That Trump is not a fully human being is not the issue, the world is filled with subhuman people. Some are evil, some are just sick, some carry the scars of an abusive upbringing or a harsh life, some have simply not been properly raised. There are medical and psychological reasons for this, I suppose, but its not surprising that there are people like this. Some are just born that way, they're the outliers on the bell curve. A certain percentage of us are just no damned good. We've all known them, or heard of them. Trump's shortcomings as a balanced, real, human soul are not necessarily the results of his politics or his ideology. If we're honest with ourselves, I'm sure we can think of real monsters who we may even admire for other reasons, their intelligence, artistic achievements, athletic prowess, their charisma or their charm.

But you're right, the real mystery here is his followers. Surely they can see what we see, surely they must understand how flawed this man is. I can visualize a political leader I would follow loyally, but would I accept this kind of behavior from him? Maybe I'm just fooling myself, maybe I would make excuses for him too. The Conservatives saw Obama as a monster, I thought I saw a really nice guy, trying to do his best, in fact, decent to a fault considering the unscrupulous viciousness of his opposition.

I realize its only natural to cover for someone who is doing what you believe is right, to cover up for the crimes of someone you admire or love. But somehow, the support of Trump's followers just seems too much. Its like the mother whose murderous, vicious, cruel son cries out when he's captured by the police, (along with mountains of evidence!); "But he's such a good boy, he could never have done that." Mothers may be biologically programmed to love their children, no matter what they do, but this is different.

Psychopaths and sociopaths are often successful because they have learned how to skillfully conceal their character flaws and manage to coast on their other talents. But this cannot be the case with Trump. Even those who support his policies must be able to see his cruel and childish behavior, his insecurity and pettiness, his pathological lying and childish tantrums. He makes no effort to hide them, he flaunts them, its what his followers seem to love about him. And even those who have nothing but contempt for him continue to support him because he's on what they see as the winning team, and they have bet heavily on the outcome.

The Trump era has really depressed me. Its not that he's a fool and thug; as I have mentioned before, democracies sometimes elect people like this, and they can come from either party. What fills me with disappointment is how so many otherwise good people have fallen for his con and refuse to see the daily evidence of his pathology, even when it is clear he has made no effort to conceal it.

And then I fall into real despair when I understand how many people know perfectly well how evil and dangerous this man is, but they continue to support him because they expect to profit from his crimes. For the first time in my life I have asked myself is this a deep flaw in Democracy? Or is it humanity itself that is doomed?