The most recent racist attacks by President trump are not the straws that broke any camel’s back. Politically accepting that Trump has a multitude of racist bones in his body was established when he took that escalator ride down into the Trump Tower Lobby and proclaimed Mexican people as ‘criminals’ and ‘rapists’ while reserving the privilege of assuming that ‘some’ were good people. The reports of Trump’s deep racial animosity stretches back throughout the entirety of his public life, including Federal law suits over his refusal to rent to African-Americans, and the ‘understanding’ of his casino floor managers that when trump visited to move African-Americans employees out of sight.  Nothing he has done as a businessman, public figure, or elected servant has contradicted this portrayal. Simply put, Donald Trump is racist.

The question is what do the rest of us do about it?

For independents and members of the Democratic Party this answer is obvious, oppose him, fight to defeat him, and drive him from the public square. But that’s a goal the Democrats and many others would have regardless of Trump bigotry.

For Republicans the challenge is far more consequential and very few appear to have the moral courage to meet it. At this date if one is unwilling to denounce and defeat this vile racism then you are left with just three options.

Complicity – you are a part of it. Your silence and refusal to take action make you into an ally in his smears, slanders, and bigotry.

Willful Ignorance – you ignore the facts, studiously avoid learning any of the man’s history, and pretend that in this media saturated environment you somehow have remained unaware of the truth.

Denial — One of my favorite authors once wrote ‘Mankind is not a rational animal but a rationalizing animal.’ This is never truer then when people invent fantastic leaps of logic in order to avoid the simplest and most obvious of conclusions. If you are finding byzantine explanation for how these numerous and repeated attacks are not ‘really racist’ congratulations you are in the state of Denial.

So which state is yours?