"The challenge to responsible leaders of any political party will be to separate the economic discontent from the bigotry and paranoia that are the key to the Trump phenomenon. Yes, Mr. Trump speaks frontier gibberish; outright nativism remains a fringe American phenomenon. There is no shortage of mainstream politicians who have endorsed his message by endorsing him. To build a serious solution to any issue "after this election we will need to confront the unworkable ideas and vicious emotions that Trump has dragged into the open. This year brought the fever dream of the GOP Convention where they scapegoated immigrants and refugees, presenting a vision of foreigners stealing across the border to rob, rape and kill. The crowd cheered Sheriff Arpaio, brutalizer of Latinos, and Rudy Giuliani, who hollered about terrorists and criminals as if running for mayor of Gotham City.
At www.nytimes.com
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