“It’s just words,” Donald Trump. “The cancerous con man is determined to take the entire ship down with him!” A Republican friend of mine.

Donald Trump is attacking any – and everyone – against whom he has ever held a grudge, and that is a lot of people. His object is to (1) humiliate those he attacks and (2) scorch the earth of American politics. He could care less what happens to this country or its people, let alone to its political institutions. If he can’t win the game, he’ll burn down the stadium. And with growing numbers of his own party turning against him, the good news is that he’s losing.

But anyone who relaxes now is crazy. Trump’s hate-filled antics threaten to depress voter turnout in both parties – among Democrats because his relentless and demeaning attacks on Hillary Clinton do have a discouraging effect; among those Republicans who have finally awakened to the danger but still can’t bring themselves to vote for Clinton; and above all, among Independents who are worn down by it all.

So who’s left? Trump’s voters. They are a clear minority in the country, but they’ll win this election if the rest of us don’t show up.

And if he loses? By turning on the Republican Party, as he has already turned on Democrats and the media, he gives license to his followers to declare his defeat invalid and the winner illegitimate. “It was rigged!”

We’re told not to draw the Nazi analogy, but look at the German elections in 1932: Adolf Hitler got 36.8% of the vote (about Trump’s numbers); eight months later he was Chancellor.

The only people who can prevent that is us.