Parker: Good night, Republican Party of President Trump

Alas, Munoz was found dead the next morning, lying on the floor of his padded cell with a piece of clothing around his neck and blood puddled around his nose.

What, one wonders, would it take to convince Trump that he’s wrong? That this policy of separation must stop yesterday? The trauma suffered by many of the 2,000 children being held in government detention centers — especially by the very young ones — is excruciating to consider. Indeed, two-thirds of Americans oppose Trump’s tactic of trying to force Democrats to essentially “pay for the wall.” Who knew there were so many Mexicans in the U.S. Congress?

Of course, you remember — Mexico was going to pay for it. In an essential use of profanity, former Mexico President Vicente Fox responded by confirming what many of us knew from the beginning: “We’ll never pay for that (expletive-ing) wall.”

Now, just a few months away from the midterm elections, Trump wants that wall so much, babies can cry and little boys can curl into fetal balls, for all he cares. This isn’t supposition. It’s data.

Sick tactics

Trump’s political calculation wasn’t just way over-the-top; it was sick. And, yes, these tactics qualify as mental torture similar to forcing a POW to listen to the screams of a fellow comrade as a means of extracting information or inducing submission. Rather than serve as a disincentive to other would-be migrants, zero tolerance has led to sympathy for the defiant.

The irony is also sick, but in a good way, as karma goes. Republicans have been in such a dither over illegal immigrants lest they become Democrats, they’ve created a scenario in which virtually no one of Latino descent now would consider supporting a GOP candidate.

Notwithstanding the objections of a few Republicans — and lately more, given the political omens — it’s over. What’s obvious and belated is that most congressional Republicans were silent until their political futures seemed at risk. You have to wonder, what’s it like to look in the mirror and see the face of someone who was essentially willing to condone the psychic torture of little children for political gain? Nauseating, I should think.

But Republican dissenters have learned that to confront their dear leader is to face expungement by the one-third of Americans who support Trump and, coincidentally, who also support separating children from their parents.

Election Day will tell, and the outcome will reveal who we really are.