The definition of insanity has been said to be illustrated by someone doing the same thing over and over again, getting the same negative result, and still doing it over and over again. The best current illustration of insanity is the Democratic Party presidential primary process which seems to be premised on the notion that whoever is the actual nominee will defeat Donald Trump because there is no way that the American electorate will give him a second term.

And it is that “no way” line of thinking that is the perfect illustration of political insanity. The idea that the virtually atomic dispersal of the Democratic core constituency among 18 candidates could be a recipe for disaster on November 3, 2020, has simply not crossed the minds of the candidates or the leadership of the Democratic National Committee.

And it would seem, that they are clinging to the clearly fallacious assumption that was held by the Democratic cognoscenti in 2016 that there was “no way” that the American people would elect a lying, misogynistic, ignorant, bullying, racist, ignorant, fact challenged, ignorant, xenophobe event if Hillary Clinton was a (more than) slightly flawed candidate. And we see how that turned out.

It is now December, in less than sixty days the primary campaign process will begin in earnest with the Iowa caucus event and then it is on to New Hampshire, South Carolina and everywhere else. At every step along the way, as possibility/probability of defeat/victory becomes clearer, these 18 candidates will begin attacking each other with vigor and venom that will be noted by the Republican National Committee.

The campaigns of Sanders, Harris, Bloomberg, Warren, Buttigieg ET. Al. will be writing the scripts for the Trump Reelection Campaign so that with some basic editing, the Republicans will begin attacking the eventual Democratic candidate as soon as he/she leaves Milwaukee in April. And there is also the very real probability that the 17 constituencies of the 17 losing candidates will be less than fully motivated to battle The Behemoth That is Trump having seen their favorite crushed into the dust.

And for those who would point out that there are always losers in the primary process and that this will be just the normal political process at work – it should be pointed out that these are not normal times, Donald Trump is not a normal president and that as these words are being read there is a very real chance that Donald Trump will be reelected unless the Democrats stop putting on a show and instead demonstrate an understanding that we are on the precipice of desperate times for the people of this country and for this country itself if this man is somehow reelected.

How these 18 candidates and their enablers within the DNC do not see the real and present danger facing this country will be the subject for historians to ponder no matter the results in 2020. If Trump wins the story of the Democratic primary process 2019-2020 will be the preface to the story of the true decline of the United States. If the Democrats win historians will wonder why on earth the DNC would play with the fire that came close to burning down the institutions of this country.

The disarray surrounding the DNC primary process might entertainment for political junkies during normal times. But, to reiterate, these are not normal times and the stakes are too high to presume normalcy when the possibility of a potentially disastrous Trump second term is in plain view.

The 18 men and women who are running for president as Democrats presume themselves and pronounce themselves to be leaders. It is time for at least one of them to show true leadership and convene the other 17 and determine a consensus candidate who will be champion of the only cause that counts right now – the defeat of Donald Trump.

If none of the 18 can do this, then perhaps none of them really deserve to be president and we should begin right now to prepare for the desolation that will be the hallmark of an eight year Trump presidency.