To follow up on Big Al's post:
"Could any of our American friends explain to a dumb Englishman....?

1) Donald encouraged a mob to attack the White House and Democratic Process.
2) He has systematically lied, and every so often there is a news story about criminal behaviour - but he's never been arrested. Why?
3) A great political party seems to think he is the American citizen most fitted to lead and represent your country.
4) millions of Americans want to vote for him. "

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The Republican party is now a loose coalition of antiabortion advocates, anti-immigration zealots, gun nuts, climate and holocaust deniers, fiscal conservatives, greedy corporations, Gerrymandering states and pure fascists..etc.. who don't necessarily 'like' Trump, but want stuff he seems willing to give them in order to retain power and stay out of jail. (He gave them a Supreme Court)
   Now, as Trump gets wackier by the day, they are trying to oh, so carefully, disassociate themselves from him as his troubles increase... but find someone(s) else to keep his 'spirit' alive.
   This leads to power struggles, crazy candidates, awkward alliances and the extreme polarization of the electorate we see these days. The 'United' States doesn't mean what it was supposed to.
   The recent election shows that the majority is still trying to avoid an autocracy, but it's not easy when ***STATE'S RIGHTS*** still allows some states to simply ignore certain parts of the Constitution and re-write voting laws.

So, Big Al.. Englishmen are not dumb... but they simply have a hard time comprehending why we don't DO SOMETHING! We have painted ourselves into a corner where our own democratic legal system can be used against that frustrated majority. It's kinda like Monty Python.."Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition"