I had no idea

Look I honestly had no idea. 

Before we went to Vienna I had thought that America was a homogenous society where there were problems and that these were serious but manageable. To me from afar - and as a very frequent visitor - I saw a country much different to that which exists when one becomes immersed in it. 

When President Obama was elected I started to see the very real and ugly racism which permeates the society at so many levels.

This is not necessarily readily apparent on the surface but trust me - if you read the comments on such sites as Fox, Breitbart, Drudge and others and their ilk you will be - as I was initially - both shocked and horrified at the racism, hatred and ignorance that abounds in these dark reaches of discourse. 

The trash that is spouted by far right wing commentators such as Rush Limbaugh is scary but is a Teddy Bear's picnic compared to the full blown hate mongers and conspiracy promoters such as Alex Jones who has no boundaries at all and says things such as President Obama was a male prostitute and that his wife Michelle is really a man.

And then the orange buffoon arrived and lifted the rock and suddenly racism and hatred took their place alongside the right's traditional collection of bigotry and ignorance - and it became mainstream. He has turned stupidity, ignorance, racism and hate into an art form and has dragged along with him some of the most naive and dumb people in America. 

I despair of what this country is becoming. The presidential election campaign is a cesspool of dark and gruesome sludge which has brought into the light all of the worst that this country has to offer. The trogs and trolls see in the orange lunatic the savior for whom they have been waiting for so long.

At last within reach is a president whose dumbness matches their own.  A man who is a bigot, a racist, a serial liar, science denier and a serial conspiracist beyond compare. President Obama was not born in America. He is a Muslim. He founded ISIS. Climate change is a Chinese government hoax. Asbestos is safe. Vaccines cause autism. The Clintons are murderers. 

This is lunacy on an Olympian scale. In a rational civilized society this man would be hospitalized and subject to psychiatric evaluation. He is a textbook case of a narcissist with a severe psychological disorder. This is not a man who should be president. This is man who would be rejected on mental capacity grounds for a job as a  goat wrangler. 

But in  this surreal twilight zone he could well president. This is dark road and when you go down this road the lights go out and the scarecrows come to life.

This is not the type of society in which we wish to live. But we are very fortunate in that  while we are permanent residents here we can return to Australia. We may do this sooner than we had anticipated if the orange lunatic is in fact elected.

Spare me.