Trump is a fascist. And that's not a term I use loosely or often. But he's earned it. - Max Boot

Carlson’s defenders point out that his conversations with Bubba the Love Sponge occurred years ago and not on Fox News. But he defended statutory rape — female teachers having sex with underage boys — as recently as a 2015 podcast. And on his Fox News show, Carlson regularly rages against immigration and diversity. In December, he said that immigration "makes our own country poorer and dirtier." White supremacists have become avid fans of Carlson; the white supremacist website Daily Stormer called him "literally our greatest ally."

Catering to populist anger with proposals that are certain to fail is not a viable strategy for political success.

Many Democrats took all this at face value and congratulated themselves for being smarter than the benighted Republicans. Here’s the thing, though: The Republican embrace of was, to a large extent, a put-on. At least until now.