• Donald Trump is so outrageous, he makes a number of GOP politicians look reasonable by comparison.  (Senator Susan Collins doesn’t need Donald Trump to look reasonable.) Panicked Republicans, sensing another White House loss, may be more resolved than ever to show up at the polls on election day, hoping to salvage control of Congress and obstruct whatever Hillary Clinton may propose.  This means that Democrats cannot be complacent: Trump is not necessarily going to drag the Republican party down, and so-called “angry” economically-displaced white people are not necessarily going to stay home November 8.

Between now and November, Hillary had better begin to address her negatives and work to win over her doubters.  I have my doubts too, but I know who is better aligned with me.

• It seems that a large subset of my Facebook friends are studiously apolitical on Facebook, but for different reasons.  One of my friends is restrained from doing so by the Hatch Act.  Another says that it is not worthwhile to make political statements on Facebook, because no one is going to change their position as a result.  (As if this is the only reason one might choose to express a political opinion.)  Several others, especially my millenial friends, are taking the “pox on both your houses” stance — we trust no one, we advocate nothing.

It is not my priority to preserve Facebook peace-and-harmony.  And though I have my misgivings, I do not subscribe to the one-size-fits-nobody theory of politics.  I believe that votes matter, especially and most vitally when it comes to who will be appointing our next Supreme Court justices.  May I remind you that we have our Supreme Court to thank for the survival of ObamaCare, nationwide recognition of same-sex marriages, and (sigh) the equivalence of corporate money and political speech.

Positions do matter, dammit.  I cannot stop and make calculations as to whether it is worth expressing mine.  My friends will understand.

• One last thought.  Trump thinks the only way he will lose the election is if people cheat.  “You don’t have to have voter ID to now go in and vote, and it’s a little bit scary, and I’ve heard a lot of bad things. I mean, people are going to walk in, they are going to vote 10 times maybe.”  Has Trump never been in a polling place?  He knows his claim isn’t true, but once again he is willing to say anything to stoke people’s resentments.  I am tired of this man insulting our intelligence.