I am mystified by the relative success of Trump’s campaign. I can understand he’d have some amount of support. He’s been a media personality for 30 years. He’ll have developed a fan base in that time. But the idea of seriously voting for him for President, on a mass scale, is bewildering.
He’s a bad Republican.
I understand that a lot of people vote primarily based on political party. But even in those circumstances, he’s a horrible choice. He’s bragged about using every possible legal loophole to make a living, which should anger small government advocates. He’s got a history going back decades, of strongly criticizing both parties, and taking stands that directly contradict the republican platform. He butted heads with the Republican party at every turn in this election. He insinuated if they wouldn’t support him, he’d run as a third party candidate. He denounced Rand Paul and John McCain, arguably the two most powerful, active Republicans in the country. Past Republican administrations are publicly announcing they’ll vote against him.
He’s a bad person.
While running for president, he’s made racist comments, about other countries, and even Miss America. He’s advocated for discrimination based solely on religion. He’s promised to remove civil rights for LGBT people. He can’t seem to stop himself from making sexist comments at every turn. He has shown a blatant disregard for the value of honesty, and instead is willing to say and support anything that will improve his standing.
He doesn’t have the temperament.
All you had to do was watch the debates. He became bitter, hostile, and petulant every time the arguments weren’t going his way. If president, he would have the entire world against him, not one woman. And he has repeatedly made casual, scary, ill-informed comments about the use of nuclear weaponry.
A common refrain among his supporters is that he ‘speaks his mind and doesn’t care what anyone thinks about it’. That is not something to be proud of. That’s the logic of an angry 18 year old. An adult learns there are times you don’t speak. An adult learns there are times where you pick your words to have greater impact. A President is a diplomat, a leader of his party, and the first person the country turns to in major tragedy and triumph. All those things require careful, considered words.
I just read a new bite last night that his staff has locked him out of his own Twitter account, to prevent him from saying something (else) spectacularly stupid. His own staff doesn’t trust him with Twitter… and yet people want to trust him with the world?
He doesn’t associate with good people.
It’s been suggested that he could be a figurehead president. That he would just do as he was told, and collect a paycheck. But the people he has surrounded himself with have horrible records on ethics and (mental) intelligence. Say what you will about Dick Cheney — who people suspect of having run the Bush Jr Executive Branch — but while he was undoubtedly an evil fuck, he was a very intelligent one. But now we have a VP candidate named Mike Pence, who wanted to divert HIV funding to pay for Gay Conversion Therapy, and actually signed a bill that would jail same sex couples just for applying for a marriage license. He was a huge advocate for defunding Planned Parenthood on the basis of their providing abortions — which would deprive millions of women annually with health care services having nothing to do with abortion.
He is unpredictable.
As I mentioned before, he has a long history of being at odds with both major parties; and a history of saying anything to anyone, with no intention of standing by his word. (How well would that untrustworthiness go over in international affairs?) Once in office, why would you think he would do the bidding of either liberals or conservatives? And that’s assuming he can stay in office. With his shoot-from-the-cuff style and do-it-now-and-deny-it-later style, just how long before he’d be impeached?
He’s not just as bad as Clinton
The false equivalence between Clinton and Trump also amazes me. “He may be awful, but she’s horrible and untrustworthy!” Clinton isn’t who I want in office either, but in no sane world are these two people comparable. If Clinton was the monster she’s been painted as, this campaign, then — without resorting to conspiracy theories — why in 20 years of federal investigations, has she never been found guilty? She’s no saint… I believe she’s as corrupt as any major politician. This is a race for the presidency of the United States…. do you think anyone gets to that level without having some serious skeletons in their closet? I think Clinton would be just as bad and just as good as any other run-of-the-mill President. Her only defining character in the last 16 years has been that she wants to be president. Not to do good, or make a change, or anything else… just “to be president”. I think she would go down in history as “First Female President of the US”, and not much of anything else. But when you compare that to the unholy clusterfuck that a Trump presidency is likely to produce…? I will vote every time for ‘useless’ over ‘chaotic, uninformed hot-head’.
Make America Great Again
“Make America Great Again” is an utterly meaningless slogan. It’s pandering to people who feel afraid and alone. It promises people that they can live in a Norman Rockwell / Disneyland version of history. But I can’t think of any decade in the last 110 years that didn’t have major upheavals and problems. Trump’s campaign is based around a meaningless slogan that promises something that never existed. Okay… maybe it is fitting for his campaign.