Whatever way the U.S. Presidential election is ultimately decided a month from now, it is becoming increasingly clear that this is likely to be an historic election. This is not because we are likely to be looking at the first female U.S. President, but because historians 100 years from now may actually look at this election as the moment when certain realizations dawned on various segments of the population making the ultimate break-up of the U.S. inevitable. Some of the things that have become apparent are:

1.)    The media and major political figures literally hate an entire segment of the U.S. population, and view them as unredeemably awful.

Although Hillary Clinton’s comment about half of Donald Trump’s supporters being deplorable was walked back a bit by her, the fact that many media figures jumped to assure us that she was in fact correct shows us that they don’t really believe that a large fraction of the population deserves anything but being kicked. While Democrats and the media likely have felt this way for a long time (and it is possible that the ‘deplorables’ sensed this), the fact is that this sentiment is now out in the open. The ‘deplorables’ know that the political left doesn’t really see them as human and being deserving full political rights. This makes political accommodation between the groups difficult as there can no longer be a presumption of good faith.

2.)    The political left doesn’t believe that certain laws should be enforced. As an aside, the left also doesn’t believe in national sovereignty.

Part of the case against Donald Trump was that he was going to get serious about border enforcement (that was also coincidently part of the limited case for him). But for all of the howling on this subject that implied that he was some sort of nativist/Nazi, what was forgotten is that most of what he was proposing was in effect to simply enforce existing law. He really wasn’t talking about laws that he wanted to pass. He was largely saying he was going to do what any President is supposed to do: enforce laws whether he personally likes them or not (this being Trump, however, he was unable to articulate that). The fact that the very definition of sovereignty is being able to control a border and have the say over who gets to live within that border along with the fact that the left denies this right to the U.S., and it is now very clear that a large segment of the population doesn’t believe that laws should be enforced if they don’t like them, and that the U.S. has no right to exercise national sovereignty.

3.)    The political left believes that it is naturally superior to certain other groups, with a natural right to rule over those other folks.

To go to the previous point, when one side thinks that it should be exempt from laws it doesn’t like (like immigration laws), while their opponents should be subject to laws that THEY don’t like (like gay marriage requirements), this a presumption of superiority. It has become abundantly and undeniably clear that many on the political left believes this to be the correct order of things.

4.)    The Department Of Justice and the FBI have become political tools and can no longer be trusted to conduct investigations or dispense justice impartially.

With all the revelations regarding Hillary Clinton’s emails, it is abundantly clear that she should at least be facing charges. It is now undeniable that FBI and Department of Justice did what they could to help cover up the scandal and avoid doing their duty simply because of who Hillary Clinton is. There is no way that this doesn’t seriously degrade the legitimacy of these federal agencies in the eyes of a substantial portion of the American electorate.

5.)    The political class doesn’t have answers, nor does it have an interest in finding answers, to the troubles afflicting the American middle class.

Looking at the mainstream (aka not Donald Trump) wing of the Republican Party, and the mainstream (not Bernie Sanders) Democrat Party, the stated policies of both parties (tax cuts/less regulation/strong national defense on the right and more regulation/more government social spending on the left) haven’t really changed much for roughly 20 years. The problem is that the middle class is hurting and all the political class seems able to do is to pretend that the problem doesn’t exist (through misleading unemployment numbers) or to heap abuse on the voters.

Overall, this election has revealed fissures in American society that are now blindingly clear even to people who don’t really follow politics. That something is horribly wrong and has shifted is not something anyone but the most deluded can miss. The corruption in the federal agencies (FBI, DOJ, IRS, and VA) and the inability of the system to hold anyone accountable (note that nobody appears to have even faced criminal charges) is not something that can go on forever. People have not yet lost complete faith that one man can go in and clean up the mess, hence the support for Donald Trump. When they lose faith that this is even possible……………….then the process of breaking up is likely to start.