When a reality TV star becomes the Republican front-runner

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? … (Psalm 43:5).

Just when I thought it could get no worse … well, actually, the tumult last week that spilled over into the weekend didn’t surprise me that much. In case you missed it, on Thursday night the reasonable candidates remaining on the Republican primary ballot failed to score any major points against the unreasonable one. On Friday night Donald Trump canceled a rally in Chicago after protesters, ginned up by leftwing activist sites like MoveOn.org, turned it into a free-for-all. Earlier last week, a reporter from a Trump-friendly website credibly claimed Trump’s campaign manager had roughly grabbed her arm and pushed her aside when she tried to ask the candidate a question. During a rally on Saturday in Ohio a man rushed Trump on the stage, leaving the candidate visibly shaken. All over the internet jubilant lefties are vowing to carry on the fight while Trump has hinted at retaliation—continuing to make himself the story while credible Republican candidates fight for airtime.

But what should we expect? We’ve allowed a reality TV star to be the Republican front-runner. He’s accustomed to his words having little effect in the real world (except for a few suckers). He may not even know he’s living in the real world—the idea that enthusiastic fans could take him up on his advice to “knock the crap” out of protesters and “carry them out on a stretcher” may not have fully penetrated his consciousness. But having kindled this fire, he’s not the man to put it out.

Sixteen years ago, when the margin between Al Gore and George W. Bush was so thin campaign officials were reduced to studying individual ballots for “hanging chads,” we had one consolation: no violent demonstrations or threats of violence. Power changed hands peacefully, as it tends to do in our republic (with one very notable exception). This election cycle, I’m not so sure. My soul is in turmoil, but perhaps we’ve staved off the inevitable as long as possible. Leadership bears much of the blame, but We the People are ultimately at fault. What other result can we expect when:

And somehow we’ve boxed ourselves in to a Hobson’s election, where our choices are abominable. Ted Cruz supporters are holding out hope for a contested Republican convention, but to me that’s beginning to look like Chicago 1968. The Democratic Party recovered from that fiasco. Republicans eventually might from theirs, but it looks like a rough road ahead. All the more reason to

… Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.