The undemocratic underpinnings that produced today’s circumstances have been present for a while. As someone who wrote and talked about them — even campaigned for political office on it — I can say from experience that while many people knew and were open to the national course-correction called for, our political and media establishment and the groupthink it produced have been deeply averse to even a conversation about the dark underbelly of American society and the fundamental changes that have been called for. America has had many warnings…and so many looked away.

None of this is to make us feel worse than we do, or make us crumble into a ball of guilt over what we might realize now and fear it’s too late to change. It is however to make us see that part of the awakening — a genuine awakening — is to realize not only how bad things are, but also how much our own complacency both enabled the accumulating madness and prolonged the day of reckoning that would inevitably come. …

The president has announced he’s going to go into American cities with high crime rates and fill them up with militarized agents who will fix all that. How, exactly? Well, no one is sure, because violent criminals don’t wear signs that say, “Me! I’m the bad guy! Come get me!” …

WITH VICTORY IN MIND: BROIHIER IS THE ONE TO BEAT MCCONNELL

Which Democrat takes on Mitch McConnell in November’s Senate race is a decision that will be made by Kentucky Democrats next Tuesday. People not only in Kentucky, but all over the country, have passionate beliefs about who that Democrat should be.

I’m convinced that Mike Broihier is the best person for the job. I’ll tell you why…

The Schumer-led Democratic establishment chose Amy McGrath as their favorite in large part because she’s a Marine. A military background is not only admirable but particularly appealing in a state like Kentucky, but it will not be enough to guarantee a win. McGrath was also chosen because she’s perfect embodiment of the corporatist Democratic ideal — their notion, proven wrong already so many times, that the best way to beat a Republican is with a Republican-lite. …

Last year, I ran for president.

At my CNN Town Hall, I said there was a threat of fascism in our midst.

The ladies on The View said I was only trying to sell books (the way to sell books is by selling books, by the way).

At the Democratic debate, I spoke of “the dark psychic forces of collectivized hatred that this man has unleashed in our country.”

Anderson Cooper said I wasn’t serious enough about mental illness (i.e., deferential enough to Big Pharma).

I said throughout the campaign that we needed radical truth-telling — especially about environmental, economic and criminal injustices against black people. …