The final scene of The Dark Knight has Batman running from police fresh off of saving the city. He orders Commissioner Gordon to lie and place the blame for Harvey Dent's murder on him to preserve the district attorney's iconic image as a crusader for justice and prevent the public from knowing of Dent's murderous turn to Two-Face. Gordon explains to his son that Batman is:

"... the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight."

Batman was willing to sacrifice his honor to protect the image of Dent, the hero Gotham needed. He understood the greater good outweighed public opinion of his alter ego.

In a Democratic Primary debate in October, Hillary Clinton labeled "Republicans" an enemy. She was blasted by right wing media and walked back the comment, which is understandable since her record makes it hard to imagine she considers the GOP an enemy. Clinton and her ilk have "fought" Republicans by compromising with them on issues in the hope that it would result in give-and-take that would pull both sides to the center. Instead, both parties have continually been pulled to the right as the GOP drags Democrats to a point that fracking, private prisons, trade deals, domestic spying, reduced banking regulations, voter restrictions, and lax gun laws are considered part of the "liberal agenda."

But assume someone did consider Republicans an enemy, and wanted to destroy the party. Many may picture Bernie Sanders, who has called out the establishment players in both parties for their ties to corporations and big-dollar donors. Sanders' idealism may prompt Commissioner Gordon to label him "the hero America needs, but not the one we deserve."

To really defeat the GOP, we deserve someone else.

Who has done more to destroy the Republican Party in the past century than Donald Trump has done in the past year?

Imagine going back in time two years and finding some people who'd like to see the Republican Party reduced to rubble. Ask them their wishlist of things they'd like to see headed into the 2016 general election. Many may have suggested things like seeing the Bush family's grip on power broken, or having the political futures of promising future party leaders (and likely presidential favorites) Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Chris Christie neutered. Someone might laughingly suggest, "I'd love to see party leadership having to stand behind a candidate who openly says Mexicans are criminals and find a way to justify it," but no one would realistically expect such a thing.

If they were to put their heads together and create a shoot-the-moon-level, comedically terrible candidate who would expose all the worst aspects of the GOP, they'd probably have that person:

• Claim to be religious while transparently having no understanding of Christianity.
• Insult women for their looks and menstrual cycles.
• Regularly contradict himself, often within the same sentence.
• Never offer a single policy detail.
• Openly court the white supremacist vote.
• Express little to no understanding of foreign policy.
• Express an incestuous attraction toward his daughter.
• Threaten endless military interventions while attacking veterans and surviving family of troops who died on the battlefield.
• Eat a taco bowl as outreach to Latino voters.
• Call for violence against racial minorities at rallies.
• Promise massive tax cuts guaranteed to destroy the economy.
• Boast about the size of his penis during a national debate.
• Name call his opposition like a six-year-old on a playground.
• Praise foreign dictators.
• Order the mother of a crying baby to get out of his rally.
• Dismiss violence committed by his supporters as "enthusiasm."

... and, more importantly, have every other Republican fall in line.

Donald Trump may not be our hero, but he's accomplishing more than progressives could ever ask of Hillary, Bernie, and Obama combined. And we hunt him like that other make-believe billionaire who inherited everything from his father. Because he can take it. He's a silent guardian--

Nope, I guess the silent bit is where the whole things falls apart...