5 Stages Of Realizing Donald Trump Is The Presumed Presidential Nominee

Donald Trump is now the presumed presidential nominee for Republicans.

Ted Cruz dropped out of the race on Tuesday night. John Kasich followed him, dropping out of the race on Wednesday.

There were 17 Republican presidential candidates last summer. Now, there's just one.

Although the GOP doesn't officially pick its presidential nominee until the convention in July, Trump is being called the presumed nominee.

This is, understandably, a very difficult fact to come to terms with. These are the five stages of realizing Donald Trump is more than likely going to be the GOP presidential nominee.

Stage 1: Denial

On hearing both Cruz and Kasich dropped out, handing the nomination to Donald frickin' Trump, you may be in a state of disbelief.

"How?" you may be asking yourself. "No, really?"

Your brain may reject the fact Trump, a cartoonish bigot literally out of "Home Alone," is seriously, really, seriously going to become the Republican presidential nominee.

Stage 2: Anger

Once you stop denying Donald "short-fingered" Trump is literally the only person left in the race to be Republican presidential nominee, you're going to be pissed.

"Really, America?" you may ask. "Are you f*cking kidding me?"

You'll be mad at voters. You'll be mad at the RNC. You'll be mad at the mainstream media. You'll be mad at Aaron Carter.

You'll be mad at everyone. Somehow, we all let this misogynistic xenophobic racist assh*le become a legitimate presidential candidate. GUYS. WHAT HAPPENED?

Stage 3: Bargaining

As soon as the anger wears off, you're going to start thinking of possible solutions.

"Bring back Jeb!" you might cry to the skies. You'll fondly remember your outrage over Mitt Romney's line that he has "binders full of women," and laugh at how small that now seems.

You'll take back everything you've ever said about being disappointed in Barack Obama's presidency.

You'll drop #BernieOrBust in favor of #NeverTrump.

"Please," you'll plead to the specter of Reince Priebus, "what will it take to make anyone but Trump the nominee?"

And then, of course, you'll start planning.

It's funny to joke about moving to Canada, but we are in huge danger of having Trump as our president. — Crystal de la Torre (@crystlupedel) May 4, 2016

Stage 4: Depression

Eventually, dreams of Canada will fade. Probably when you realize you could never withstand a serious winter.

From there, your soul will enter a serious winter.

This is actually for real, though.

The fact that Trump has gotten this amount of support on a blatantly discriminatory campaign is frightening.

Teachers have reported an increase in fear from students due to Trump's campaign. It's not far-fetched to assume grown-ups, especially among non-white people, are also having increased anxiety and worry.

Even if Trump doesn't get further than this fall, his campaign has shown a dark side of America.

Stage 5: Acceptance

No way in hell do I mean you are going to accept Donald Trump as your future president and overlord.

What you are going to accept is Trump needs to be taken seriously.

You are going to accept you can't laugh him off. You are going to accept maybe it's time to take action and get involved in a campaign.

You are going to accept you have an important role to play in how the next six months shape history.

You are going to accept you will go to the polls and make damn well sure your voice is heard.

This is really happening. What are you going to do about it?