by Nomad
It took me a long time to take Donald Trump seriously. Just about the time, I became convinced he was a genuine candidate, he goes and opens new doubts.
Believe it or Not?
After quite a bit of deliberation on the subject, I was finally persuaded that Donald Trump was actually a serious candidate.
It wasn't easy to accept this.
It wasn't easy to accept this.
Just by his appearance alone, he cuts a somewhat comical figure. That's not his fault, okay. I get it. Sometimes bad hair days can last decades.
Whatever you think about him personally, you have to admit, he makes his liabilities work to his advantage. Being an unorthodox candidate- not carefully groomed by handlers or by professional stylists- is doubtless one of his main selling points.
He is who he is and he doesn't give a frick what other people think. He owes his position to nobody but his people. Only a billionaire can think like that nowadays.
There's a hitch, however.
That might work for a celebrity or a private citizen. But as a candidate for the highest office in the nation, most voters require a tad more than what Trump is selling.
Some people might actually look for a bit of substance. Not the majority, maybe, but a few. Besides mindlessly repeating how well-loved he is, there's very little serious policy and no clear path to how we will all get to be great again.
Later after listening to his rallies, I began a new line of rationalization. That was the sneaky possibility that he was a Democratic plant, sent in to destroy the last vestiges of the Republican Party.
It wouldn't take much to bring the whole edifice crashing down. Look at the other candidates, all of them are equally unfit to be president. Some cynics would say they are unfit to hold any office at all.
So, with people like Cruz and Rubio and dread-inspiring JEB!, Trump's peculiar candidacy tends to blend in and not seem so odd at all. But really, it is.
Up until he seriously considered running for president, his past views were unmistakably liberal.
For example, his view on abortion was certainly pro-choice. In one interview, he actually said he approved of partial-birth abortions. Then some very nice doctors came and explained what that procedure entailed and he retracted the statement.
Now, magically, Trump is pro-life but even then, there has been some hedging. Only last year, he was saying that he believes abortion should be banned at some point in pregnancy.
That's not a ban on abortion at all. That's called medicine science. Even then he added the exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother.
Amazingly anti-abortion activists didn't seem to notice Trump's fine print.
That's only one example. A Super PAC focused on Trump's other magical transformation with further instances.
- In 1999, Trump said he had joined the Reform Party because Republicans are “just too crazy” right.
- In 2000, he said: “I hate the concept of guns.”
- In 2004: “I identify more as a Democrat.”
- In 2007: Told Wolf Blitzer on CNN’s “The Situation Room” that Hillary Clinton was the most qualified to make a nuclear deal with Iran.
The Palin Reminder
And then, after I got comfortable with the notion Trump wasn't putting me on, he went and created new doubts in Iowa. I am speaking about the Palin endorsement.
We can forgive poor John McCain for making the mistake of choosing Sarah Palin. It was perhaps a little reckless but then again, so many in the influential types in the Republican party had already glorified her.
McCain had to learn the hard way that Palin was impossible to manage, and resistant to thinking of anybody but herself. In 2008, McCain had a loose cannon on his hands. He suddenly discovered that his running mate was jubilantly stirring up the worst instincts of a hostile crowd.
McCain had to learn the hard way that Palin was impossible to manage, and resistant to thinking of anybody but herself. In 2008, McCain had a loose cannon on his hands. He suddenly discovered that his running mate was jubilantly stirring up the worst instincts of a hostile crowd.
And he was too weak of a man to fire her.
So given all Palin's job history, it was a very peculiar thing to see Trump invite this, double-decker, backwoods trekker, campaign wrecker to share his spotlight.
What could he be thinking?
He even hinted - very vaguely- that he might have a cabinet position for Palin when he becomes president. That was all it took have Palin flying across Canada in a mad dash, even though her own ever-rocky family was in the middle of a new crisis.
What feeble calculus led him to think that Palin would ever enhance his mission to make America into Trumpsville? I wouldn't say that Palin's hysteria onstage contributed to Trump's loss in Iowa but it surely didn't help.
So why? To make himself look more sanity-based? Could be. Palin's speech was absolutely horrific and embarrassing even according to Palin's usual standards. The frozen-smiled Trump refused to leave the stage and looked uncomfortable.
This exhibition led me back to my old doubts. Was Trump just rubbing the noses of the GOP establishment in their past mistakes? Reminding them of their errors of judgment. And let's face it, choosing Palin was a colossal mistake.
If the premise that Trump is a total hoax is true, putting Palin before the nation again would have been a masterstroke. Palin served as a reminder of why the Republican Party can't be trusted.
People with Minds that Hate
But then, the other day, came the clearest proof yet that Trump is not really an authentic candidate as he pretends to be.
That happened following his surprising loss in Iowa to Ted Cruz. However, I will leave it to that esteemed conservative media outlet Breitbart to provide the details.
When Trump took the stage and left the stage at his victory speech after his landslide win in New Hampshire’s primaries—and blared “Revolution” from the speakers again—there’s a reason. All night long, the ever-influential proprietor of the Drudge Report, Matt Drudge, ran a bright red headline above the election results under Trump’s photo on one side and Sanders’ on the other: “REVOLUTION!”
As with so many other issues, conservative pundits come so close to picking up on the deeper implications before they fumble the ball.
The Beatles’ song certainly took on a different political meaning—the context and times were different back in the late 1960s—when Lennon wrote it and the band came out with it, bit Trump has now purposefully incorporated an entirely new meaning of it into his 2016 narrative. That meaning, or the theme Trump is angling for, is that this election is a “REVOLUTION” by Americans against the elites.
That's one interpretation and one that angry Far Right voters would feel most comfortable with. However, there's another possibility too and it's just as plausible.
The context and times may have changed but the actual meaning of the song remains the same. Look more closely at the lyrics and tell me whether it doesn't suggest there's more going on than meets the eye?
You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're all doing what we can
When it comes to solutions, we'd all love to see Trump's plan on he's going to make America Great Again.
He isn't going to show us. Why?
Because he doesn't need to provide details. He knows that not what his true supporters crave. In fact, the beauty of his campaign is its simple-mindedness. There's nothing there to confuse anybody, nothing to make anybody feel stupid, in fact, nothing at all.
Just an appeal to voter frustration.
He isn't going to show us. Why?
Because he doesn't need to provide details. He knows that not what his true supporters crave. In fact, the beauty of his campaign is its simple-mindedness. There's nothing there to confuse anybody, nothing to make anybody feel stupid, in fact, nothing at all.
Just an appeal to voter frustration.
And that's found in the lyrics too.
But if you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell you is brother you have to wait
Presumably, the reason why the song was chosen by Trump's staff was that the title was supposed to be provocative. A call for overthrowing the establishment. That's the latest fashion in Right Wing politics.
However, the actual meaning was one of caution and patience. Not to trust people who say they have all the answers. And not to trust people who call for revolution over evolution.
Don't you know it's gonna be alright
Alright, alright, al...
That's hardly the kind of campaign song for a third-rate demagogue. More Proof the Revolution is a Hoax
And then there's this.
You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
That should sound anybody who has been paying attention to Trump's campaign. Back in August, it was Trump who was calling for a change- and not a small one- to the Constitution.
The Christian Science Monitor called Trump's plan for dealing with the immigration problem as sweeping and point and by point. The details included forcing Mexico to pay for a new border wall. CSM also pointed out:
But what the proposal doesn’t say is that its full implementation would require changing the Constitution, a process that’s pretty much impossible given the current nature of the US political divide.
And the other candidates have engaged in the same scam to their voters. All this talk about changing the Constitution is the lowest and most absurd kind of political chicanery.
Most of the other presidential hopefuls, both Republican and Democratic, are pushing policies that would require constitutional amendments. Sometimes they admit this, sometimes they don’t. The key point for voters to remember is this: That’s not happening.Finally, there's this from the Beatles song which could be advice to his own followers.
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You'd better free your mind instead
Even though the crowds at his rallies are wildly supportive, it is all for nothing. Trump is likely selling them all the lies they want to hear but none of it is for real. They need to free their minds of 30 years of Republican lies, lies about trickle down and job providers, of outsourcing jobs, or Bush Tax cuts.
If this premise is true- and admittedly it is a stretch of the imagination- then Trump has made the Republican party into his private joke.
And it's YUUUUUGE.