There has been little inspirational about the U.S. presidential race, especially on the Republican side where insults have replaced argument and bigotry has become a cheap currency for winning over voters, but there are also significant lessons in this debased debate, writes Lawrence Davidson.
By Lawrence Davidson
As the Republican primary plays itself out, cruelty has become a campaign come-on to voters who say they are frustrated and angry with traditional politics. Frustrated and angry feelings short-circuit critical thinking and create a yearning for the quick emotional release that comes with vengeful speech and acts. Donald Trump has become a master manipulator of this situation.
Trump has the type of personality that lends itself to using such an approach. He is a bully acting out. You can see this when he denigrates his opponents as losers. On the other hand, he is self-aggrandizing, always describing himself as a winner. And, apparently, he has little capacity for self-reflection about his own speech and actions.
Billionaire and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Some have described Trump as a textbook case of narcissistic personality disorder. Whether or not that is how you want to label him, he certainly has no problem publicly promoting cruelty. And, a subset of the American population responds positively to his abusive behavior. Here are a few examples:
Trump tolerates and indeed supports physical attacks on opponents who show up at his rallies. He sometimes encourages his supporters to violence by saying that he would like to punch protesters in the face. In the summer of 2015 he promised that if members of Black Lives Matter showed up at his rallies, “they would have a fight on their hands. I don’t know if I’ll do the fighting myself, or if other people will.”
That prediction came true in Birmingham, Alabama, in November of last year, when a Black Lives Matter protester who simply shouted “black lives matter” was roughed up and insulted during a Trump rally.
The next day Trump justified the actions of his supporters. “He [the protester] was so obnoxious and so loud” that “maybe he should have been roughed up.”
At another rally, this one in Vermont on a frigid January 2016 evening, when confronted with protesters, he told his security people to steal their coats before ejecting them. “Throw them out into the cold. Don’t give them their coats no coats confiscate their coats.”
Muslims and Torture
Those are specific local displays of Donald Trump’s ability to act cruelly and encourage others to do so as well. But this dangerous trend goes on at a larger scale as well. For instance:
Trump has used unwarranted generalizations against groups he is suspicious of – generalizations that place group members in the sort of danger that comes with public stereotyping. This is particularly true when it comes to Muslims on the one hand and Mexicans on the other.
Trump appears to lump all Muslims in the same category as those who, to use his words, are “chopping off our heads in the Middle East.” Those who want “to kill us” and “knock out our cities.” Such a generalization ratchets up an already dangerous level of Islamophobia and sets the stage for other publicly proclaimed positions such as the closing of U.S. borders to all Muslims until such time as “our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” Actually, there are a lot of people in and out of the U.S. government who already know what is going on. However, because the answer to this question has to do with longstanding, special-interest-driven foreign policies, “our representatives” have, for political reasons, never moved to rectify matters. And, its questionable whether Trump as president would respond any differently.
Trump’s generalization about Muslims has apparently helped promote popular acceptance of another particularly cruel and misplaced policy proposal – the revival of the use of torture (often euphemistically called “enhanced interrogative methods”). Thus he has recently proclaimed, “Don’t tell me it doesn’t work, torture works. Believe me, it works.” This was followed by a typical Trumpism: “only a stupid person would say it doesn’t work.”
Just how does he know this with such certainty? Has he ever tortured anybody in order to get specific information? Has he ever been tortured for information he held? Indeed, did he do any research on the subject before passing judgment?
The truth about the efficacy of torture is just the opposite. It has been known not to work at least since the early Eighteenth Century when Cesare Beccaria and other Enlightenment figures began to publicly call attention to the fact that there was no evidence that torture produced truthful confessions or other trustworthy information. Most professional interrogators since that time, with the exception of the small cadre of CIA torturers gathered around George W. Bush, have concluded that someone being tortured will tell their tormentors anything he or she thinks will stop the pain, regardless of its veracity. Obviously the consensus of expert opinion on this matter means as little to Donald Trump as it did to George W. Bush.
