We get a pretty good volume of hate mail from several directions. Sometimes we get threats, occasionally death threats. A couple of years ago, a guy emailed me to say that he was going to bring a gun to my office and murder me. I reported him to the local police, and also brought a gun of my own to the office for a week or two, just in case. That guy wasn’t a nut, he was a mainstream member of the Democratic Party who had a good job at a local utility.

We normally pay no attention to hate mail; in fact, such communications, if they get through our filters, generally hit the trash before I’m through the first sentence. But I got one this morning that I want to comment on, as it reflects where we are now as a society.

The sender took the trouble to look up my office address, and directed his email there. The sender popped up as “mlucky99,” but when I clicked on the address it came up as “[email protected].” So I assume his name is George Lynch, Gerald Lynch, or something similar. The subject heading was “You can’t erase history.” The email started out as though it came from a sane person:

You know I think a lot of Americans are pretty exhausted of Donald Trump and the drama and wish that he, his issues and all of the BS surrounding him would just go away.

So far, so good. But it continued:

But even if he disappeared tomorrow, the fact that smart and accomplished “conservatives” became so damned intellectually dishonest to protect the leader of their cult of personality won’t go away. As they say “the internet is forever”.

Well, I thought, he obviously doesn’t mean me. Commenters on my post on the Georgia indictment, which apparently triggered this communication, have excoriated me for not defending Trump more vociferously, and especially for saying I think he lost the 2020 election.

But Mr. Lynch continued:

You have joined that list with your latest defense of the man. He’s committed crimes in multiple jurisdictions and on multiple occasions but you cultists just can’t seem to admit it.

Hopefully the juries will shut your fucking mouths for good.

So now I am a Trump “cultist.” Take that, Trump-fan commenters! And, reverting to form, Mr. Lynch can’t get through five sentences without foaming at the mouth and launching an F-bomb. A typical liberal.

I have never understood why so many people are obsessed by Donald Trump, either for him or against him. In my opinion, he is not one of the 20 most interesting people on the political scene. And, apart from anything else, I do not under any circumstances want to see another 80+ year old president. And yet, in the eyes of this (admittedly demented) member of the Democratic Party, I am a Trump “cultist.” Because, based on my 41 years as a lawyer, I said the Georgia indictment does not plausibly allege any actual crimes on Trump’s part.

Some people say that Donald Trump has broken our politics, driving people insane on both the Left and the Right, but I don’t believe it. I think those people, like Mr. Lynch, were crazy already.