The Washington Post reported this morning that  “Donald Trump swept to a convincing victory in the Nevada presidential caucuses here Tuesday evening, the Associated Press projected, building a broad coalition that left his top two rivals trailing far behind and accelerating his march to the Republican nomination.

An angry electorate hungry for a political outsider in the White House catapulted Trump to his third straight win in the GOP primary race as the billionaire mogul used visceral rhetoric to tap into anxieties about the economy, terrorism and illegal immigration.”

The “electorate” and “broad coalition” the WP refers to have always been “angry” and resentful of non-Whites and non-Christians. A large, possibly the largest chunk, of Trump’s supporters are White working class and poor. For decades the GOP has tapped into their “anxieties”.  Those anxieties are fueled by racism and anti-intellectualism.

The GOP’s strategy is an old one known as “othering” or scapegoating a group (or groups) to pay for the ills of the country. So why should we take Trump’s xenophobic diatribes seriously?  We need to take him seriously because he has proven to be an egotistical maniac who would actually implement his xenophobic plans if he becomes the next president of the U.S., and the world will pay dearly for it.

It does not matter who the Democratic candidate is- the GOP must be defeated this year. Democrats, independents, moderate Republicans and conservatives, progressives and liberals, Black, White and Brown, anyone with a working moral compass must close ranks to stop the GOP.

A GOP victory will mean mass deportations of undocumented immigrants- many of whom have been here for decades and have children and grandchildren born in this country. It will also mean that no Latino or “Latino-looking” person will be safe from harassment.

A GOP victory will lead to the criminalization of the Black Lives Matter movement.

A GOP victory will lead to a more conservatively belligerent Supreme Court.

A GOP victory will roll back gay rights and equal marriage.

A GOP victory will be a disaster for labor.

Domestically, Muslims will be the target of persecution which will lead to the radicalization of American Muslims. It will also be a great recruitment tool for international terrorist organizations.

Internationally- Trump’s aggressiveness will be the biggest disaster since Vietnam. Expect the militarization of the U.S. southern border as Trump threatens Mexico if they do not stop immigrants coming into the U.S. and pay for “the Wall”.

Expect Trump to declare war on Islam.

Expect Trump to threaten military action against North Korea.

Expect Trump to dismantle the Iran-Nuclear deal and maybe even an Israeli-U.S. combined assault on Iran.

Expect troops on the ground in Syria. Expect endless wars. ENDLESS WARS.

I hope that you don’t think that you can weather the storm and elect a better president in 2020. This  is not the time to try to teach the Democrats a lesson- whoever ends up being their candidate. Doing that will make you responsible for the tens if not hundreds of millions of lives that will be affected and ended worldwide under a Trump presidency.

Yes, it  is that serious. We find ourselves at a crossroads, a historical juncture. We can go forward or backwards.  A Trump presidency will roll back a century of progress.