Mexicans and Mass Deportation
Donald Trump has declared that he wants to deport just about every illegal resident of the United States – of which there are an estimated 11.3 million. Though he claims that he would do this “humanely,” the size of such an operation would certainly entail the uprooting of thousands of families and the impoverishment of hundreds of thousands of individuals. In other words, it is one of those socio-political operations that cannot help but result in acts of official cruelty and the encouragement of dangerous xenophobic sentiments
Most of the immigrants at risk are people from Mexico who cross the southern U.S. border clandestinely. Trump’s solution is twofold: 1. Build a wall along that roughly 2,000-mile border. “I will build a great wall and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.” In addition he would add 25,000 new immigration agents and deploy drones to watch the border. 2. Deport all the Mexicans who are illegally resident in the U.S., most of whom, according to Trump, come from the dregs of Mexican society.
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” Trump said. “They’re sending people that have lots of problems. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime.” This belies the research that shows that most immigrants are more law-abiding than native citizens.
Trump also works on the assumptions that Mexican immigration increases unemployment and holds down wages. But is this really true? If there is any competition for jobs it would be for underpaid work that Americans, even the undereducated, tend not to want – thus creating the employment opportunities that attracts “illegals” across the Mexican border in the first place.
Trump Is Not Alone
The difference between Trump and the other candidates, both Republican and Democrat, is that he openly panders to emotions and fears that generate support for cruel actions and policies. Though other candidates might not act this way during the campaign, they might, if given the chance, prove every bit as capable of initiating cruel acts and policies in the name of “American interests.” Given her actions in relationship to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, we know this is certainly true of Hillary Clinton.
It might well be that most presidents have acted cruelly at some point during their term of office. Take for example President Barack Obama, who, on the one hand, put an end to President George W. Bush’s practice of torture while, on the other hand, expanded an infamous and on-going campaign of drone murder. Nonetheless, the vast majority of presidents have not personally sought to stir up hatred, though ambitious demagogues and the rightwing media often do.
It is important to understand that there is always a subset of any population, including that in the United States, susceptible to the posturing and rhetorical style of a person like Donald Trump (who, by the way, often strikes poses and speaks in a fashion reminiscent of Benito Mussolini). This susceptible subset is looking for simple answers forcefully presented; they have a longstanding resentment of minorities and immigrants; they distrust the political establishment; and they feel disenfranchised. Their feelings and fears mean more to them than the nation’s Constitution or other laws.
The number of such people becomes larger or smaller depending on economic and social circumstances. But they never go away entirely – their numbers never drop to zero.
In the case of Trump’s appeal to the American public, my estimate is that this number may currently stand at one-quarter to one-third of the adult population.
The Trump phenomenon stands as a powerful reason why it is in the nation’s interest that the government pay attention to issues that hold to a minimum public resentment: issues such as general equality of opportunity, fairness in the market place, tax equity, combating discriminatory practices, the serious problem of special-interest influence in politics, as well as the need to enhance social services ranging from unemployment insurance and Social Security to the right to health care and education.
Trump’s popularity also stands as a powerful reason why the government must see to the dissemination of accurate information on such issues as immigrants and the economy, the real consequences of “free trade” treaties, the positive and necessary role of regulation, and last but certainly not least, the positive role of Muslims in America.
To the extent that both the Republicans, as well as the more conservative Democrats have stood in the way of such things, they have bred the frustration and dissatisfaction that Trump now exploits. Thus they have only themselves to blame for the rise of Donald Trump. Of course, that is little solace to the rest of us.
Lawrence Davidson is a history professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. He is the author of Foreign Policy Inc.: Privatizing America’s National Interest;　America’s Palestine: Popular and Official Perceptions from Balfour to Israeli Statehood; and Islamic Fundamentalism.
Trump is being so cruel to the Neocons that they are fleeing the GOP to support Hillary Clinton.
Trump is a businessman. He drives the hardest bargain possible, but then he abides by the terms of the deal. This is how the game is played, and he’s undeniably expert at it. Whatever else he may be, he is not a politician, and consequently not a backstabbing whore, and as such it’s well-nigh unimaginable that he would be allowed to win the White House.
The fact that the most antidemocratic elements of our power elite are lining up against Trump speaks louder than his own words ever could about what he might be. To them he represents an existential threat: a member of the club who is thumbing his nose at their class rules in his overweening ambition to be top dog. Whatever his reasons, his rebellion could open the cracks at the top of the power structure that bring the whole rotten edifice down, and his fellows know it.
