The Trump Fantasy Politics League

     For those of you not familiar with fantasy football, it is an activity participated in by those with an over abundance of testosterone in which they delude themselves that they own a team by choosing players from different NFL teams and then benefitting from their combined performance every week in real games. Watching Donald Trump's campaign for the presidency puts me in mind of this fantasy activity, only it is politics and not football that his supporters are using to feel more relevant than they actually are.
     The latest gem for Democrats unearthed for them by Donald Trump is his statement about legally castigating an entire group of people in America based solely on their religion. Mr. Trump's suggestion that Muslims, even those born in this country, should have their freedom of movement restricted based on their faith, is not only unconstitutional, but morally reprehensible. Can anyone say, "Japanese/American interment during World War II?"
     Beyond the obvious unconstitutional nature of the Trump "solution" to radical Jihad, is the unworkable practical application of such a policy. His suggestion that we simply ask a person's religion as they are entering or re-entering the country, and if they claim to be Muslim we simply refuse entrance, is as ridiculous as constructing a team of all the best NFL players and pretending they are an actual team.
     Maybe Mr. Trump believes that terrorists who are willing to blow themselves to bits as a way of killing Americans would somehow have the honesty to tell the truth about their religion. But no reasonable person grounded in reality would even begin to entertain such a foolish notion. But that is the beauty of the Trump fantasy politics league, reality never has to have a place at a political table festooned with the red meat of irrational thought.
     Mr. Trump sites some fairly dubious polls that suggest that a majority of Muslims in this country support violent Jihad against their fellow Americans. One data point from the poll suggests that 51% of American Muslims would choose to live under Sharia law if given the choice. The question is deliberately misleading because it does not in any way suggest that those same Muslims would replace American law for all with Sharia, only that they would be governed in their lives by it, much the same way Catholics are governed by Cannon law in their faith.
     In the final analysis I am not sure if Mr. Trump actually believes what he says (what sensible person could?) or if he just knows there is a certain segment of the Right that gobbles up his outrageous statements. Either way Mr. Trump and his devotees have played into every stereotype the Left has proffered about conservatives over the last few decades. And this is truly the most dangerous aspect of the Trump campaign, i.e. that many moderate American voters will be drawn to the Democrat nominee rather than risk voting for such a radically un-American candidate such as Donald Trump.