We can thank Donald Trump for one thing — that hoary conservative cliche, American Exceptionalism, is now dead, dead, dead.
The world, and history, have seen the truth. There’s nothing special about us. We are a country that can be whipped up into a frenzy of race hatred, bigotry, misogyny, willful ignorance, and just plain boorish insulting behavior. At least 45 percent of the population will still buy into it and vote for it. The news media will enable a relentless stream of lies and hatred.
After this, how can we claim to be better? How can we hold ourselves up as an example for the world to emulate?
We’ll be deconstructing the events of this horrible year for many years to come, and I plan to write more extensively on this when I have time (I’ll be out canvassing for Hillary this weekend). But one this is for certain, the next time a conservative starts bloviating about American Exceptionalism, I’ll have a two-word answer: Donald Trump.