Too bad there is no effective opposition party to take advantage of this historic opportunity to make Trump’s campaign slogan a reality should the GOP self-destruct. It will be the warmongering neocon darling and bankers’ buddy Hillary into whose lap the prize will fall. God help us then. It’s no secret that the neocons who support her and hate Trump are doing what they can to take us to war with the Russian Federation, which might be the very last thing that the United States ever does.
“If there is any competition for jobs it would be for underpaid work that Americans, even the undereducated, tend not to want – thus creating the employment opportunities that attracts “illegals†across the Mexican border in the first place.”
If the employers raised wages, they’d have no trouble finding workers. Sanders is preferable to Trump, but it Trump wins and really does deport 11 million people, then wages are going to go up for everyone who’s left.
I agree with the whole dream died with JFK and MLK.
I also agree with not looking past your children and grandchildren. Its a delicate balance.
I know what the establishment has done the last 53 years, war, poverty, taxes. Order interchangeable.
We have nothing to lose with Trump, but we might gain.
Once again there is no decent human being to vote for. Hillary’s super delegates make it impossible for Bernie to have a chance; even if he won the popular vote, because of her super delegates there’s no way he can win the nomination.
I don’t like Trump but am inclined to vote for him because he’s a one man wrecking ball and will destroy the neocon infestation in the republican party. Cruz and Rubio are just as evil as Hillary (all 3 being far worse than Trump imho), and Kasich is a continuation of the proxy wars and cold war with Russia. Trump states he wants to get along with Putin, get out of Ukraine, get rid of waste fraud and abuse in the Pentagon as well as other government subsidized industries and monopolies like the oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, etc. He also is vehemently opposed to the TPP and other trade deals.
I _want_ to vote for a humble, reflective decent human being. But the simple truth is that we have a choice between Hillary and Trump. And Trump is the lesser evil who will (after working with Putin to end the U.S. backed jihadists in Syria) bring the troops home from the middle east, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe, destroy the neocons completely, and end the trade deals like the TPP (which, if enacted, would completely destroy our environmental laws). He also stated several times he will not increase the defense budget: http://reason.com/blog/2016/02/08/donald-trump-denounces-wasteful-pentagon .
So what to do when Hillary gets the D nomination? If Trump wins the R nomination, hold my nose and vote for him (Jesus help us all). If anyone else wins the R nomination, stay home or vote 3rd party like I have since the 1990s. What a mess. :-(
The last humble man to be POTUS was Jimmy Carter.Great guy,bad POTUS.
But even he,was power hungry.It’s a common character trait for American POTUS.
“The Ruling Class Elite and the Deep State/Shadow Government behind them” are the pythons that are squeezing the sh**t out the struggling voting public.
These people will not accommodate any change that is not designed and controlled by them. PERIOD! The Main Stream Media outputs what they dictate. Congress , White House and Supreme Court march to their orders.
The KKK group, who Trump is now being accused of embracing, has been casting their votes for either Democrats or Republicans for years; I have never heard both parties complaining about the KKK votes, unless this group members are banned from voting in USA and just happens to wake during the current election Circle!
When the pythons are financially choking the 99% of Americans by debts, why is KKK, who has been residing in this country for over a century a centerpiece of the talking points right now?
Why can’t we talk about student loan debts which are ruining thousands of young lives or PAYDAY LENDERS who are charging 400% interest rates?? WHY?
WHY ARE THE VICTIMS OF THIS FINANCIAL ONSLAUGHT BEING INCITED TO FIGHT AMONG THEMSELVES?? WHY ARE VOTERS FALLING FOR THIS DIVIDE AND CONQUER GAME BY THE VERY CHOKING ELITES? COME ON PEOPLE! WAKE UP!
The KKK are as marginal as they have ever been in america.
But the KKK are watered beer to the Zionists,something our intrepid MSM will never ever touch.
Everybody is so easily offended by Trump. Behind closed doors we all say things that the media would demonize him for. In my opinion he has given more specific reasons to vote for him than all other candidates combined. He operates on a higher level of thought than the numbskulls we’ve elected. I’d put him on a similar level to Putin (A.K.A the glue holding the world together).
