What’s happening today in the Republican primary for the GOP nomination for president is unprecedented. The front-runner in the race is purposefully lying about himself and admitting that he is lying. When Donald Trump says that “At some point, I’m going to be so presidential that you people will be so bored,” he is in effect confessing that everything he has been doing up until that point has been a charade.

This isn’t the first time that Trump has openly revealed the dishonesty of his campaign tactics. He was asked by Fox News in February when he would start to act more presidential and he answered “Pretty soon.” Of course, that answer was evidence that he was not presidential at the time, but that his “act” would change at some unspecified time in the future. So as soon as he thinks he’s ready to stop acting like a crass and boorish buffoon he’ll suddenly transform into a respectable diplomat, something he has never been in decades of a very public life.

To expand on his overt phoniness, Trump also told an NBC town hall that “I did some things, and I’ve said some things in fun. I’ve said it as an entertainer.” He apparently has no reluctance to exposing himself as character in his own reality show. And his new campaign chief, Paul Manafort, backed him up saying that “The part that he’s been playing is now evolving.”

So it’s obvious, and admitted, that Trump is merely playing a part at his rancorous rallies filled with rancid insults, undisguised threats, crybaby whining, and childish blathering. And now he expects everyone to believe that he will simply change into a dignified leader who won’t embarrass the nation on the world stage. That’s a lot to ask. But sadly, many in the media are already falling for it.

In a addition to the press, who have forthrightly stated that ratings are more important than the welfare of the country, the Republican Party is trying to gather the nerve to pretend that they can tolerate a Trump candidacy. While some factions of the GOP are stumbling over themselves to resist him (i.e. the #NeverTrump movement), the remainder are engaging in a form of self-delusion to get to a point where they don’t vomit at the sound his name.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

They realize that July is rapidly approaching and the prospect of Trump emerging from their convention with the nomination is not as preposterous as it once seemed to be. Now they have to decide whether it would be crazier to step away from a candidate that has sunk to lower depths in favorability than any candidate in history, or to fall in line behind him and suffer record losses. They also have to decide if they want to be associated with a flaming bigot who revels in his ignorance of both domestic and foreign affairs.

That might seem like an easy question for most people, but for Republicans they are struggling with it. The choice between integrity and patriotism over a racist wannabe dictator is not so simple for them. And if you were going to place any bets, I would suggest that you lean toward the party standing behind Trump because, when all is said and done, he isn’t so different than the rest of them. And he certainly isn’t very different from the right-wing constituency that is propping Trump up with victories from Montgomery to Manhattan.