The extreme candidates on both sides of the political aisle are representing the worst of human nature, and the natural result was the anger in the streets and inside the doomed Donald Trump event in Chicago Friday night.
Are we really surprised that followers of billionaire, self-absorbed, self-proclaimed "greedy" Donald Trump and the followers of the self-righteous career politician Bernie Sanders, whose every speech preaches class warfare, would finally clash in a city like Chicago?
Both Trump and Sanders have been purposefully heating up the temperatures and emotions of their growing crowds of unhappy people for many months now. It is precisely Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders who are largely to blame for tonight's chaos.
Donald Trump's sophomoric behavior, "winner take all" mentality, and general propensity to insult others and incite anger at his rallies is now legendary. He has said that he wants to punch protestors in the face; he encourages disruptive acts and gleefully challenges the media to get better shots. A senior member of his own campaign team recently manhandled a female reporter (and is now facing a lawsuit) and another reporter was slammed to the ground at an earlier event. Donald is swooped from his events acting as if he is above it all and then disappears into the night leaving behind a restless, highly-charged crowd. How dare he not now accept responsibility?
(And a side note: At Miami's Republican debate it was disgusting when Donald Trump acted surprising pleased that the candidates were finally having a civil debate, all the while knowing that the stage was calm precisely because he refrained, for the first time, to start the food fight.)
At the other political extreme, equally responsible for the political discord and civil unrest, you find a career politician that is the very embodiment of government gone amuck: Senator Bernie Sanders. Every bit as shrewd as Donald Trump's "above it all" demeanor while slicing and dicing, is Senator Sanders' calm but steady preaching of class warfare. He belittles successful, risk-taking businessmen and insists they "owe" something to a young generation who has been left jobless by the very policies that he and Hillary Clinton extol. Young, unhappy adults are told that the "rich" owe them free college, free health care, a better infrastructure and a share of their income. Bernie Sanders feeds their unhappiness and tells them it is the Donald Trump's of the world who are responsible for it.
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are masters of disruption and mob manipulation, and America and Americans are worse off for it.
Mind you, Hillary Clinton is also a socialist, class warfare advocate who will only to continue to further the division of Americans that is killing our country. She allows Sanders to do much of her bidding, all the while trying to make herself look more moderate. Don't you believe her act for a second.
It's time for those who are angry on both sides to stop allowing themselves to be manipulated, and to make sure that cooler heads and smarter leaders prevail. And it's time for them to take responsibility for their own childish behavior; for taking the bait and becoming part of the problem.
What we desperately need now, more than ever, is a true leader who can return America to that shining city on a hill that is once again a beacon of hope for the world......and for Americans here at home.
Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton must be stopped by the voters, or we will decay into a country of daily protests, class warfare and malaise.
We need someone presidential, someone who has stood up to the special interests from both parties; someone who has fought the lobbyists and won; and someone whose very purpose for running is to restore the only document that protects the civil liberties of all of us. That man is Ted Cruz. He is the only person that can end the madness.