"Exterminate all the Brutes."

It's been a long and painful wait, but after seven years of trying, following a proclamation early in the Obama presidency that his singular duty as a U.S. Senator would be to block the new president at every turn, 70-year-old Mitch McConnell may get his way. McConnell's vow to and block Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court may just succeed – much to the detriment of our nation, our democracy and the Constitution itself.

Hard to believe, but not everyone is enamored with the inclusive, progressive leadership Obama has delivered – old dinosaurs like McConnell are more abundant than you may think. And the truth is that there are factions in this nation who would take us back to a time when women couldn't vote, blacks were slaves and we had prohibition. Hell, we've had three presidential candidates in this current campaign cycle who would, on Day 1, shred the Constitution and rule by the Bible – a fine book for day-to-day personal guidance and inspiration, but not (so far) The Law of The Land. Incidentally, one of those revisionists is still in the hunt for the White House. But more on that later. Right now, Mitch McConnell and the old-timers have another problem, which could derail his attempt to stymie Obama.

Earlier this year, as this unbelievably horrid campaign for president really began to take shape, I figured Ted Cruz for the True Nut; that Donald Trump was just a buffoon who wanted nothing more than to bury China, or even own it. Yeah, the trade deficit with Mexico bothers him, too, but the easy solution to that would be to just make the damn place the 51^st state and OWN all those "brown ones," as George H. W. Bush so infamously referred to them. In a Trump administration, the so-called "social" issues would just fade away. Abortion? Second Amendment? Immigration? To hell with that boring stuff – it's time to make a deal, baby! That's Trump – and I've been counting on him.

Not Cruz, of course – the social agenda is at the top of his list. It's been clear as long as we've known of Cruz that this freak has been hell-bent – much like his long-disposed cohorts, Huckabee and Santorum – to shred the U.S. Constitution, hold the Bible aloft as the Law of the Land and, in doing so, take us back to 16^th Century England. And I still believe Cruz would do that.

That said, Trump revealed himself yesterday to be something more of a concern than first anticipated. His latest rantings about abortion and women and doctors are frightening, and one comes to realize that it's more than China that Trump wants in his back pocket. It's the whole world. If he could flip a switch and eliminate everyone on the planet except for a few choice requisite Trumpettes, he would. It's now obvious that Trump wants to be an undisputable king, even if there's nothing left over which to reign.

As his rants have risen to a new level, though, it's become more and more obvious that Trump may well, indeed, be out his element. Of late, his verbal meanderings have reminded me of the passage from Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," at which point Marlow realizes that Kurtz "could not have been more irretrievably lost than he was at this very moment, when the foundations of our intimacy were being laid – to endure – to endure – even to the end – even beyond."

Ah, yes … the intimacy. It was a disillusioning moment for Marlow when he discovered just how far around the bend Kurtz had gone. And it must be equally so for Trump disciples. Have they reached the tipping point yet? Or perhaps, the boiling point? Who knows? It seems as if we've been in this place before, only to see the madman escape. But now? As I ponder Donald Trump's fate, I must say that I'm torn.

On one hand, Democrats need Trump to enter the convention in Cleveland this July with enough primary votes to already have the nomination locked down upon arrival, given that polls show Hillary Clinton wiping the floor with the poor slob come The General in November. But on the other hand, I feel a macabre sensation about the upcoming GOP convention; a strange anticipation to witness history, what with the real possibility of an open convention.

Of course it helps that it's not my party. My party has its own share of troubles, but certainly not like they had back in '68 when the streets of Chicago became a war zone. And maybe that's why I'm filled with such curious anticipation – because I missed it the first time and always wished I could have been there, but that never again would we as a country witness such chaos. Though this year, we may – in Cleveland.

And that will disappoint about half of Trump's followers who actually believe the crap that spews from his mouth about abortion and the Bible and immigration and guns. But the other half … ah, the other half! They're going to be tickled, right down to their Klan-monogrammed underwear. They don't care which country The Donald buries, as long as he buries SOMEBODY.

Either way – open convention or not – there's a good chance Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee, and perhaps even president. Sad as that seems, there's consolation knowing that under a Trump regime, the survival of our U.S. Constitution – and the concept of a Land of Laws – is much more assured than it would be in the hands of backwards bumpkins like Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell.