How did Trump get as far as he did? The field of GOP candidates was overcrowded. Most were not as well known. His outsized personality and bluster appealed to a small minority of Americans, who were thrilled by his taunting of "political correctness" - and this irreverence was enough to give him the edge.
When facing unprecedented crisis, other countries establish governments of "national unity," made up of different parties. We need that now. The Republicans already have congress and most statehouses. Our system of checks and balances, to be operative, require that for the greater good, the White House now needs to go to the other party. Conservatives need to be stoic and accept this. What is needed, as Kennedy said, "is not victory of party, but a celebration of freedom." We need national unity. The national interest needs to come before, what Washington, in his farewell address, called "the baneful effects of the spirit of party."
Our political system is a very good one, but the filters designed to keep out manifestly unfit candidates appear to have failed. I say the filters "appeared" to have failed, because we are, of course, still in the midst of the process. There system is straining and appears vulnerable, but it has NOT failed. Not yet. The only priority now is to defeat this disordered and unhinged man and to ensure he doesn't have the opportunity to do to America but he is done to his party.
The stakes are greater than the usual liberal/conservative divide. This is bigger than party. Republicans, Democrats and independents need to work together to ensure the defeat of a manifestly unfit candidate who has shown us that he does not have the temperament, ability and willingness to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
So help us, God.