As has been noted, Donald Trump has lowered the bar for qualifications for President of the United States so far, that it is underground. The American myth to the effect that “anyone can be president” has become a reality during the Age of Trump. And that can be the only rational explanation for why there are now nineteen people running for the Democratic nomination for president, and none of them are named Biden. And with or without Uncle Joe, the number of Democratic wannabees will exceed twenty in the blink of an eye.

Clearly there is a need for some adult supervision for this herd of Democratic cats. There is no way that twenty men and women running for president is a sustainable model for ending the Trump presidency in November of 2020. Consider that Donald Trump will have at least $1 billion to spend on his campaign next year. Consider that many right wing of the right wing conservatives love their faux billionaire president that $1 billion is just a number and they can go higher they need to do so. And that doesn’t include his fervent and fevered base that will give until it hurts, and then give some more.

And then realize that the Democrats do not have that kind of billionaire bank roll, and certainly the Democratic billionaires (with a few exceptions – George Soros comes to mind) are not as numerous as their Republican counterparts. And even the robust small donor base will be spread too wide and too thin to give any presumptive nominee the wherewithal to go up against the Trump Machine in the fall of 2020.

We know that Trump can seem unhinged and a distant relative of reality from time to time if not all the time, but the lemming-like surge of Democratic candidates raises the question as to what these people are thinking. Most of the Talented Twenty are sufficiently well-versed in politics to know that this herd mentality is going to distract/bore/dismay the Democratic base until there is only a glimmer of hope left in the party by the time the exhausted delegates and their favorite sons and daughters depart Milwaukee in July of next year.

Tom Perez, Chair of the Democratic National Committee has been too silent on this matter. At least the captain of the Titanic didn’t see the iceberg until it was too late. Captain Perez can see this disaster materializing a full year away and he has to take action.

This is no ordinary presidential election. The re-election of Donald Trump will be a true disaster for the United States and most of the world – Russia excluded (not colluded), of course. And in exigent times, bold action must be taken. To put the matter bluntly, it is already time to thin the herd.

Giving any semblance of legitimacy to the presidential campaigns that are doomed to defeat is to risk the dilution, if not extinction, of enthusiasm and energy in the Democratic Party, and that is a risk that Tom Perez and his fellow Democrats cannot afford to take. In no more than ninety days Perez needs to establish some further parameters (not just the number of individual donors – a low qualifier in this age of social media and GoFundMe)so that there are no more than a half dozen credible candidates by the middle of summer.

Tom Perez needs to put an end to these vanity campaigns as well as the fantasy campaigns. Donald Trump is a real threat to the present and future of the United States, and the Democrats need to start acting as if they understand the true scope of this dire emergency.

It is past time to thin the herd of Democratic cats.