Cold and clear this Tuesday morning on California’s north coast as we spin through some fine weather for the next week or so — near freezing this morning, but the air is expected to warm today and on into the days ahead.

Yesterday, the best explanation for the horror of The Donald came via a confession/open letter from one of the asshole’s top strategist, Stephanie Cegielski, turned defector — and what I figured from the beginning:

I don’t think even Trump thought he would get this far. And I don’t even know that he wanted to, which is perhaps the scariest prospect of all.

(Illustration: Donald Trump, ‘Basic Shapes,‘ by caricaturist/illustrator Chong Jit Leong, found here).

Despite the blabbering excitement, Trump is really not liked too well — ‘nearly two-thirds of Americans view Trump unfavorably,’ and it seems to be getting worse. However, as this political season is the weirdest in my lifetime, nothing is out of play.

Meanwhile, back to Cegielski, hired last June to be communications director of the Make America Great Again Super PAC, she felt Trump was the real deal until the fog lifted.
Read the whole piece, which fits together the pieces of the WTF! puzzle — some more snips:

After the first debate, I was more anxious than ever to support Trump.
The exchange with Megyn Kelly was like manna from heaven for a communications director.
She appeared like yet another reporter trying to kick out the guest who wasn’t invited to the party. At the time, I felt excited for the change to the debate he could bring.
I began realizing the man really resonates with the masses and would bring people to the process who had never participated before.
That was inspiring to me.
It wasn’t long before every day I awoke to a buzzing phone and a shaking head because Trump had said something politically incorrect the night before.
I have been around politics long enough to know that the other side will pounce on any and every opportunity to smear a candidate.
But something surprising and absolutely unexpected happened.
Every other candidate misestimated the anger and outrage of the “silent majority” of Americans who are not a part of the liberal elite.
So with each statement came a jump in the polls.
Just when I thought we were finished, The Donald gained more popularity.
…
He certainly was never prepared or equipped to go all the way to the White House, but his ego has now taken over the driver’s seat, and nothing else matters.
The Donald does not fail. The Donald does not have any weakness. The Donald is his own biggest enemy.
…
The hard truth is: Trump only cares about Trump.
And if you are one of the disaffected voters — one of the silent majority like me — who wanted a candidate who could be your voice, I want to speak directly to you as one of his biggest advocates and supporters.
He is not that voice. He is not your voice. He is only Trump’s voice.
Trump is about Trump.
Not one of his many wives.
Not one of his many “pieces of ass.” He is, at heart, a self-preservationist.
In fact, many people are not aware of the Trump campaign’s internal slogan, but I will tell you.
It is stolen from a make-believe television presidency on The West Wing where Martin Sheen portrayed President Bartlet.
The slogan on the show amongst the idealistic group of Bartlet’s staff was “Let Bartlet Be Bartlet.”
Inside the Trump camp, the slogan became “Let Trump Be Trump.”

In October, Cegielski’s Super PAC was closed and she was not longer part of the team, but ‘…a member of the voting public rather than a communications person charged with protecting his positions.‘
And the fog lifted: ‘The man does not know policy, nor does he have the humility to admit what he does not know — the most frightening position of all.’

Now this boiling bowl of bullshit is caterwauling toward Cleveland — hold on to your butts…