"If Bernie doesn't get the nomination..."

"I don't know what to do."
-Tom (caller to the Mike Malloy Show)

I am a regular listener to the Mike Malloy program. I fall asleep to his podcasts nearly every night. Tonight Mike made a statement, almost in passing. He said something to the effect that "if Bernie doesn't win, I don't see any reason to continue." The statement was made in the middle of one of his news stories...almost as an after-thought.

I continued to listen and sure enough he made the statement again to a caller.

Then he received a call from someone named Tom. Tom sounded somewhat fearful and resigned as he expressed his feelings about Donald Trump and the phenomenon that surrounds his candidacy. He ended his call by saying: "I don't know what to do."

Mike picked up on this expression of resignation to repeat yet again that his time behind the microphone may end in 16 months. He stated that he has been fighting the good fight ever since Bush and Chaney were handed the White House...and he simply wouldn't know what to do.

Mike took the opportunity to bring to light a very frightening observation. He cautioned himself and then began by comparing the blind followers of Donald Trump to those that were the early followers in the Nazi Party.

Let's think about this for a second. Donald Trump can say just about anything he wants. He can call Hispanics rapists and criminals. He can refer to a war hero as a loser and that he would prefer those that didn't get captured...it goes on and on. Not only do these statements not effect his poll standings, but they actually result in an increase in his numbers.

There is a growing number of people that are not concerned about anything that Donald Trump has to say. Regardless of how outrageous such statements might be. Sound familiar? Trump is short on policy and long on self-serving rhetoric. It doesn't seem to matter that he does not have a plan, it only matters that he expresses himself in a way that makes him look like he has the answers to our national problems. Sound familiar? This fact, combined with a sense of desperation to find a "knight in shining armor"...a person who can provide the answers to our many problems could become a true danger to our democracy.

As time goes on and Donald Trump continues to thrive, the real possibility of a President Trump becomes clear. What was once a joke has the chance of becoming real.

I am no conspiracy theorist...but I must say that this realization...that is that we could actually be led by someone with no idea on how to govern, is frightening and has lost its humor.

More to the point, Mike Malloy obviously sees Bernie Sanders as our last best hope. And that if Bernie fails to capture the nomination or the White House, Mike will go into the night not to be heard from again.

I don't know about you, but if we lost our democracy to this fraud selling his fix-all elixir and we also no longer have one of the great progressive voices of our time...well, "I don't know what to do."

-Paige