He opened his campaign by proclaiming, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. … They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”

For the past nine years, that racism has been the glue holding his disciples together. But he and they have expended similar vitriol in all directions.

A heartwarming moment from the Democrats’ Convention of Joy was Gus Walz’s unrestrained happiness during the acceptance speech of vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz, his father.

[Gus suffers from “a non-verbal learning disorder, ADHD and an anxiety disorder,” his parents told People magazine.]

“‘That’s my dad!’” the 17-year-old could be seen saying,” according to the Associated Press. “He stood, tears streaming down his face.”

A young man proud of his father, unable to mask his emotions. Gotta love it.

Unless you’re a supporter of Donald Trump and the Republican Party he exemplifies.

“The response from Trumpy Republicans was immediate: Ann Coulter wrote, ‘Talk about weird.’ Rightwing hate jock Jay Weber posted, ‘Meet my son, Gus. He’s a blubbering bitch boy. His mother and I are very proud.’ Trumpy podcaster Mike Crispi ridiculed Walz’s ‘stupid crying son,’ adding, ‘You raised your kid to be a puffy beta male. Congrats.’ Another well-known podcaster on the right, Alec Lace, said, ‘Get that kid a tampon already.’”

Hartman concluded: “Compassion for a learning-disabled child is dead on the right: all they have left is cruelty.”

About the same time, Trump supporter Hulk Hogan asked an Ohio crowd: “Want me to body-slam somebody? You want me to body-slam Kamala Harris?” HuffPost reported that the crowd roared approval.

Advocating violence against a woman? From a supporter of the man who bragged about assaulting women and whom a jury verdict and judge’s explanation designated a rapist?

Closer to home, the Aug. 14 issue of the Chisholm Trail Shopper included this filler: “My cousin got beat up for having a Harris/Walz bumper sticker on her car. And I would do it again.” This bit of hilarity about a man assaulting a woman came courtesy of Seymour Folkes [See More Folks], a brave alias.

Hogan followed his threat of violence with an echo of Trump’s persistent racist lie about Harris’s heritage. “Is Kamala a chameleon? Is she Indian?” he asked. Reports did not indicate whether he mispronounced Harris’s name – a consistent reminder of Trump’s crudity.

In July, Sebastian Gorka, formerly deputy assistant and strategist to President Trump, discounted Harris as “a DEI hire,” saying that Democrats would support her because “She’s a woman. She’s colored. Therefore, she’s got to be good.”

What color is she, Mr. Gorka?

Epstein supposedly died by suicide in 2019 while in jail after being charged with sex trafficking and in connection with the sexual abuse of teenage girls.

Epstein and Trump once served as wingmen for each other on the dating scene, and, in fact, Epstein introduced Trump to the latter’s current wife. So, using an Epstein analogy draws attention in a direction not favorable to Vance’s boss – who, contestants maintain, stalked their dressing room during the Miss Teen USA pageant which he oversaw.

That bit of Vancean vulgarity preceded Vance telling Harris to “Go to Hell,” demonstrating that Republicans favor click bait sound bites over rational discourse.

As if running low on Americans to insult and denigrate, Trump took time off from mispronouncing Harris’s name to refloat an obvious lie and insult Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s mother. On Aug. 7, the CBC reported that Trump looked at a picture of Trudeau and spewed: “They say he’s the son of Fidel Castro and could be. Anything’s possible in this world.”

Some things are less possible than others to honest, sane people. Trudeau’s defamed mother, Margaret, made a highly publicized trip to Cuba in 1976. Pierre was born on Christmas Day, 1971.

But Trump has never been one to let facts deter his abhorrent behavior.

He sank to a new low recently when he reposted a picture of Harris and Hilary Clinton with a caption involving oral sex in language unfit for print.

But his cult members don’t seem to mind.

Reputedly religious Republicans continue to condone the perfidy of a crude, bigoted liar who lets them sniff his power. They should have been taught to be better than that.

Americans have faced down homegrown fascists before during the inglorious days of Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s Second Red Scare.

That disgraceful episode ended on one day – June 9, 1954. Picking up the story from The History Channel website:

“McCarthy again became agitated at [Army Attorney Joseph] Welch’s steady destruction of each of his arguments and witnesses. In response, McCarthy charged that Frederick G. Fisher, a young associate in Welch’s law firm, had been a long-time member of an organization that was a ‘legal arm of the Communist Party.’

“Welch was stunned. As he struggled to maintain his composure, he looked at McCarthy and declared, ‘Until this moment, senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness.’ It was then McCarthy’s turn to be stunned into silence, as Welch asked, ‘Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?’”

McCarthy’s influence collapsed down upon him. But what can be done when Republicans consider just this lack of common decency their cardinal virtue?