Is America Circling the Drain (updated)?

I live in Canada, beyond the reach of Donald Trump's deportation forces. I have no plan to ever visit the U.S. in the rest of my lifetime.

Circling the drain. Image: Salem-News.com

(Pender Island, British Columbia) - I was 15 in October 1962 when the Cuban Missile Crisis overwhelmed much of the world's consciousness.

As Oliver Stone commented in his series The untold history of the United States: “Children watched the news, their parents full of fear.” In my experience, the fear was palpable and seemingly everywhere.

Two nights ago I awoke about 3am with a chest-clutching fear/anxiety. My first thought was that I was having a panic (not a heart) attack.

After a few seconds, I realized that the fear I was feeling was the same fear I had experienced in 1962 when, along with many others, I was afraid that when I went to bed at night, there would be no tomorrow to wake up to.

Psychologically and politically, I have the same fear as regards Donald Trump as President. It's not specifically that he has access to the nuclear codes. It's an amorphous fear that he and his nihilistic coterie will bring about the end of civilization as we know it.

Why are Americans so stupid?

Rep. Ted Lieu(D. Ca):

"We have a problem here in America. Our President lies pathologically and a staff (who) lies pathologically, then attacks the free press, attacks the Judiciary and this is what starts authoritarianism.

"Donald Trump is a danger to the Republic and we need to wake up in America to understand the harms he is causing our country...

"He has a disconnection from the truth that is highly disturbing. We can’t have that person making decisions on things like nuclear weapons and we need to wake up and really start looking at that issue."

Corey Lewandowski, former Trump campaign manager:

"People in this country are afraid of illegal immigrants. People in this country have become afraid of random violence.

"They’re afraid of jobs being shipped overseas. There’s so much that scares Americans. Donald Trump is the only politician that talked to those concerns and those fears."