Sam, I’ve been observing in my own writing for months that Trump is a classic demagogue who vilifies the Other in order to obtain and hold power.

My jaw drops every single time he demonizes brown people crossing the border. Every single time I think, “This is it. This is so ludicrous, so vile, and so OBVIOUS that his supporters HAVE to finally get it.”

But so far, every single time, they just slather right along with him, eyes red, voices hoarse, shouting hate. It’s scary, and seeing it helps me viscerally understand how Trump and people like Trump have leveraged the worst in human nature over the years.

I moved to New York City a year after Trisha Meili was raped. I lived through the mob mentality that was the response during and after the trials. People wanted blood. It was ugly. Trump rode that wave, because that’s what he is and that’s what he does.

Things are getting worse and worse and worse. He’s summoning and feeding the beast in us. In his latest move, the Justice Department has decided to hold thousands of legitimate asylum seekers (brown people almost to a man and woman) in brutal prison conditions indefinitely.

Even as an atheist, I was moved to tweet last night, “May God have mercy on us as a people.”

The depths of moral depravity we’re sinking to fills me with despair.