I have to take a short break from my comments about our Africa trip because of the freak show that the presidential race has become. Here in the US, Election Day is less than three weeks from today as I write this. The polls will close in the evening of November 7 and we’ll begin to hear some of the early returns and predictions shortly thereafter. I can only hope we begin to hear early predictions, because that will mean it isn’t a close election.
If you’ve read any of my previous blogs I think it’s plain that I’m no fan of Trump; in fact I think he’s become an incredible embarrassment not just to our political system but to the United States in general. I think it would be hilarious to find out that he’s actually a dear friend of the Clintons and this whole charade is simply to ensure that Hillary becomes our first female president. It’s hard to imagine that his actions represent part of an actual strategy to get himself elected; it’s almost exactly the opposite of that. I wrote earlier that the necessary process is to solidify one’s base by appealing to the most active (and therefore most die-hard party loyalists) in the run up to the primary, and then once the party’s nomination is locked down to pivot toward the center to widen the appeal. Without that essential center vote it’s impossible to get elected; the delicate maneuvering comes in trying to appeal to the centrists without alienating the original base.
Trump, of course, has never shown any signs of a pivot; in fact virtually everything he’s said has been red meat to the farthest fringe of the Republican party. And his posturing has become so outrageous, so bad, that it’s almost impossible to see it as a real attempt to get elected. The latest is that last weekend’s Saturday Night Live opening skit is actually part of a massive, coordinated plot by Hillary and “the mainstream media” to deny him his rightful place at the helm of the US.
Many MANY others have gone through the litany of this buffoon’s gaffes, so I won’t do it here, but to call all of the dozen or so women who have come forward to share their “groping” experiences of him liars on the heels of video of him bragging about the very thing he says they are lying about is beyond belief. Then to essentially say it’s nothing but “locker room talk” anyway, and that furthermore, “Bill Clinton is way worse” just amazes me. How anyone could even try to defend that is simply unconscionable.
And yet, a significant percentage of our population here in the US of A is doing just that. Either defending, forgiving or ignoring. And I get that Hillary is extremely unpopular among a large group who are not so much supporting Trump as refusing to vote for Hillary, but even taking those people out of the mix you still have about 50% of the people committed to voting for Trump because they actually believe he’s the superior choice.
In an earlier post I described an acquaintance of mine who fits that category. He’s a well-educated man (a physician, in fact), but in spite of Trump’s obvious (at least to me) complete lack of qualification to be president, he thinks Trump is “the best thing that has come along in politics for as long as he can remember.” I didn’t ask him, but when I’ve asked other people what specifically they like about Trump what I usually get instead is a litany of what’s bad about Hillary. If they do describe what appeals to them about Trump, it’s almost invariably at odds with the facts. “He’s a great businessman and can turn around out government.” Or “He tells it like it is.” Or “He’s not in the pocket of Big Money.” Each of these is demonstrably false. So what it is that these people see that I don’t?
I never thought I’d say this, but it’s actually a bit of a shame that Jeb Bush dropped out early. He at least would not be an embarrassment
About BigBill
Stats: Married male boomer.
Hobbies: Hiking, woodworking, reading, philosophy, good conversation.
Three weeks and counting
I have to take a short break from my comments about our Africa trip because of the freak show that the presidential race has become. Here in the US, Election Day is less than three weeks from today as I write this. The polls will close in the evening of November 7 and we’ll begin to hear some of the early returns and predictions shortly thereafter. I can only hope we begin to hear early predictions, because that will mean it isn’t a close election.
If you’ve read any of my previous blogs I think it’s plain that I’m no fan of Trump; in fact I think he’s become an incredible embarrassment not just to our political system but to the United States in general. I think it would be hilarious to find out that he’s actually a dear friend of the Clintons and this whole charade is simply to ensure that Hillary becomes our first female president. It’s hard to imagine that his actions represent part of an actual strategy to get himself elected; it’s almost exactly the opposite of that. I wrote earlier that the necessary process is to solidify one’s base by appealing to the most active (and therefore most die-hard party loyalists) in the run up to the primary, and then once the party’s nomination is locked down to pivot toward the center to widen the appeal. Without that essential center vote it’s impossible to get elected; the delicate maneuvering comes in trying to appeal to the centrists without alienating the original base.
Trump, of course, has never shown any signs of a pivot; in fact virtually everything he’s said has been red meat to the farthest fringe of the Republican party. And his posturing has become so outrageous, so bad, that it’s almost impossible to see it as a real attempt to get elected. The latest is that last weekend’s Saturday Night Live opening skit is actually part of a massive, coordinated plot by Hillary and “the mainstream media” to deny him his rightful place at the helm of the US.
Many MANY others have gone through the litany of this buffoon’s gaffes, so I won’t do it here, but to call all of the dozen or so women who have come forward to share their “groping” experiences of him liars on the heels of video of him bragging about the very thing he says they are lying about is beyond belief. Then to essentially say it’s nothing but “locker room talk” anyway, and that furthermore, “Bill Clinton is way worse” just amazes me. How anyone could even try to defend that is simply unconscionable.
And yet, a significant percentage of our population here in the US of A is doing just that. Either defending, forgiving or ignoring. And I get that Hillary is extremely unpopular among a large group who are not so much supporting Trump as refusing to vote for Hillary, but even taking those people out of the mix you still have about 50% of the people committed to voting for Trump because they actually believe he’s the superior choice.
In an earlier post I described an acquaintance of mine who fits that category. He’s a well-educated man (a physician, in fact), but in spite of Trump’s obvious (at least to me) complete lack of qualification to be president, he thinks Trump is “the best thing that has come along in politics for as long as he can remember.” I didn’t ask him, but when I’ve asked other people what specifically they like about Trump what I usually get instead is a litany of what’s bad about Hillary. If they do describe what appeals to them about Trump, it’s almost invariably at odds with the facts. “He’s a great businessman and can turn around out government.” Or “He tells it like it is.” Or “He’s not in the pocket of Big Money.” Each of these is demonstrably false. So what it is that these people see that I don’t?
I never thought I’d say this, but it’s actually a bit of a shame that Jeb Bush dropped out early. He at least would not be an embarrassment
About BigBill
Stats: Married male boomer. Hobbies: Hiking, woodworking, reading, philosophy, good conversation.