The Trouble With Trump

  So many people are talking about Donald Trump, and how great he is, for saying what so many Americans are thinking, well God help me, I hope not.    So, what is the trouble with Trump? Well in my view, as a partisan Republican, the trouble is, he is nothing more than a distraction, a side-show one might say.   Oh sure, he appeals to the uninformed voter who recognizes his name, and maybe has some respect for his supposed success in the private sector. Hey, who doesn’t love a rich guy, right?

But when we are looking to elect said rich guy, we might also want to check and see if he is also honest about just how rich he says he is. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-wealth-details-released-federal-regulators-165854286–finance.html  , but so what? The difference between $10 billion and $1.4 Billion is just a slight exaggeration after all. Right?

The real trouble for the Republicans concerning Trump is that he is nothing but a carnival huckster. It is all about promoting Donald Trump, maybe a new reality show called “The Candidate”, and instead of saying  “you’re fired” at the end of each episode, he could say, “you’re impeached”. HA HA HA HA!

So what is Trump’s appeal to those who claim to support his, “running” for the office of the president? Well first he appealed to those who hate President Obama, then he appealed to those who hate immigrants, then he attempted to appeal to those who hate moderate Republicans by attacking Sen. John McCain. He was on a pretty good roll there, right up until he chose to attack the Senator on his war record. But hey, I guess hate is appealing to some, and they might actually see it as a leadership quality.

Notice how Trump raises the stakes on his provocative rhetoric each time, notice that each time he says something controversial the media gives him coverage, and so he has to be more controversial in his next statement. He is playing to the media to keep their interest, the media is giving him what he wants, attention, so that he will continue to be provocative. This allows them to paint all Republicans with the Trump brush.

Following his statement about Sen. McCain not being a war hero, what did the media do? They went the rounds asking all the other Republican candidates what they thought of the statement. This will be the trend for as long as Trump is able to maintain the illusion he is actually running for president.

It appears, against all of my hopes and prayers, that Trump may make it onto the stage of the first GOP debate. This will be the biggest waste of time in the history of debates, and that is really saying something. What we will get, is Trump attempting to dominate the stage, of course all the candidates would hope to be seen as the person in control of the situation. Unfortunately, Trump will most likely do so with the willing aid of the mediator and the media. I can imagine a scenario in which Trump interrupts other candidates out of turn, in which he completely ignores the rules, and in which he makes a mockery of the entire process. Again, this is really saying something considering most debates are little more than staged performances. That being said, Trump’s presence will allow for no real give and take on issues so that voters can ascertain any useful information. Of course Trump being rude during the debate will also appeal to a certain type of person who thinks being rude is acceptable, and even presidential.

What I think will happen is that as the process moves on, Trump’s ego will drive him to be more and more controversial, he will say more and more outlandish things. Of course the most uninformed, the most hate filled, the most base among the American voters will continue to praise his so-called “honesty” and his willingness to say what so many are thinking, when all he is doing is leading them around by the hate ring in their noses. As I said, I hope not many people are really thinking what Trump is saying.

What Trump offers the uninformed voter is empty rhetoric that would fit on a bumper sticker. He appeals to the emotions of the people, who are either too lazy to think things through, or are incapable. There is no substance to what he says, beyond stirring up people who are already on the verge of grabbing their pitch forks and torches, and running into the streets of their village and hanging the first immigrant they come across.

He talks of all the things he would do if elected, as if he were King, and Congress never existed. He says he will do this and that,  but does not explain how he will accomplish this without the backing of the people’s representatives in congress.

No, Donald Trump is just the latest Pat Paulson and like Paulson, Trump hasn’t any real hope of being elected, nor intention of being elected. The entire thing is to feed his ego, because it’s fun to run for office, to travel around and say outlandish things, to have some inner circle of sycophants telling you how great you are. To feel important.

At some point, Trump will go too far in his ever-increasing quest for the next controversial moment, he will be the white guy in the room of blacks who thinks they have accepted him enough for him to  use the “N” word. This is what the media is waiting for, they are waiting for him to cross some imaginary line, and then, they will pounce and destroy him, and in the same stroke, destroy all Republican candidates.

You see, Trump’s ego is so inflated by his inner circle of hangers-on, that he does not perceive that the media is using him, that most likely they are laughing over drinks about “The Donald”. He cannot conceive that he is not as great, as his paid groupies say he is, and so he will self destruct. We Republicans who are hoping for a serious candidate, can only hope that it is soon so the serious candidates are not run off, or frightened away by the sideshow known as Trump.