I recently spent time flying to various regions of this country and was struck by how nice almost everyone was. Whether boarding to New York, Chicago or Albuquerque, I found fellow passengers to be super polite, patient with slow movers, helpful lifting bags into the overhead. The number of racial and ethnic backgrounds sharing the aircraft would be hard to quantify.

This is America, still, for now. But one is struck by how un-American Donald Trump is. Underneath all that flag-waving, his contempt for soldiers wounded or killed in action, the democratic process, and people of other colors violates the American ideal. His us-versus-them scapegoating comes right out of the fascist playbook.

Sociologists refer to the “other” as those not treated as part of our culture/race/religion. The people I came across on my trip treated each other with basic courtesy. Trump, frankly, is not one of us.

I yield to no one in the desire to enforce our immigration laws. Polls say most Americans know we need foreign-born workers but want them to enter the country legally. I’m with them.

Illegal border crossings are now lower than when Trump left office. And Kamala Harris says she would immediately sign into law the strict, bipartisan immigration bill that Trump had Republicans kill.

After a “comedian” at the recent Trump rally referred to Puerto Rico as “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean,” Trump offered no contradicting views, much less condemnation. The Trump camp reportedly had heard the routine in advance and had no problem with the slur on Latinos. One adds that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. They are all here legally.

Ronald Reagan, noting the strong work ethic and family values of the Hispanic culture, famously said: “Latinos are Republicans. They just don’t know it yet.”

Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance would not backtrack either on the comedian’s bigoted riff. “I haven’t seen the joke,” Vance said, lying right to our faces. He went on: “I think we have to stop getting offended by every little thing.”

I wondered: Had the opposition mocked Vance’s wife for being the daughter of immigrants from India whether he would have even responded, so lacking he is in self-respect. Vance and his wife, Usha, wore traditional Indian attire at a wedding ceremony officiated by a Hindu priest. He even had the dot on his forehead symbolizing a third eye.

You can imagine what MAGA would do had Kamala Harris, who is part Indian American, worn a sari, no matter how stunning, at her wedding. It would be all over the ads painting her as the “other.”

Trump is OK with rich foreigners who dangle dollars before him. His most prominent billionaire backers are immigrants Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. They came to America to make a pile and did. They obviously see Trump as not only for sale but increasingly easy to manipulate as his mental capacities continue their decline. (At a recent rally, Trump said the country is “close to World War II.”)

More to the point, these billionaire migrants don’t appreciate the rule of law and orderly election process that have made America their land of opportunity. Or they don’t really care, knowing they can move onto their next country and take their billions with them. (This is Musk’s third nationality.)

Should Trump win the election, America faces descent into the kind of fascist society seen elsewhere, a shambles run on primitive threats and violence. One hopes that enough Republicans will want their party back and vision of America preserved to make him lose.

All this said, many members of Trump’s brainwashed cult are undoubtedly good people. They just don’t know it yet.

— Froma Harrop is a syndicated columnist with Creators.