You might say those things behind closed doors, however, I do not nor does any of the people who I trust to allow behind my closed doors say or think such things. I do not see the refugees from the empires pillaged and impoverished periphery who gather at the Home Depot as being competition. That is not due to any great wealth or high paid position on my part as I have neither. What I have is the experience of working with “illegals” as my peers whether on construction sites or in the fields as a migrant farm labourer. The obnoxious narrative that they’re takin’ our jobs is nonsense as there are very few fat assed Gringos who could do those jobs for more than a half an hour without requiring the intervention of a cardiac defibrillator. If I was anything other than a loser in the eyes of Trump or his loutish falange I would be quite ashamed.
So says the refugee from S America,or C America,the lands of loutish dictators who regularly murder steal and subjugate their populations.
I think they need you there,go speak up!sheesh.
You take care of yours and we’ll take care of ours.
I don’t consider myself easily offended. I generally consider the source and weigh my reactions accordingly. If Trump were not running for President (or not doing “well” in the early primaries), he would be just another annoying buffoon with a mouthpiece. But apparently there are a significant enough number of Republican voters whose ethical and/or social sensibilities are so far removed from my own that they think he is worth having in the Oval Office. That is a pathetic state of affairs nearly matched by Democrats who feel Clinton is a worthy candidate.
Kudos to you Brian for recognizing that Putin is highly intelligent. His ability to handle rather long question-and-answer sessions extemporaneously with insightful complexity, range, and reason is impressive indeed. He also shows himself to be cultivated, gentlemanly, and of good humor.
So, Brian…I’ll entertain the possibility that you find fewer than 3 combined reasons to vote for any of the other candidates. I am curious as to what 3 (or more) specific reasons you have in mind that lead you to vote for Trump. Also, I find the comparison to Putin so ludicrous (in terms of level of thought) that I have to ask you as well to elucidate. Certainly Trump’s fourth-grade level of language use doesn’t hold a lot of water.
Everybody is so easily offended by Trump. Behind closed doors we all say things that the media would demonize him for. In my opinion he has given more specific reasons to vote for him than all other candidates combined. He operates on a higher level of thought than the numbskulls we’ve elected. I’d put him on a similar level to Putin (A.K.A the glue holding the world together).
Everybody is so easily offended by Trump. Behind closed doors we all say things that the media would demonize him for. In my opinion he has given more specific reasons to vote for him than all other candidates combined. He operates on a higher level of thought than the numbskulls we’ve elected. I’d put him on a similar level to Putin (A.K.A the glue holding the world together).
Do you actually think that behind closed doors the ptb say lets US be neutral re I-P,end trade steals,talk to Russia,stop invading the world for Zion,and make nice with Iran,NK and others?No way in hell.That’s why they hate Trump ,for bringing reality to our foreign and domestic policy.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Donald Trump (HBO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnpO_RTSNmQ
“Donald Trump is America’s back mole,†Oliver said. “It may have seemed harmless a year ago, but now that it’s gotten frighteningly bigger, it’s gotten hard to ignore it.â€
As a thoroughly disaffected Kansan (Brownback?) I find Mr. Trump the consummate salesman. What was the old saw, he could sell Iceboxes to Eskimos? Mr. Brownback was bad enough but only we Kansans have to feel guilty about him. I rather doubt that Mr. Trump shall ultimately prevail but I suppose lightening has struck more than once in the same place. He might.
Mr. Trump makes me feel quite embarrassed. Not so much the fear that he might win but the real agony is that so many people might vote for him! Christene, I haven’t any real answer for you but I am ancient enough to realize that these people are like the poor, they shall always be amongst us. (Forget about the “bless them”!)
And yes, “Red” Jefferson and “Little Jemmy” Madison should have prevailed with their constitutional ideas of a Convention each generation, in order that no generation be bound by the rules of a preceding generation without having some input of their own. (Such a Convention would raise a whale of a ruckus, at least the first time, wouldn’t it?)
Doug
Oh, I so love the idea of a Convention every generation! Brilliant!!
If familiarity breeds contempt, it’s little wonder why middle America wants to burn the Beltway to the ground. A good thorough cleaning every thirty years would keep the hoarders from staking claim.
