The first step is admitting you have a problem

An anonymous person has posted a few times in comments asking where I am on the 2016 republican race, though I've been negligent in keeping this blog going, I'll stoke even a little interest.

A longtime friend from the political sphere made the point, mostly seriously, that a lot of us are going through the famous "stages of grief." Apparently this is known as the Kübler-Ross model, that when dealing with death there's Denial, then Anger, Bargaining, Depression and ultimately Acceptance.

Naturally with any psychological theory like that, apparently there's controversy, amended theories, counterproposals, misappropriations... But I'm getting astray.

If anything, I was in denial on Trump like many for far longer than there was any actual logical thread to cling to. Indeed, that there are STILL articles positing a convention floor delegate revolt shows some out there are still not accepting of the cards dealt.

In my own special way I'm in denial as well. I know as undisputed fact that Trump won 66 of 67 counties in Florida in the primary. But I have such trouble believing it to be the case that a large chunk of my brain greets this fact in a whiny Luke voice... "No, that's not true! That's impossible!" Actually I like that analogy even more now that I see it, because I feel like we've picked Vader as our father AND had a limb cut off.

Along the way I had all the expected cliche glib lines. "Tomorrow I'm gonna wake up and someone will say 'Hah hah we sure got you! Okay your REAL final choices are Jeb, Chris Christie, Rand Paul, John Kasich or Carly Fiorina'." I was one of those ones who kept pointing back at history. "At this point Fred Thompson was ahead in the polls. Or Rick Perry. It's not as if Giuliani lasted..."

Trump's success makes more sense when you remember that the release dates for The Fast & the Furious 8, 9 and 10 have been announced.

— Bradley Gerber (@bradleygerber) March 24, 2016

None of this answers the question on the table, of course. Will I get behind him? Have I moved to acceptance?

At this time, I really don't see that happening. I suppose if he were to bring along on the ticket someone who is a rock-ribbed libertarian style conservative, and somehow morphed into a real CEO looking to bring business acumen to government management, and stop being WWE Hall of Famer Trump... I just don't now. I'm certainly not the only person who is looking at some of the minor party alternatives to see who more closely aligns with my personal convictions.

In a future post I will take a shot at breaking down the "if you don't vote for Trump you are putting Hilary in office" fallacy.