by Nomad
An op-ed piece, Three Rules for Understanding All Donald Trump Says or Does, found in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is in some ways a remarkable testimony of the unpredictability of this election.
First of all, there's the fact that it's a voice from the deep South.
From 1868 thru 1960, the state was a Democratic dependability in every election. That's a bit misleading in fact. In this period of American history, the party platforms were very different- practically the opposite than that currently are.
(The often-heard boast that the Republican Party is the party of Lincoln overlooks the fact that the Grand Old Party was formed with the help of a newspaper mogul, Horace Greeley, who was not only a proud Socialist but the employer of both Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.)
By 1964, political sensibilities had shifted radically. The ultra-conservative Dixie-Crats,which had formed the Democratic Southern flank, were, after the Civil Rights Act, wooed into the arms of the GOP by the Republican “southern strategy." (A divide and conquer tactic was based largely on appealing to deep-seated prejudices, regional pride, and long-standing resentments.)
The Governor of Alabama and deeply flawed candidate George Wallace ran as an independent and won hearts in "Peach State" in 1968. However, since then, (with two exceptions, Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Bill Clinton in 1992) Georgians have sided with Republican presidential candidates.
Because of the GOP's choice of nominee, this year could just be another exceptional case. According to one poll, it is quite possible that Georgia could flip to Hillary Clinton this election.
The latest YouGov election model contains some shocking news for Republicans as it currently projects that Georgia will flip to Hillary Clinton on Election Day.The new YouGov model projects that Hillary Clinton will defeat Donald Trump 48%-42% in the popular vote, and will win the Electoral College 362-176.
It seems unlikely and yet, the fact that Trump has been able to get this far was once thought implausible. We shall just have to wait and see. A lot of things can happen between now and November.
The other notable aspect of this article is that it was written by a conservative columnist, Kyle Wingfield. In light of all that the candidate has said and done, how can anybody trust on Trump? asks Wingfield.
At one moment, last week, the journalist points out, Trump was attempting to shame his rival with unproven allegations by women, and when the tables were suddenly turned, he was claiming that unproven allegations by women of sexual misconduct could not be trusted, calling his accusers " horrible liars."
Mr. Wingfield has apparently spent a lot of spare time attempting to decode Donald.
Why does this man act the way he does?
And the writer has come up with three principles that might help voters understand the man's character.
- First, last and always, Trump is about himself and only himself.
- Trump wakes up every day asking himself, what do I need to say or do to make sure everyone is talking about me by the end of the day?
- Trump doesn’t actually believe anything.
There's a certain hollowness to his character and it cannot be either ignored or be fixed.He is in this, like everything else, for his own benefit and/or amusement...He’s a narcissist .. whose self-absorption and insecurities make him crave the spotlight. There’s no conspiracy, and certainly no strategy here. Trump just wants the attention... There’s no consistency because he doesn’t believe any of it. He’s just saying whatever strikes him in the moment as the thing he ought to say.
Understanding Trump and the logic that rules his life doesn't make it any easier to vote for him. In fact, it makes it harder. Trump might be less bewildering, yes, but he is still unfit to lead the nation in any sense.
The conservative writer may not relish the prospect but Wingfield, like a lot of Republican and a lot of conservatives, will have no other choice but to support Hillary Clinton.
For him, it is not so much that Clinton is the right choice but that Trump is so clearly the wrong one. And that's the fault of the party that nominated him and, despite all of the warnings, continues to endorse him to this day.
I have zero reason to think I know what he would do as president, or to believe he would do anything I actually agree with. But I have plenty of reasons to believe his obviously bad instincts and inability to take heed of others’ advice for sustained periods of time would lead us down a different, but equally bad, path.
If conservatives in Georgia are waking up to the miserable failings of Donald Trump, there's still a lot of hope for the nation.