I suggest voting for Bernie. Then, if he wins, work with groups that help him evolve with the hockey stick curve accelerating evolution. That way, our president can help us resist totalitarianism as it fights for its life against real democracy and the information age.
I’m considering it. It’s either him or Trump.
Dear, Lord. I can’t believe that is where our country sits. I’m also big on the Convention of States movement.
Call me a cynic, but I sincerely doubt that, in the age of the Koch brothers, ALEC and Republican control of so many state legislatures, an Article V convention would produce anything but truly horrible ideas (a Personhood amendment, for example, or the single worst idea in American politics: a Balanced Budget amendment) as opposed to limits on campaign spending.
I believe there’s a very simple reason why certain voices in our politics (oddly enough, primarily from the right) are big on giving more power to the states: state legislatures and officials cost less to buy, and they’re easier to intimidate. Again, I don’t see how anyone can look at the really regressive stuff coming out of the states nowadays and think they could be part of the solution to what ails us.
Just like I have a hard time understanding how anyone can treat Bernie and Trump as an either/or. Especially after reading the above. I’m all for giving the Establishment the finger, but not if it means encouraging a xenophobic bigot who’s in the process of raising a lynch mob. The other possibility is of course that he’s an egoist who has no qualms about using xenophobia and bigotry to get elected. Which isn’t a particularly comforting idea, either, because either way, we’re stuck with the lynch mob. Even if Trump doesn’t win, don’t think that what he’s stoking is going to go away anytime soon.
The notion that a quarter to a third of the adult population see nothing wrong with the guy is frankly terrifying, in a country where only about half the adult population bothers to vote.
You know, until June 2015, the “Donald” was just a billionaire business mogul, twice divorced ladies man, with an uncanny ability to have gorgeous women hanging on his arm, T.V. reality star, and occasional national joke when the presidential campaign season rolled around. He had a beautiful family, with kids who seemed to have grown into solid, hard working, successful adults in their own rights and after being grist for the New York City tabloid rumor mill for 45 years, had managed to emerge tarnished only with a propensity for being a jerk.
Enter his presidential run of 2015, his rise in polls, and the COMPLETE unhinging of the entire Washington Establishment. Suddenly, a hysterical MSM wants people to believe that the “Donald” is actually a cross between the incarnation of Darth Vader and the Second Coming of Hitler, who, with one mighty tweet, could bring down the whole of Western Civilization. I wouldn’t be surprised to log onto WaPo one morning to read some overwrought “journalist” claiming he ate small puppies and kittens for breakfast and planned to deport Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. The over-the-top hysteria about Trump has just been so beyond the pale that I’m inclined to dismiss all of it and give the guy the benefit of the doubt.
That would be the same MSM that’s given Trump massive, unprecedented amounts of unfiltered air-time (for free) to push his message? (Or, in the case of Morning Joe, openly cheered for his candidacy while still pretending to be “objective” journalists.) Nobody’s rearranging or editing out big chunks of what he says in public to make him look bad or change the plain meaning of his words, as was done to, say, ACORN and Planned Parenthood.
“Business mogul”? Hey, if I’d inherited a couple hundred million dollars, I’ll bet I could be a mogul, too! Someone ran the figures, and if The Donald had simply invested that money in blue chip stocks and played a lot of golf and spent time getting a real tan, he’d be exactly as rich as he claims to be now (and there’s good reason to believe those claims are exaggerated). Without evicting poor, elderly tenants, or stiffing his creditors by way of four bankruptcies, or running blatant scams like Trump University. I suggest you take some time to dig a little deeper into the guy’s record, here. It’s not pretty. As for the notion that government should be run like a business, ask the residents of Flint, Michigan, how they feel about that.
So what if the tabloids never caught him in bed with a dead girl or a live boy? If you think that’s some kind of meaningful guarantee of anything, you might want to check with Prof. Davidson for a quick run-down of historical figures who were responsible for truly atrocious acts, and yet were considered good family men and kind to their pets. “Gorgeous women” hung on Henry Kissinger’s arm, too. Again, what could that possibly have to do with Trump’s fitness for the office, let alone whether it’s a good idea to encourage a public figure who’s stoking up fear and rage against immigrants and Muslims, not to mention anyone else who’s a designated “loser” in the Donald-centric universe? I cannot conceive of a more superficial way to choose between two candidates for President.
