I think the current economic and political system is failing a vast majority of Americans and like other authoritarian demagogues in the past, Trump misattributes that problem in ways that resonate with the bigotry and racism that exists in American culture.
You just explained in one sentence what I bumbled my way through in four paragraphs. Well written, my friend.
I don't disagree. But even the worst candidate (besides Trump) was still a human being. Trump jacked the evil up to a whole new level, because not only does he contain all the worst aspects of ALL of those other people, he doesn't even have the shame or the tact to hide it behind "politicking".
Yes. It's all a charade. Political candidates are humans who are selfish, arrogant and don't always have their constituents best interests at heart; especially conservatives. But there was always an unspoken agreement to hide all of that behind professionalism, proper decorum, debate and policy arguments. We do that because the alternative is chaos. When the evil is laid bare for all to see, then civilization itself is no longer truly relevant. If Trump can get away with all this shit, well fuck it, then so can I. The entire country can YOLO.
We pretend. We and our politicians share a pleasant fiction where they're "just like us" because everything collapses hard once Pandora's box is open.
Trump's danger lays not in what he says or does. But in the shameless, unapologetic way that he does and says it which emboldens every one of his sycophants to start doing the same. Hold him accountable, in any way necessary, and yes...those assholes are still going to exist in the republican party to some degree (They're like cockroaches after all). But we might, just might get back to running the country with at least a faux sense of civility and proper debate.