Picture by TwinsofSedona

Sometimes I look at the headlines and wonder if America has been affected by an outbreak of mass stupidity. The election of Donald Trump must go down as one of the worst decisions in American history. Somehow, American voters opted to give an amoral conman the keys to the most powerful arsenal on Earth. How is that going to work out well?

Trump said he loves the poorly educated, and he wasn’t kidding. Trump rallies are a celebration of ignorance. I call them a confederacy of dunces.

Right wingers say that it’s elitist to mock the ignorance of Trump supporters, but what can you say about people who are still chanting for Hillary Clinton to be locked up, even though she’s been retired from political life for two years? And this at the same time when at least five members of the Trump campaign have been convicted. Lt-Gen. Michael Flynn (rtd.) even lead a “lock her up” chant, but now he’s facing jail time. Trump supporters have also called for California Sen. Diane Feinstein to be locked up, even though she’s not facing charges.

But it’s not just that. Look at these examples:

A report in the Daily Beast said that the Proud Boys, a bizarre white nationalist group, has members of color. Yes, you read that right. A group whose members spout white supremacist phrases has members who are Latino, biracial and Asian. “(Enrique) Tarrio, who identifies as Afro-Cuban, is president of the Miami chapter of the Proud Boys, who call themselves “Western chauvinists,” and “regularly spout white-nationalist memes and maintain affiliations with known extremists,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the Daily Beast. One member, Joey Gibson, who’s half Asian, even said that his hero was Martin Luther King!

Joe Gomez, a second-generation Mexican, joined the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR,) an anti-immigrant organization that was founded by a neo-Nazi, and then complained they made fun of his heritage. What was he expecting?

Trump rallies are an orgy of ignorance and shallow thinking. On Friday, the president attended an Ohio rally where he praised Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. and then asked for black votes. I saw a report from a Trump rally where a woman said rape victims could avoid attack by keeping their legs closed. And after he used the mentally unstable Kanye West to divert from his latest scandal, Trump proclaimed that Kanye was a “terrific guy.”

The Republicans latest strategy is to paint Democrats as an angry mob, even though Trump urged his followers to attack protestors, Trump and supporting neo-Nazis marched through Charlottesville, N.C. and killed Heather Heyer. And the Proud Boys recently rampaged through the streets of New York and attacked people while calling them “faggots.”

But the real problem is that while people on the left know Trump and the Republicans are lying, his followers don’t care. They believe whatever he says is the 100 percent truth. And when people start believing known lies, they’ve lost touch with reality.

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said this pattern of lying is strategic.

“Why do Republicans think they can get away with such blatant lies? Partly it’s because they expect their Fox-watching followers to believe anything they’re told,” said Krugman.

There is a reason why Republicans disdain elitists (educated people) and higher education. According to a Pew Research survey, 58 percent of Republicans said colleges “had a negative effect on the country.” Ignorant people are easier to fool and control.