In his own words — and to the enthusiastic cheers of his supporters — this is a man who gleefully promises to bring back waterboarding and even worse forms of torture, dump 11 million immigrants in a Mexican desert, forbid people from entering this country solely on account of their religion, and maintain a registry of the Muslims who’re already here. Not to mention plenty of other ideas just as loathsome and/or delusional. That’s the plain and simple meaning of what comes out of his fatuous gob every time he speaks at one of his rallies; it’s not some “overwrought” or “hysterical” fabrication of the Washington Establishment.
This is what you’re dismissing. And by the way, exaggeration is not an argument, just a cheap rhetorical trick.
Since you’re the one who brought up Hitler, does it not concern you the least little bit that every one of these policies — torture, deportation of millions, registry of people on the basis of their religion — was a hallmark of the Nazi regime? Or I guess the more appropriate question is, “What level of not-quite-as-bad-as-the-Nazis would you be comfortable with?” Do you not find it at all disturbing that this guy is the candidate of choice for David Duke and a whole slew of white supremacists?
At this point, it doesn’t matter whether Trump really means it or not: If he’s elected, he’s not going to be able to say “Gotcha, suckers: I was just messin’ with ya!” Not to the kind of fury he’s whipping up. I guarantee you, when it turns out that he can’t deliver on many if not most of his grandiose promises, it’ll be time to crank up the scapegoating. I believe we already know who the targets will be.
When you combine an authoritarian personality with lots of fervently authoritarian supporters (many of whom, it should be noted, have been accumulating huge caches of weapons) and add to that a militarized police already accustomed to acting like an occupation force, plus he’ll have at his command a surveillance state whose capabilities go far beyond the Stasi’s wildest dreams, well … you’ll have to excuse me if I find all that a little hard to dismiss. It seems to me Trump is playing with matches in a roomful of Molotov cocktails.
But let’s be honest: It’s obvious that whatever the reason, you have no intention of engaging seriously with any of the things I or Prof. Davidson have said. In my case, you just ignored my first point, and then tried to deflect any criticism of The Donald — and far more important, what he represents — with irrelevant factoids, and what has to be the moldiest of all rhetorical devices. Which tells anyone with eyes to see that you don’t have a leg to stand on.
You sound far more like someone who’s already made up their mind; you’re just trying to convince yourself. If it’s Trump, you should know you’re attaching yourself to something very ugly, and it will rub off.
Jesus,saying Trump is a bigot when all the other candidates are bigots for Israel is hilarious.The anti muslim hatred is palpable in the MSM,the Queen of the slave state rhetoric and the Cruz Rubio boy toys for Zion campaign of hate,and Trump is the bigot?
Trumpo is the only candidate to say,Yankee come home,in any shape or form and he’s wrong?Less dead Muslims and innocents?The only people who have to fear Trump are non state mercenary terrorists for Zion,and the CIA.
Terrified of what?That negotiation will take the place of invasion?That the I-P conflict will finally be solved?That relations with Russia will be back to a normal healthy relationship instead of Zioprop and demonization?That jobs will come back to America?American sovereignty isn’t important in the age of terror?
Do US a favor move already,birthright is calling.
I think everyone is thinking like you.
That would be the same MSM that’s given Trump massive, unprecedented amounts of unfiltered air-time (for free) to push his message? (Or, in the case of Morning Joe, openly cheered for his candidacy while still pretending to be “objective” journalists.) Nobody’s rearranging or editing out big chunks of what he says in public to make him look bad or change the plain meaning of his words, as was done to, say, ACORN and Planned Parenthood.
“Business mogul”? Hey, if I’d inherited a couple hundred million dollars, I’ll bet I could be a mogul, too! Someone ran the figures, and if The Donald had simply invested that money in blue chip stocks and played a lot of golf and spent time getting a real tan, he’d be exactly as rich as he claims to be now (and there’s good reason to believe those claims are exaggerated). Without evicting poor, elderly tenants, or stiffing his creditors by way of four bankruptcies, or running blatant scams like Trump University. I suggest you take some time to dig a little deeper into the guy’s record, here. It’s not pretty. As for the notion that government should be run like a business, ask the residents of Flint, Michigan, how they feel about that.
