So what can we learn from these esoteric arguments for Trump? They have much in common. First, a belief, not unfounded, that Hillary Clinton is a candidate of an unsatisfactory status quo, or that she is hostile to one’s short and long-term interests. The second commonality is a kind of historical despair that is extravagant. The causes one holds dear are about to be lost, and lost irrevocably. Everything is proceeding along a grim, downward path, and only a dramatic interruption can arrest it. And finally, they have in common Trump himself.

Many in the Republican Party or on the right correctly perceive Clinton as a political enemy. But the esoteric case for Trump is only possible because Trump is so obviously a buffoon, a bluffer, a kind of living cartoon. The only way people with a certain kind of dignity or intelligence can convince themselves that he would make a worthy president is through an elaborate form of self-delusion. The esoteric case for Trump is just that, a form of hypnosis.

Snap out of it, people.