TRUMP'S MILITIA

The thing about human beings is that they know what they know and they can't be wrong. About anything. It's just a delusion, of course, but a powerful one that drives most human behavior.

Donald Trump, for instance, knows he's a hell of guy and would make a great president of this country. He also knows Hillary Clinton is a monster from hell who would destroy American in a matter of days.

Given that juicy packet of human knowledge, Trump knows he will easily win the coming election. It just makes sense, right?

It also makes inescapable sense that if he should fail to be elected, there must be something seriously wrong with the election process. It must be rigged.

Hence, his latest hobby horse: the Rigging of the Election.

He doesn't know how, exactly, but he knows it's rigged. Forces are aligned against him: the crooked media, the crooked establishment, maybe even the crooked Republican party, which—let's face it—has been leery of Trump from the git-go.

No doubt Crooked Hillary is behind it all. Which is so unfair, because the woman should be in jail right now for all her crimes. Clearly, the so-called justice system is also rigged.

Trump can only count on his core followers, the ones who have been on his side from the beginning. Hillary calls them the Deplorables.

Trump's opinion of them was expressed quite early. These are the people who will back him no matter what. He could murder a man on Fifth Avenue—in plain view of witnesses and captured on smart-phone video—and his supporters would only smile.

Maybe compliment him on his shooting technique.

Nothing wrong with that, right? If the man wants to shoot somebody, that's his business. If he wants to grab some hot babe's pussy, why not? That's just what real men do.

It's the American tradition, Bubba: hard men doing men's work, life-takers and heart-breakers. Men who take what they want and make no excuses. Men who offer no apologies for being who they are.

Trump was raised to be that guy. According to his dad—and reported in a recent Frontline documentary—the opposite of loser is "killer."

And it's pretty clear Trump wants us to think of him as a killer. A man who takes what he wants. A man who mocks losers for not packing the gear.

It's not enough that a handful of close friends knows the real Trump. He wants everybody to know. Which is why he behaves the way he does in public.

(Could it be he's even crazier in private? When things go wrong, he's known to be a screamer, blaming everybody but himself for the failure.)

What Trump doesn't know—and it's literally unknowable in his universe—is that people are against him because they recognize him for what he is: a bully, a thug, a boastful idiot who thinks he can do all sorts of things in government just by putting his attention on them. He lies about almost everything, then blames others for lying. He is the King of the Deplorables.

If the election is "rigged," it's because it contains Donald Trump as a candidate. He's the rig.

What's amazing is how close it is. I guess we'll have to blame Hillary for that. Talk about a "perfect storm."

The crucial question now is what's going to happen if he loses? How's he going to fix this rigged election?

How many lunatics has Trump primed for battle? One guy told a reporter Hillary should be tried for treason and executed. Another guy said he wasn't going to let the woman remain in power.

Trump inspires people. He especially appeals to white men who go to work right after high school. Men who resent and hate their college-educated bosses. Men who think of themselves as the real Americans.

What vast militia may form after Trump loses the election, dedicated to setting things right?

I guess we wait and see.