UnAmerican?

Donald Trump should have been kicked out of the Republican Party the moment he began talking about violating the Constitution. The first time he hinted about assaulting the journalists covering his rallies, he should have been shown the door. When he openly advocated torture (“worse than waterboarding”), he should have been ushered away. When he began speaking of closing houses of worship, he should have been expelled. He has solemnly pledged to violate the First, Fourth and Eighth Amendments of the Constitution, at the least. If someone’s platform is unconstitutional, it boggles the mind that a major American party would put him or her up for president.

  Juan Cole

As much as I respect Professor Cole, I respectfully disagree. American political parties have changed color more than once in our history.  And, as the story goes, paraphrasing Benjamin Franklin, we have a republic, if we can keep it. What should have happened with Donald Trump is that no one paid him the least bit of attention. But that didn't happen.

Don Imus was history for abusive language toward women basketball players. But Trump’s strident attack on Megyn Kelly as a menstruating harridan was just allowed to pass. Jimmy “the Greek” Snyder was fired by CBS for saying African-Americans were ‘bred’ to be better athletes. But Trump issued a blanket characterization of undocumented Mexican labor migrants as rapists, thieves and drug dealers.

[...]

One reporter tried to assure us that Trump voters were not actually voting for racism and bullying politics, they were just upset. [...] In South Carolina, 38 percent of Trump voters wished the South had won the Civil War, presumably suggesting that they regretted the end of slavery.

Another MSNBC reporter helpfully explained that Trump voters feel that “political correctness” has gone too far.

Translation: we're tired of not being able to say racist and sexist things in public.

Chris Matthews explained to us that people hoped he would do something for the country rather than for the government.

But Trump has made it very clear that he is not interested in a significant proportion of the people in the country. He is a white nationalist, and his message is that he will stand up for white Christian people against the Chinese, the Mexicans and the Muslims.

[...]

That he won the evangelical vote again in Nevada is helpful for us in seeing that American evangelicalism itself is in some part a form of white male chauvinist nationalism and only secondarily about religion.

[...]

It has been a dreadful performance by the press and by party leaders. They are speaking in such a way as to naturalize the creepy, weird and completely un-American positions Trump has taken.

Once again, I disagree. America has changed. Trump's positions are as American now as they once would have been (long ago) anathema.

When Benjamin Franklin was asked by a lady after the Constitutional Convention what sort of government the US had, he said, “A Republic, Madame, if you can keep it.”

Yeah. My point.

Jesus.  "Not funny anymore"?  He was always an arrogant racist asshole, and arrogant racist assholes are never funny.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.