It was a bizarre, but not unexpected night.

On the stage where the GOP’s new overlord would be crowned, several things went down that anyone who has been a Republican for any real length of time could not have dreamed of happening.

We saw a preacher pray for acceptance of gay marriage and suggest all gods are the same, while marginal Christians bowed their heads in agreement, rather than walking out or bursting into flames.

We saw the co-founder of PayPal – the organization that set about to ruin the state of North Carolina, economically, because of a law our Republican governor signed to keep men out of women’s bathrooms – step up and declare that he was a proud, gay man, and that it was time to end the culture wars.

For you social conservatives that have been calling the Republican party home, the shorter version of that would be a big, middle finger right in your face.

We saw the Democrat daughter of Trump, Ivanka, give the full, liberal Socialist platter, complete with talk of free child care and other gimmies, straight from the tax payers’ pockets.

Then finally, we saw the Big Funky, himself, take the stage and yell at us about how horrible the world is and how he’s going to make everything all better.

No. He literally yelled every line.

His speech was such a rambling, steaming pile of horse apples it would be laughable, if not for the fact that this man is angling to get at our nation’s nuclear codes and people are trying to help him!

In fact, his speech was so full of fear and loathing, heavily tinged calls to Nationalist pride and the demonization of “other,” it was like a history lesson in action. If you ever questioned how authoritarian fascists begin their reign, last night was a prime example.

I ran across one tweet afterwards last night that caused me to laugh out loud, because, at this point, it’s that or cry:

I’ve heard this sort of speech a lot in the last 15 years and trust me, it doesn’t sound any better in Russian. — Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) July 22, 2016

Then there was this, and I think the guy was serious:

Great Trump Speech, America First! Stop Wars! Defeat the Corrupt elites! Protect our Borders!, Fair Trade! Couldn't have said it better! — David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) July 22, 2016

We’re in a bad place. We’ve been there before, but after 8 years of awful, we shouldn’t be actively seeking to drive a stake through our own hearts.

We are doomed to our left, destroyed to our right. Let’s pray enough people are willing to wake up from their apathy to actively fight to break the 2-party system this year.

We need a new conservative home, because all things conservative died last night, to the thunderous applause and approval of those who claim to fight for it.

Did they ever really know what conservatism is, in the first place?