I was walking down memory lane the other night. To my surprise, I found out that I have been doing these columns since September – of 2015! Talk about time flying when you’re having fun!

The opening paragraphs of that first effort, posted on September 17, 2015, read as follows:

               “Donald Trump? Really? Is this the best we can do? Is our national political  process so bankrupt that bombast can pass as rational political discourse, and a huckster can pass as a serious contender for the presidential chair previously occupied by the likes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, or even Ronald Reagan?

                  Make no mistake, this wheeler-dealer real estate tycoon cum reality show personality, this builder or thousand thousand-mile fences, deporter of multi-millions, and amender of the Constitution, stands a fair to middling chance to become the next nominee of his party, and perhaps elected leader of this republic.

                                         How has this descent into lunacy come to pass?”

`           At the time, I had an inkling that, as a pit bull in a pack of Chihuahuas, Donald Trump had a shot at becoming the Republican nominee. This feeling was strengthened when I saw him in action at a rally in South Carolina. A column posted on February 16, 2016, reads in part as follows: “This guy is good on the stump. Very good. … For 50 minutes, he held that crowd in the palm of his hand. … All in all, an interesting evening with a man whose draw with the Republican faithful – and even further afield – should not be underestimated.”

Let’s just say I wasn’t totally blindsided when The Donald emerged as the presidential nominee of his party.

But never, and I mean never, could I have foreseen just how far into lunacy this campaign would descend.

The course of the most powerful nation on the face of the earth for the next four years will be determined in roughly three weeks.

Candidates should be talking about their proposals for the economy, foreign affairs, domestic issues, anything of substance, to give voters some tea leaves upon which to base their individual decisions. Instead, we are parsing the finer points of what constitutes locker room conversation, and trying to verify who assaulted, or did not assault, whom, where, and when. Whoever thought we would have to shuffle the kiddies out of the room in order to discuss the latest charges and counter charges?

Unbelievable.

Unforgivable.

Nevertheless, an argument can be made that this exercise in tawdry could determine the outcome of this race – and that outcome would have nothing to do with who is telling the truth, or who is prevaricating.

Nothing is going to change the minds of Trump voters. Whatever charges are leveled at The Donald – especially if those charges are leveled by members of the evil “mainstream media” – will be dismissed out of hand. Or, to use the Mike Pence gambit, The Donald has been saved, and his former sins forgiven. (Similar forgiveness is not available for anyone named Clinton.) Or, they simply don’t care.

Likewise, Hillary’s legions are equally committed, albeit not quite as loud about it as their Trump counterparts.

In the middle, there are around five to 10 percent of likely voters who truly haven’t made up their minds, or if leaning, could be persuaded otherwise.

Trump has shown little inclination (or ability) to expand his base, opting to solidify his current support. However, the Trump base is not sufficient to win a November election by itself.

If you can’t raise your own numbers, the alternate strategy is to lower the numbers of the opposition.

Which brings us back to locker room conversations and tawdry in general.

If the campaign can be kept to the level of a hog wallow so odiferous that any self-respecting pig would avoid it, a percentage of that undecided vote might say “the heck with it; I refuse to participate in this mudslinging contest” and simply stay home. If some Hillary voters can peeled off as well, so much the better.

If your numbers can be held, and enough opposition votes suppressed, it could be time to start measuring the drapes at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Of course, a voter boycott could have negative effects further down the ballot, but it would appear that the fate of the Republican Party is not one of The Donald’s top priorities.

Would it not be the final irony if the outcome of this miserable contest were decided not by who participated in the election, but by those who did not?

And how tragic.

Hold your nose if you must.

But vote.