I’m re-imagining Donald Trump as a deranged Pied Piper casting a malevolent spell, luring Republican candidates and voters down a dubious road.

This may seem a good thing to Democrats measuring the political baggage piling up in the Clinton campaign van, but it ought to worry anyone concerned about the sanity of our political discourse.

To wit, channeling Trumpspeak:

- re the estimated 11 million undocumented residents of our country, the Trump – and now add too many other Presidential candidates – “policy” is simply, “They’ve got to go.”  All of them – families, children brought here as youngsters, etc.
- Mexico must pay for wall construction running from California to Texas and beyond – an impenetrable wall on the order, say, of the old Soviet Union wall in Berlin.  A symbol of fear and exclusion.
- the 14th Amendment, one of the fundamental documents of our democratic freedom, must change – especially those words giving citizenship to anyone born in the United States.

To tamper with an amendment that is bedrock to human rights - to suggest its dismantling or fundamental change - ought to be (my two cents) a disqualifier for anyone wanting to become President of us all.

Just a quick look at our legal history will show that the 14th Amendment guarantees of citizenship, due process, and equal protection of the law gave us – to choose three of many – the right to same-sex marriage, the right to equal rather than segregated schools, and the right of women to choose a medically safe termination of an unwanted pregnancy.

The partisan in me wants Trump to keep talking and casting the spell; the other part – the one wanting a civil discourse about things that matter -  is appalled that Trump Talk not only cowers too many other politicians, but that it is swallowed by so many Americans.