1. It’s Friday, June 17, 2016.

2. Earlier this week, former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe tweeted out the following: It is not enough to simply beat Trump. He must be destroyed thoroughly. His kind must not rise again.

I don’t know Mr. Plouffe, so I can’t say which Trump outrage sparked that particular reaction. Was it patting himself on the back for “predicting” the Orlando nightclub massacre? Was it reiterating the proposed restrictions on Muslims? Was it the implication that his former boss – you know, the guy who had the guts to get bin Laden when the evidence wasn’t overwhelming – was implicit in this terrorism?

Or was it all of the above, and maybe even more?

There are times when I ask myself why this makes as angry as it does. I’ve been following presidential politics since I was 6 years old and rooted for JFK. I’ve lived through Nixon, Agnew, George Wallace, Reagan, George W. Bush, Cheney and other miscreants.

But I think I’m coming to understand.

We live in a nation that elected an African-American President and Indian-American governors in Louisiana and South Carolina, and saw an Italian-American woman become Speaker of the House. Its heroes include Oprah Winfrey and Muhammad Ali and Lin-Manuel Miranda. It celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision a year ago that marriage is a right guaranteed by the Constitution to anyone regardless of the gender of their partner.

But there are those who aren’t crazy about all that. Because none of the above could have happened when I was born 62.2 years ago. The 1950s America that was so great it needs to be made that way again was exclusive and available to a few.

Here in the suburbs, I live around those people. They’re angry about losing privilege, and can’t brook the idea that they need to share the bounty of this country who don’t look or sound like them. They’ve refused to see change as good and necessary for a nation to flourish.

Trump taps into their anger. Big time. He gives it license. The horrific reports of the behavior of people at his rallies, with their misogyny, racism and out-and-out hatred – behavior he stokes rather than quells. 

Trump’s fan club might have some legitimate beefs about the impact of trade on their jobs. Their opinions on real issues, while I agree with not a single one – have the right to be heard.

But the rise of this jackass has brought out the latent hatred in our country. It’s been dormant, not dead, after all we think we’ve been able to celebrate.

It’s pathetic. And it needs to be shown that it’s irrelevant to 21st century America – a country that whose majority with an amalgam of what we now call minorities. Being white will become one of them.

Change is coming. These folks can either learn to adapt and make peace with it, or get stomped with it.

So I more than second David Plouffe’s sentiment. I take it further.

I don’t merely want Trump to lose. I want his defeat to be historic.

I don’t want to see Trump win a single state. In fact, I would love if we could admit 10 more states that he could also lose. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, at least temporarily. East Dakota. Old Jersey. We could borrow New Brunswick from Canada and Chihuahua from Mexico.

I’m willing to have Hillary Clinton only take enough electoral votes to be elected President for sure. I’d give states to Gary Johnson of the Libertarians and Jill Stein of the Greens and even some write-ins.

As long as Trump and his ilk get nothing. Nothing but the scorn of the majority of the American people, and consignment to the sections of history books where this country’s worst enemies reside in infamy.

3. I’ll try to go back to talking about real issues next week.