The presidential candidates we deserve

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are only an accurate reflection of our culture of vulgarity and hypocrisy. Both of them. They're the candidates we asked for. The country may not deserve them, but we the people do.

Trump is basically a reality star, whose wealth and celebrity as a business tycoon pushed him into the spotlight of the 24/7 world of television news and entertainment — that's abetted and augmented by the internet. He rose to celebrity with a natural spontaneity, a comedic cruelty and a gift for getting others to reveal telling bits and pieces of their personalities under brutal cross-examination. He made the decisions for other people with consequences, often not happy ones, and his verdicts traveled with the speed of light across a titillated tweetdom.