What, me worry? You bet your life

I’ve been making a lot of trips to Sacramento lately, every journey replete with hair-raising encounters with other drivers—people who change lanes at high speed, who drive too fast and pass on the right, or who can be seen texting while negotiating heavy traffic. Last week, a guy in the left lane seemed to be looking for something he’d dropped into his lap just before a woman’s head popped up into view.

Which brings me to the subject of Donald J. Trump. There is much that worries me about Our Glorious Leader: the likelihood of war, environmental safeguards under assault, millions of Americans faced with losing affordable insurance coverage, public education under siege, women’s rights imperiled. Etcetera, etcetera.

But what worries me even more up close and personally is that nearly 62 million of my fellow Americans watched this guy over a 16-month period, saying or doing something stupid, outrageous, or “unpresidented” on a daily basis. They had all those months to assess the dangers of having such a limited human being as the nation’s head honcho, a candidate who could not point to a single minute of experience in public office. Still, they voted for him, despite lies, contradictory statements, proud boasting about his sexual creepiness, his enthusiastic support from white supremacists, the incessant hate- and fear-mongering, his arrogant refusal to release his tax returns, the failures he’d overseen in his business ventures, not to mention his philandering and infidelities that, in saner times, might have alienated so-called family-values Christians.

Sixty-two million Americans presumed to be capable of operating motor vehicles took well over a year before deciding Donald J. Trump was the responsible choice to lead us. We share our pot-holed roads and freeways with those drivers who make split-second decisions—jamming on their brakes, running red lights—or down six or eight brewskis before they roll.

Good judgment wouldn’t seem to be their strong suit: not at the polls, not in the drivers’ seats of their speeding vehicles. That worries me. It should probably worry you, too.