Ranger from the North

But if we’ve given up on honesty, how about a minimal level of competence? Is Trump really such a fool that he can’t figure out it’s a bad idea to let the Democrats hang the Ku Klux Klan (formerly known as the militant arm of the Democratic Party) around his neck? He can’t possibly be that stupid. Can he? Or is he a Democrat, deliberately engaged in an effort to bring down the Republican Party and make Hillary Clinton, who is otherwise unelectable, our president? At this point, it is hard to tell. The alternatives are about equally plausible.

In this case, Trump sneered that the Koch brothers are “in big financial trouble.” Coming from Trump, a habitually bankrupt real-estate heir, this is kind of hilarious. Charles and David Koch are worth nearly $90 billion between the two of them; Koch Industries is, depending on the year, either the largest or the second-largest privately held firm in the United States. (Hello, Cargill!) Unlike Trump, who makes his money renting his name to manufacturers of low-end consumer goods and playing a businessman on television, Koch Industries actually makes things: food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, minerals, industrial products, and the stuff that makes your car go forward.

Donald Trump seems incapable of telling the truth when doing so shows him to be fallible. His lies will probably catch up with him before this election year is over.

Unfortunately, it looks increasingly like this won’t happen until the general election — in other words, too late for the Republicans to nominate a conservative (and a decent human being), but in time for Hillary Clinton to carry the day.

So this is the most conservative we'll ever see Trump -- this is the absolute most conservative he'll ever be -- and he's not conservative at all, except, possibly, on immigration. He combines liberal policy impulses with frankly authoritarian or even fascist ones, which he thinks are "what conservatives want," because, frankly, he conceives of us as ugly-minded, stupid dummies who get off on this shit.

That's why he didn't put the "Ban Muslims" line in a more palatable, persuasive form, like "Reduce immigration from Muslim-majority countries or countries with a terrorism problem to a level where we can vet each individual applicant."

No, he put it in the most bigoted, ugly way he could think of, because that's about his level, and because, also, that's what he thinks "conservatives" are.

Hillary Clinton isn’t much of an intellect, but I am afraid she will make Trump look like an idiot. Even in the degraded culture of 21st century America, it is questionable whether someone perceived as an idiot can get more than 46% or 47% of the vote.