So what if the tabloids never caught him in bed with a dead girl or a live boy? If you think that’s some kind of meaningful guarantee of anything, you might want to check with Prof. Davidson for a quick run-down of historical figures who were responsible for truly atrocious acts, and yet were considered good family men and kind to their pets. “Gorgeous women” hung on Henry Kissinger’s arm, too. Again, what could that possibly have to do with Trump’s fitness for the office, let alone whether it’s a good idea to encourage a public figure who’s stoking up fear and rage against immigrants and Muslims, not to mention anyone else who’s a designated “loser” in the Donald-centric universe? I cannot conceive of a more superficial way to choose between two candidates for President.
In his own words — and to the enthusiastic cheers of his supporters — this is a man who gleefully promises to bring back waterboarding and even worse forms of torture, dump 11 million immigrants in a Mexican desert, forbid people from entering this country solely on account of their religion, and maintain a registry of the Muslims who’re already here. Not to mention plenty of other ideas just as loathsome and/or delusional. That’s the plain and simple meaning of what comes out of his fatuous gob every time he speaks at one of his rallies; it’s not some “overwrought” or “hysterical” fabrication of the Washington Establishment.
This is what you’re dismissing. And by the way, exaggeration is not an argument, just a cheap rhetorical trick.
Since you’re the one who brought up Hitler, does it not concern you the least little bit that every one of these policies — torture, deportation of millions, registry of people on the basis of their religion — was a hallmark of the Nazi regime? Or I guess the more appropriate question is, “What level of not-quite-as-bad-as-the-Nazis would you be comfortable with?” Do you not find it at all disturbing that this guy is the candidate of choice for David Duke and a whole slew of white supremacists?
At this point, it doesn’t matter whether Trump really means it or not: If he’s elected, he’s not going to be able to say “Gotcha, suckers: I was just messin’ with ya!” Not to the kind of fury he’s whipping up. I guarantee you, when it turns out that he can’t deliver on many if not most of his grandiose promises, it’ll be time to crank up the scapegoating. I believe we already know who the targets will be.
When you combine an authoritarian personality with lots of fervently authoritarian supporters (many of whom, it should be noted, have been accumulating huge caches of weapons) and add to that a militarized police already accustomed to acting like an occupation force, plus he’ll have at his command a surveillance state whose capabilities go far beyond the Stasi’s wildest dreams, well … you’ll have to excuse me if I find all that a little hard to dismiss. It seems to me Trump is playing with matches in a roomful of Molotov cocktails.
But let’s be honest: It’s obvious that whatever the reason, you have no intention of engaging seriously with any of the things I or Prof. Davidson have said. In my case, you just ignored my first point, and then tried to deflect any criticism of The Donald — and far more important, what he represents — with irrelevant factoids, and what has to be the moldiest of all rhetorical devices. Which tells anyone with eyes to see that you don’t have a leg to stand on.
You sound far more like someone who’s already made up their mind; you’re just trying to convince yourself. If it’s Trump, you should know you’re attaching yourself to something very ugly, and it will rub off.
More poppycock;The only things the traitor MSM is doing is pushing Trump comments they mistakenly think Americans(like them)would abhor.
They are about as out of touch with reality as you are.
Go trump,go sanders!
I suggest voting for Bernie and, if he wins, work with groups that help him evolve with accelerating hockey puck evolution an resist totalitarianism as it fights for its life against real democracy.
While I agree with almost everything Mr. Davidson has to say about Mr. Trump, I am left, as I always am with articles such as these, with a hanging AND…….??????
Can someone please point me in the direction I am to go come November 8, 2016, if our nation actually limps along until then, when it comes time to cast my ballot, because I am at a loss.
The greatest threat to our national sovereignty, as far as I can tell, is the duplicitous, greedy, corrupt, and hopelessly out of touch Washington Establishment. So, what do I do? Vote for one of the morons served up by the Establishment morons who are just part of a greater ocean of clueless morons who are running this country……into the ground, I might add, but let’s not split hairs.
I love the brilliant insight into our problems, but nobody ever seems to finish it off with some brilliant insights into some solutions.
What if there are no solutions, short of either revolution or complete anarchy and a breakdown of society?
