Political mystery

Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment focuses on a fundamental question of politics. What is it, exactly, about the human DNA that allows otherwise smart, loving, hardworking, salt-of-the-earth type people to vote for a moron like Donald Trump for president?

This is not a new question. Fifty years ago, the incredibly stupid, incredibly hateful politicians had names like George Wallace and Lester Maddox. It was easy to dismiss George and Lester because they were morons. It was much harder to know how to deal with their supporters because they had names like Grandma, Uncle Joe and Pastor Jones.

I suspect we will never answer this question. I suppose this is why we don’t discuss politics at Thanksgiving.

This story was originally published September 29, 2016 at 6:16 PM with the headline "Political mystery."