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President Trump or Democrats for Hillary? "Democrats for Nixon" once seemed an impossible notion, too, but that group made a difference in the 1972 election. (Photo by Justin Sullivan | Getty Images)

Donald Trump's big win in South Carolina, along with his sustained popularity in key states that will vote soon, make him the clear favorite to win the Republican nomination.

This is no longer a bad dream that America can shake off when the alarm rings. This is real, and it's terrifying.

So we have two suggestions.

One is that Republicans of sound mind should join Sen. Lindsey Graham and announce their preference for a Democratic president over Trump, should the choice come to that.

"Republicans for Hillary" is not a motto that rolls easily off the tongue, granted. But at some point party loyalty must yields to patriotism. "Democrats for Nixon" once seemed an impossible notion, too, but that group made a difference in the 1972 election.

So consider this a distress call: Republicans, help!

Our second suggestion is that we all look beyond Trump, and shift focus to his supporters. Because America has always had its share of bigots and snake-oil salesmen who spread poison to win political support. Trump is nothing new.

The question is why people are buying into it now? And pardon us, but we will not offer the usual list of bland excuses for their bad decisions.

Take immigration. One third of Trump supporters earn less than $50,000 a year, and just 11 percent make more than $100,000. They are not country club Republicans. They are competing with immigrants who are mowing the lawns at the country clubs.

So yes, it's understandable that they feel more threatened by illegal immigration. But it is not remotely reasonable to support Trump's noxious plan to deport 12 million people.

How many federal agents would he hire to do that? Would they conduct sweeps in New Jersey cities? Wouldn't we have to build giant prisons to hold them during processing? How about we call them concentration camps? And once we export these people, where do we put their children?

Would not decent Americans of all stripes protest this, even with civil disobedience? Would they go to jail, too?

Trump supporters simply haven't thought this through. And they take the same lazy approach to terrorism. It's reasonable to be afraid. It's not reasonable to ban all Muslims from entering the United States.

Trump supporters are treating this election as some kind of aggrievement therapy. It feels good, somehow, to take a tough line.

But what about their civic duty? When 66 percent of Trump supporters say that President Obama is a Muslim, and 61 percent say he was born abroad, they have simply not done the homework. They are indulging in a juvenile conspiracy theory that must offer some kind of psychic reward.

It is the same with Trump's simple call to annihilate the Islamic State, or bring back medieval forms of torture that he promises will be "a hell of a lot worse" than waterboarding.

Trump has said that America's unemployment rate is over 40 percent. He said more than 30 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States. He said that 81 percent of white homicide victims were killed by blacks. He said he saw "thousands and thousands" of Muslims celebrating the September 11 attacks in Jersey City.

All of that is intended to fan resentments, and all of it has been proven to be nonsense. Do Trump supporters believe him, without so much as a Google check? Or do they know he's lying, and accept it as part of the Donald's shtick? Either way, they need to sober up.

So it's time to push back. If you know a Trump supporter, ask these questions. It's time to stop treating this campaign as an amusement. A presidential election is not a reality TV show. It's serious stuff.

Unless Trump is stopped soon, it could be too late. He could soon be one Clinton scandal away from the Oval Office.

More: Recent Star-Ledger editorials.

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