I'm about to become wildly unpopular ...

[hunter]

101. Generally I ignore them.

The Republicans are the party of pessimism. They see their "way of life" ( racism, misogyny, religious intolerance, white privilege, etc. ) is under attack and they are fighting for their survival.

I doubt Trump will be anything but a spoiler in the next presidential election, whether or not he actually runs, whether or not he is in prison, whether or not he is alive or dead. ( He'll probably be alive... Dick Cheney is still alive.)

The Democrats are the party of optimism. We are all optimistic about different things and we argue fiercely about how to best accomplish our goals, but overall our party is forward-looking and striving to make the world a better place.

There are many troubles we have to face -- personally I think global warming is the most brutal -- but it will be the optimists who find the tools to deal with these problems, not the pessimists who are fighting to maintain a "way of life" that is no longer viable.

Welcome to 21st century U.S.A. where gay people can be married, a Black woman can be your boss, church attendance is declining, and most people agree that polluting the air and water is a bad idea.

That's a world that scares Republicans but we're not going back to their dying world, however dirty they fight, no matter how much poo and pessimism they fling at us.