The Ruling Class Elite and the Deep State/Shadow Government behind them care nothing for us nor for the planet. Democracy, fragile and seriously flawed as it was, died on Nov. 22, 1963 when a president who was barely and controversially elected was assassinated because he dared to change the reigning paradigm by preparing to end the Cold War with the USSR and bring U.S. soldiers home from Vietnam.
Since then, every Dem. and Repub. candidate knows that the Deep State will never allow much variance from its plans for the world.
Even if Bernie Sanders is elected, he will not be allowed to change very much.
Only a dismantling of this Evil Empire the U.S. has become offers hope for the survival of our species, as well as most other species. Do you see that dismantling happening before Climate Disaster or nuclear war with Russia and China makes it too late? I don’t.
Yeah…….that’s a rabbit hole I try to avoid diving into. There is a God, and we’re not Him. I’ll leave the dismantling of Evil Empires in His very capable hands. My little corner of the world consists of my children and grandchildren and I will not leave them a country that is being destroyed by greedy, self-serving, duplicitious, war-mongering, elitist morons if I can possibly help it. I’m just a little fuzzy on a game plan on how to achieve that.
On the bright side, perhaps the overthrowing of the billionaires, Super Pacs, and Big Money lobbyists who were the foundation of the now defunct Republican Establishment was enough. I don’t think that it is wishful thinking to believe that it, and it’s sidekicks Conventional Wisdom and Status Quo have been permanently shown the door.
Business as usual will be no more.
A Hillary win will be a bonanza for the Lobbyists… à la Tony Blair.
She will finish the job for them.
They have her secured deep in their pockets.
The Source of America’s Wars – Kristol Clear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBCxYicxTow
Yeah…….that’s a rabbit hole I try to avoid diving into. There is a God, and we’re not Him. I’ll leave the dismantling of Evil Empires in His very capable hands. My little corner of the world consists of my children and grandchildren and I will not leave them a country that is being destroyed by greedy, self-serving, duplicitious, war-mongering, elitist morons if I can possibly help it. I’m just a little fuzzy on a game plan on how to achieve that.
On the bright side, perhaps the overthrowing of the billionaires, Super Pacs, and Big Money lobbyists who were the foundation of the now defunct Republican Establishment was enough. I don’t think that it is wishful thinking to believe that it, and it’s sidekicks Conventional Wisdom and Status Quo have been permanently shown the door.
Business as usual will be no more.
Bernie Sanders has a “truely different message” which makes him living evidence and proof of the adage : “good guys always finish last.” à la Ron Paul.
He may not be a loser, but he will never be a winner. If he even began to look like one, he would be Wellstoned.
He is tolerated by the Zionists and AIPAC Lobbyists who make the decisions and selections in US politics and that is why you never hear the “whole truth” from him, and why he remains, alive, kicking, and “visible evidence” that the “American” electoral process is a “free and open and democratic opportunity for one and all.”
I have a sneaking, dirty suspicion/prediction that AIPAC Lobbyists are going to run Hillary as Presidential Candidate on the Democratic ticket, and that they will stack the deck so that she will win, simply to demonstrate to the American public and, especially to the rest of the politicians in the arena, that they have the powers to elect anyone they damned well want to the office….
(Caligula sent his horse Incitatus named a Citizen of Rome, and appointed Consul and Member of the Senate to demonstrate the absolute nature of his power in Rome) for, anyone who could get that warmongering superficial, ambitious women into that office, after the Obama debacle, must have the powers of God!
On the other hand, the handlers are going viciously after the GOP front runner to steer clear of a Trump vs Hillary showdown. If nothing he will embarrass the shit out of her and them going down! It will be a sight to behold.
Obama? He has not been as docile, compliant and cooperative as they expected him to be when they cut the deal with him. He will become a post-facto political non-entity like Jimmy Carter, whom they have also long pretty well demolished, or at least, decapitated, as a voice of reason in the political arena.
We will never see a free and honest man in office anywhere in America until the entire election campaign funding program has been reformed to get BIG MONEY out of the arena.
Nor Israeli money buying elections and politicians in Washington, DC.
Kill the powers of lobbyists on capitol Hill!
Don’t give up your day job to do it, they own you and your country!
Have a good day.