Back Into the Election Abyss

For two weeks I have been in the relative safety and sanity of the Middle East, 9000 kilometers from the lunacy of American presidential politics. And loving it.

In the Mad Tea Party that is the Republican campaign, Ted Cruz is the delusional March Hare, John Kasich is the somnolent Dormouse, and Trump, of course, is the demented Hatter.

I wasn't totally ignorant thanks to widely available public WiFi in Israel. While Israelis were polite and refrained from mentioning our national embarrassment, my fellow American tourists were less restrained in discussing the ongoing madness back home. And there was one cute, young British lass who observed, "You Americans are scaring me." To which I replied that my fellow Americans were scaring me too.

I can't say I was surprised to return to America and discover that the National Enquirer had become the newspaper of record for the Republican race. Ted Cruz, desperately trying to out-crazy Trump, has proposed installing an armed occupation force in "Muslim communities" in the United States.

And in the darkest corners of the internet, I've found Trump supporters suggesting Trump will declare martial law over the entire country after becoming President so Congress and the courts can't interfere with his efforts to make America great.

I felt far safer standing alone on the Golan Heights looking into war-torn Syria than I do reading political news in the United States.