This is why I don't write about U.S. politics anymore.

Because we have Pierce.

And, as usual, he sticks the landing:

"If the elite political press is going to treat fiction as fact as long as the fiction is delivered in a compelling, dramatic manner, then the country truly is lost. If Carly Fiorina is adjudged to be the winner of a debate simply because of how "crisply" she delivered lies about Planned Parenthood, or how "forcefully" she responded to a cartoon like Donald Trump, or how "sharply" she presented her nonsense about reining in Vladimir Putin with "aggressive military maneuvers" on his borders, then there is a problem in the political process that is metastasizing by the hour. Ronald Reagan was the index patient for that problem. They truly are his children now."

This is one of the two parties we have allowed ourselves. This is the face of a third of our "fellow citizens". This is the "conservative" party. This is what somewhere between a quarter and a third of the U.S. public wants.

We really are so, so, so, so fucked.