This is my third fourth attempt to write a blog post about Donald Trump. I scrapped previous versions because they sounded either defensive of his potential nomination, or were too critical of a phenomena many suggest has been long overdue in American politics.
Trump was not my first pick (Jeb Bush), second (John Kasich), third (Chris Christie), fourth (Scott Walker … I obviously have a thing for Governors for The Oval Office.) , or fifth pick (Marco Rubio). Yet here he sits, presumptive favorite to win the Crown as the GOP’s nomination for President.
As a Pennsylvanian, I haven’t yet been given the opportunity to express my views via the ballot box, which is one reason I tend to be stand-offish when it comes to getting emotionally invested in my presidential hopefuls. In 2012 my early favorite was Jon Huntsman, which kinda provides my audience with an additional measure of my American political astuteness.
Stop laughing!
Ronald Reagan was another. But this is definitely NOT a comparison of Reagan v. Trump!
I can remember shaking my head and wondering aloud – during one of Reagan’s primary debates – how we could possibly end up with a former actor as our President. Two or three years into Reagan’s first-term, I was a full-fledged Reagan devotee!
My lesson in all of this is when it comes to Presidential politics, my finger is not exactly on the Pulse of the American voter. Which brings me back to Donald Trump …
I can no longer avoid the very real prospect that Mr. Trump will be the GOP candidate. At this point, I do not believe the Party has a choice. For whatever reason – and there are many – Donald has tapped into a broad and deep vein of American political frustration. And if anecdotal information is accurate, Trump’s appeal goes beyond Republicans to include Independents – many of them recent former Republicans, who felt the GOP had pushed them away – and even moderate Democrats.
My gut feeling is that any Party move to deny Trump the nomination will cost the GOP dearly, affecting even those “down-ticket” Republican candidates for the Senate, House, and Governor races!
As for my feelings about The Don, I fancy myself an amateur student of Presidential history … more so the behavior and performance in office as opposed to the politicking beforehand. From everything I have read or studied, Donald Trump is simply the least presidential candidate I can remember.
Trump’s pronouncements on issues like immigration, terrorism, opposing candidates, party leaders, etc. set him apart from all known successful POTUS candidates from our recent past at least. The difference is that on some visceral level, Trump has become a conduit for every frustrating political development over the past two decades.
For the GOP at the National level, they only have themselves to blame. The failure to develop well-grounded, exciting candidates for President. The tendency to make “the tent” smaller, as opposed to broadening it. The inability to act prudently and unselfishly as an opposing party. Disappointment after disappointment has given rise to Donald Trump.
That and a healthy dose of eight years with President Barack Obama!
I really thought we had seen the last of Trump in 2012, when he bowed out fairly early in the process, citing television contractual requirements connected to his show The Apprentice.
Silly me …
A sizable portion of the Electorate is angry at all things political, particularly when it comes to Washington, D.C. They are very clearly ready for a candidate that might just burn it down. Which reminds me of Thomas Jefferson‘s quote …
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
If one recognizes “the blood of patriots and tyrants” as purely metaphor, representing the kind of political upheaval not seen since Chicago in 1968, you can better appreciate where Donald gets his trump. The People are ready to clean out the outhouse.
The political class should be very grateful that The People have not – as yet – dragged out the guillotine!
The Democrats do not get a free pass when it comes to this either. The best they could muster for 2016 is a has-been from the 1980s, who firmly believes it is “her turn” and an old hippie from the 1970s. When you have the younger Democrats flocking to the 1970s hippie, many vowing not to vote for another Clinton no matter what, you know you have a problem too!
If there’s anything worse than a bombastic blowhard for President, it’s the person who spent four years hiding what they were doing in a Cabinet-level job from Public scrutiny and official oversight … while their former-President husband racked up millions in fees speaking to a host of entities with interest conflicting with his spouse’s official duties … and while their “charitable organization” pulled in millions from similarly conflicted sources …
That would be Hillary Clinton, just in case my references are too obscure.
So for me, the question comes down to the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. Who would be the Devil? Who the Sea?
The Devil I know wants to be President because she’s a woman. Hillary wants our vote because she served as First Lady, then as an unremarkable U.S. Senator and an openly duplicitous Secretary of State.
Donald Trump is my deep blue sea, full of dangers, mysteries, and the potential for political upheaval many of us might welcome in an age when Politics is an eight-letter, four-letter word.
If it comes down to the two of them, I hope the water isn’t Titanic-ly cold!
As for you, my reluctant reader … Feel free to define who be the Devil and who be the Sea. Just remember …
Cranky Man's Lawn 
Well done Mike, at least until I came upon that picture of Hillary. Could have done without that. Crazy things have happened during this grab for power, could Donald be working with Clinton. Kasich might be the only real candidate that cares for the people. If the hippie got in, nothing would get done at all, and that might not be the worst thing to happen. If Trump were to win at least we could get rid of those idiots that threatened to leave the country if he won. I will hold the exit door wide open for them. We do need a flat tax. Get rid of the IRS and keep 10 % of that work force to collect the taxes that have not been collected in the past from the low life of this country.
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This election is like trying to pick up a turd from the clean end.
Trump is acting as if the election is a season of “Survivor” and has resorted to low tactics and words. I see most of his ideas as absurd. Seriously…he thinks we can actually build a wall? I take it he hasn’t really seen the border. It’s isolated. One good ladder away from the Promised Land….or a decent jackhammer. And then who’s he gonna get to mow the lawn down in Palm Beach? I wonder…will his notion of foreign relations include calling others a poopyhead?
Hillary? I have no trust in anyone who has spent their life seeking power.
I’m voting for the Communist Party. It’s a throw-away vote but no way I can vote for either of the above.
I moved far, far away from anything that resembles a city. While not a diehard homesteader…..I like “the grid”….I am well enmeshed in a life that allows me to be less dependent on the outside. Why? Because we continue to elect dangerous people who haven’t understood the Constitution for several decades. The current social and economic direction of the globe cannot be sustained. I may not survive the potential crash but my kids will. And for those who don’t believe this can happen…it IS happening. Europe is slipping into chaos as we watch. It may not be long before we find the detris and debris washing up on our shores.
I’m old school conservative. No laws that are formed from religious fervor, no laws that interfere with the citizen’s duty to deny our government more power than it rightfully holds and an end to the current tax code. One flat tax, everyone pays. Find me a candidate who agrees and he/she has my vote.
Trump…Clinton? Good Lord no.
Mike…ever get to the Red Lion? Tell Gus or Teta you know Eric. When he finds out how expect a laugh and a “Yeah, I know.”
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I ate at the Red Lion about three months ago. Forgot to mention you. I’ll try to remember next time.
Frankly, I don’t think Trump has any intention of building a wall or banning all Muslims. To him, I think, these are simply extreme negotiating positions in the theme of “The Art of the Deal” … a negotiating starting point.
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