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In fact, you’re free to pretend he doesn’t exist.

I’m aware that, during the recent election campaign, you pledged to improve relations with Washington. You said you’d get along better with the president, avoid the harsh words and veiled insults of the Harper years, and reintroduce the tradition of mutual respect that existed when Chretien and Clinton enjoyed golfing and lying about their scores together, and Mulroney piped up with Reagan for one more rendition of “Danny Boy.” (Sorry if I don’t mention your father, but, far as I can tell, Pierre never met a president he didn’t consider inferior).

Trump is easily the most dangerous US politician since George Wallace ran for president on old-time bigotry against blacks.

If I was in a snarky mood I could suggest that one more broken promise, even in the short life of this government, wouldn’t be anything new. But that would be “cloudy ways”. Let’s all agree the promise didn’t fully account for the possibility the Republican party would opt to transform itself into something from the film “They Saved Hitler’s Brain”.

Trump’s latest pledge, should he end up in the Oval Office, is to ban all Muslims from the US.

“Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on,” a campaign press release said. “Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine,” Trump said in the statement. “Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life.”

It’s not clear precisely how President Trump’s people would identify who’s a Muslim and who isn’t. Previously he has called for a database on all Muslims in the US, so it would just be a short step to a worldwide database on Muslims, backed up by some identifying mark for handy visual recognition, like demanding they wear striped pajamas with a star on the chest. But Trump’s plans are never very clear, mainly because he rarely has a clue what he’s talking about. He has a direct line to the darkest corners of populist fear and prejudice, and he delights in setting it aflame. He’s easily the most dangerous US politician since George Wallace ran for president on old-time bigotry against blacks. Wallace came to national attention with his crusade to retain segregation and keep blacks out of the University of Alabama. Trump’s audience is much the same: white, angry and ignorant. The first Republican who summons the nerve to tell him to shut his ugly mouth and go home will be the one who sets the party back on the path towards respectability.