Geez, that just popped up from about 55 years ago. Civil War ditty or something? [edit: How's this for a better title: "Shriekin' Goober Pleas!"]

But that's not my point. I think I'm saying generally the same thing when I say it's not Trump personally, rather he's currently the key that best fits the lock of the pounding hearts of America's right wing authoritarians; and that Trump could be replaced by an approximation in the same demagogic ballpark.

But the incremental process of radicalization is interesting, and probably a good description of what we've seen over the last few decades as the Republican Party's been driven ever-rightward. It proceeded by degrees, one degree of right rudder making possible the next. They built their mob on the shoulders of midgets, politicians and pundits panderers all.

There's no better illustration of your incremental thesis than to hearken back to long ago May, just before Trump jumped in. The Rest of The Pack was yipping and snarling like junkyard dogs, pandering just as viciously, back then attacking gays and gay marriage and voting rights and Iran, with bombs. In their heads. All of them, Katie.

We do live in interesting times. Try for Vulcan-like detachment when you ponder 2016: You may well have a ringside seat at a momentous historical event, watching a chaotic society making the sudden transition from one metastable state to another, radically different state.

We've seen a lot of those over the course of more than half a century. With 20/20 hindsight, I realize that these epochal events have been getting closer and closer the whole time. Catastrophic change may yet turn out not to be something that just happens to other people, and other countries. I'm hearing footsteps behind us, getting closer.

And that's your ghost story for tonight. Time to douse the campfire. [zip]