With each passing day the political scene is more disturbing. Not, in this case, because Donald Trump may win, (it seems fairly certain he will not) but because he may not accept the outcome.
There isn’t much question that Trump is unbalanced. We are not dealing with an ordinary businessman or politician. If folks can get hold of the July 25th issue of the New Yorker, do so. It carries an excellent article by Jane Mayer on “Trump’s Boswell”, Tony Schwartz, the man who was the ghost who actually wrote “The Art of the Deal”. The Trump we see today is the man who has been there all along.
As Trevor Noah said in his show tonight, if we could look at Trump as a stand up comic, he might make sense, and we wouldn’t worry. He does put on a good show. He is – admit it – rather fun to watch, but, when you realize he is running for President, frightening. He is a fascinating study, a man who is (not slander, but simple fact) a pathological liar, but never admits to the lie. It is almost charming how, before we had even gotten over our shock at his treatment of John McCain, during the GOP primary, he delivers another shocker. (Like the night he urged his audience to beat up a protestor, promising he would pay the legal fees if anyone got arrested).
We need to realize that while the backers of Hillary Clinton are ambiguous, that they know Hillary has lied, that she has a bad record on foreign policy, and they are backing her because they are frightened of Trump, the backers of Trump are with him all the way. Can one even imagine another candidate who would boast they could stand in Fifth Avenue and shoot someone and not lose his supporters?
Which is why Trump’s suggestion that, if Hillary won the election, perhaps the NRA could make sure she didn’t appoint any Supreme Court justices, disturbed so many people. (Rudy Giuliani, an enthusiastic Trump supporter, insists it was a joke – no, Rudy, it was what Trump said – it is Giuliani who is the joke).
It is disturbing that the Trump rallies are marked by cries of “Lock Her Up” (referring to Hillary) and, in recent days, chants of “Lock Them Up”, referring to the media. (There have been other chants of “kill her”. Trump has not discouraged any of the chanters).
The excuse has been offered that Trump is not a politician, but a businessman, and we should
not be surprised at his language. I don’t buy it – some years ago, Ross Perot, another billionaire businessman, ran for President but never lost his cool, made sense, and left none of us, who followed that campaign, wondering if he was crazy.
Please, if you have friends who support Trump, ask them if they realize how serious the present situation is. I don’t care who they vote for – I worry about what is happening now.
The reason Trump can’t shift into some new, more responsible mode, is that there has never
been another Trump. What we see is all there is. He can read a speech flawlessly – but in a rather dead voice (the night he read, looking down at the podium, the statement endorsing Ryan and McCain, he looked more like a prisoner of war, than the Trump we knew).
His family was able to get him to choose Pence for VP, not to play the usual role, which is that of an attack dog, but rather to play the role of the sane one who could clean up Trump’s mistakes.
As the polls now show a steady, continuing drop in Trump’s numbers, and as the Republicans realize that the Trump they have is the one they are stuck with, that he will always go off script, they worry they may lose the Senate and – what had seemed impossible six months ago – the House as well. As one Republican after another has come out to declare they will not vote for the head of the ticket (Senator Susan Collins of Maine, for example), the more certain the election will end even before Labor Day. Leading conservatives, such as Charles Krauthammer, a FOX new regular, have turned on Trump. FOX news, the conservative bastion,is no longer a fervent Trump supporter.
There is now serious discussion about how Trump might be replaced. (And God help us if the Republicans try – Trump’s supporters will remain absolutely loyal). Trump has already charged, before the first debate, that the election is rigged.
All of which means we face an increasingly dangerous situation. Trump’s supporters have guns and, like Trump, believe in conspiracies.
So, too, do some of those on the left. The internet breeds conspiracy theories, the latest being that Hillary Clinton is responsible for various murders of people who might derail her campaign.
I’m lucky, living in New York, I can safely vote for a minor party candidate, but let us stop treating Hillary Clinton as if she was a witch. She has made terrible mistakes, she has lied about her emails, her foreign policy positions are not good. But unlike Donald Trump, she is sane.
The Republicans will have to deal with Donald Trump in their own way but our job is to stick to a discussion of the issues.We are in a campaign where both major party candidates are not the ones we would have chosen. In the case of the Democrats, the left needs to think ahead, as to how to use the Bernie Sanders supporters in the post-election period. It is August, it is hot, but this is, for us, a season when we must remain cool.