems through his yet-to-be named network of America's smartest people. And yet. The crowds he draws love everything he says.
I know some Trump backers personally, and have spoken with them enough to know that trying to pin them down about what they like about the guy is futile. They like his political incorrectness. They like his honesty. Huh? They don't admit it, but they like his anger and his repeated denigration of those already marginalized in society.
And what many of Trump's supporters say -- I have to be sitting down when I write this -- is they like that Trump is "one of us."
(My moderate longtime Republican friends are very uneasy about Donald and keep hoping John Kasich or Marco Rubio can break out of the pack.)
This guy is less "one of us" than any other candidate in the field. Of all the surreal contradictions swirling around Trump's ascendancy, this "he's one of us" mantra is the most amazing.
Ben Carson, Chris Christie and John Kasich came from humble backgrounds. Mike Hucakbee and Scott Walker are more "men of the people." Even Carly Fiorina and her overblown "secretary to CEO" tale is more relatable than Trump.
So his supporters can't possibly see themselves in him. Can they? They genuinely seem to think he can relate to them. Trump wouldn't socialize with his bubbling supporters unless he got lost in a tough neighborhood and he thought they could help him navigate out.
(One might argue his crowd admires his wealth and success, but telling people as he often does that the American dream is dead hardly is inspiring to those sad souls who want to be like Donald.)
So what does Donald offer his supporters? The only thing that seems to resonate (the most overused word in modern politics) is anger.
Donald gives them an acceptable outlet to vent their anger. Seconds after his goons ushered Jorge Ramos out of Donald's press conference, a Trumpite angrily told Ramos, a respected journalist and an American citizen, to "get out of my country."
Would he have said that had Trump not essentially given the man his blessing by telling Ramos right before that to "go back to Univision"?
Trump offers nothing to supporters other than the coziness of being in the club of people who can spew venom openly and often.
That is why Trump's invective always comes back to immigration. That is why those in his corner are fine that there are no specifics behind the ridiculous claims of simple solutions. That is why they don't find it odd that Donald doesn't hear a question about getting rid of Muslims.
So yes, Donald is responsible for lighting the match and stoking the fire, and for that, hopefully, he will be held accountable at some point.
But the millions who gleefully gather kindling for this growing bonfire are now more worrisome than the man who initially brought the torch.
Earlier on Huff/Post50: