The fact that a certain segment of the U.S. population is susceptible to, perhaps even inclined toward, a fascist/authoritarian leader is not new. There is an authoritarian impulse that lives in certain parts of the population and which emerges from time to time. Whether Trumpery represents a more significant or lasting expression of fascism than previous manifestations of the fascist impulse remains to be seen, but it would be, I think, a serious mistake to think that he's going away on Nov. 9.

In the 1930s, as the world was deep in Depression and fascists were on the rise in Germany, Spain, Italy and elsewhere, Sinclair Lewis published a cautionary tale, "It Can't Happen Here."  The blurb on the jacket of the 2014 imprint calls it "a shockingly prescient novel ...", and so it is.

Trump's partnership with the avowedly racist Steve Bannon and the emergence of Trump TV (already on Facebook) is a guarantee that that the filth of the Trump campaign will have an after life. Deplorable.