I admit it. I was waaaaay wrong about Donald Trump's staying power. I thought he was a showman on a lark that would be bored by now. I thought it was hilarious at first. A blowhard that will say anything? Awesome. What is he gonna do, make Omarosa Secretary of State? Hahaha! The whole thing, at least to me, seemed silly and frivolous, not to mention impossible. I think his entire campaign was delivered with the wink and nod of an inside joke. Until Trump saw that he could win, that is. Once he saw that no one would, or at least competently could, challenge his bluster he doubled down on the rhetoric. As the poll numbers rose, the arrogant prick in him would not allow him to walk away. That leaves us with a an unchecked celebrity egomaniac as the presumptive nominee.
As one man, Donald Trump is not dangerous. He will run to the center for the general election. To be truly dangerous, one has to have actual ideas, and I am not sure Trump has any of those beating around under that disaster of a hairdo. Shouting about making America great again and promising to not make bad deals hardly qualifies as think tank material.
It is the concept of Donald Trump that is terrifying. The atmosphere created by his candidacy is incendiary. While the carnival barker riffs from behind his podium, his supporters aren't getting the joke. It's all just a show, but his supporters can't ( or won't) see behind the facade. Instead they take his violent , jingoistic speech as a license to act like idiots. When push comes to shove (literally), Trump's calls for bullying have been many, his pleas for restraint too few. The concept of this mythic figure, Trump the Aggressor, has made it okay for his fans to pour out their hate. His fans wear their anger like a badge, as if they have been deputized as modern-day freedom fighters. (Freedom from what, I don't know.) They foolishly pin their frustrated hopes on a man who has always looked out for just one thing: himself. A man who likes to hear himself talk. A man who will say anything to get elected. A man who likely does not give two bits about the people that cheer him on.
Yet, cheer him they do. People from all walks of life rally behind Trump. Intelligent people embittered by eight years of a Democratic President. Frat boys who never met a mob mentality they didn't like. Dunderheads thinking they too can appoint their bathrooms with gilded toilet seats if we can just get The Donald in office long enough to wave his magic wand. Listening to them as they are interviewed in line outside a Trump rally, his supporters can offer no more coherent argument than the candidate himself. I suppose it is no surprise in the era of celebrity and sound bite journalism that people are swept away by inarticulate catchphrases. "Make America Great Again" and "You're fired!" are the new "Hope" and "Change". All empty, meaningless words leading sheep to the polls.
Sadly, the options are not much better. Bernie Sanders, the mad scientist mixing promises and suspect economic policies in his Vermont laboratory. Mrs. Cilnton, a tired remnant of a bygone era. John Kasich, so desperate to seperate himself from the negative antics of the game show-like debate stage that I am surprised he didn't just continually shout, "One dollar, Bob!" Marco Rubio, whose every recent television interview looked like a hostage video. And Ted Cruz, equal parts snake oil salesman, preacher, and condescending professor, lecturing me slowly because I am too stupid to otherwise keep up. These are the great lights that will lead us from the darkness of our discontent?
Donald Trump the celebrity billionaire TV host has been around a long time. Donald Trump the presidential candidate may have arrived at the perfect time. His angry rhetoric has fomented a fervor that is as ugly as it is popular. His campaign may have coalesced at the intersection of desperate ignorance and Twitter, but it might keep rolling right up Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day. God help us all.
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