After Donald Trump's behavior these past few days, millions of his supporters must be reconsidering their choice by now.  With each passing day, it becomes clearer that this man cannot, must not, become the Republican nominee.  

A few months back, he was vilifying Ben Carson for things revealed in Carson's biography that happened when Carson was fourteen.  Trump maligned Dr. Carson in every way he could think of: he insulted his faith (Seventh-Day Adventist) and said he is a "sick puppy," comparing him to a child molester.  He said that he is "pathologically incurable," that he is "damaged."  He asked, "How stupid are the people of Iowa?" when Dr. Carson was ahead in the polls.  He spent weeks attacking Dr. Carson in the worst, most disgusting ways.  He succeeded in bringing Dr. Carson's numbers down.  

After viewing the above video, ask yourself how those people in that audience continued to listen.  Why did they stay?  Have we become so mind-numbed with anger at Obama's destructive policies that we sit still for this brand of poisonous venom?

After praising Ted Cruz for months, once Cruz's numbers began to rise, Trump began sliming him in his own cruel manner: "He's a nasty guy.  Nobody likes him."  "He's owned by the banks."  Considering that Trump owes many hundreds of millions to banks, the latter charge is particularly egregious.  Now that Ted Cruz beat him in Iowa, Trump has escalated his attacks against Cruz and is passionately defending Dr. Carson, the man he so viciously and disingenuously maligned a few months ago.  He is claiming that Cruz "stole" the election, speaking as though he is Dr. Carson's greatest benefactor.

Trump is a hypocrite of the first order.  Who does this kind of thing?  A man who thinks the electorate are so stupid that they will not remember his earlier verbal savagery toward one of the finest men in our nation?

When Trump appeared on the political stage in June and announced his candidacy, it was great theatre of the Saturday Night Live variety.  All of us who are enraged at the damage done to America these past seven years were thrilled to hear someone, anyone, give voice to our anger.  But even then, few of us took him seriously.  How can a man who indiscriminantly spews disparaging vitriol with abandon actually be a candidate for president of the United States?  How can a man who promises all manner of ridiculous things people know he cannot fulfill be taken seriously?  How can a man who gives exactly no specifics on his plans, foreign or domestic, be electable? 

After a rather surprisingly gracious speech on Monday night, today Trump is back to his usual nonsense, threatening to sue Cruz for voter fraud, claiming he won the Iowa caucus, and calling for a redo of the election in Iowa.  The Cruz campaign took its cue from CNN and, like CNN,  assumed that Dr. Carson was suspending his quest for office.  The initial mistakes were made by the Carson campaign and CNN.  The Cruz people just got on board.  It is not pretty, but this is politics as usual.  Only Trump has taken gutter politics to a new and loathsome low.

The Republicans began this election season with a large bench of great candidates, each of them eminently more qualified, people of far better character, than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.  Some have taken themselves out of the race for of lack of support.  All but Trump would be a better president than Obama has been.  Any one of those who remain in the race would be better than Hillary or Trump.  Please, voters, step back and really listen to this man.  

See him for what he is.