Childish name-calling. Finger-pointing. Excessive bravado. Lack of professionalism. Canned one-liners. Surface-level ideas that lack clarity and substance.
Ah, yes … Donald Trump is running less for the White House than he is for student body class president.
What has become of the Republican Party in part, and America as a whole? The party seems to be headed toward a civil war, with members of the establishment using #NeverTrump on Twitter and vowing to do whatever they can to stop Trump from winning the nomination. Meanwhile, the “outsider” Trump has started a revolution of sorts and his breath of air — not so much of the “fresh” kind — has toed the line of respect and civility and has fueled the anti-establishment emotions of the disenfranchised in this country.
In a matter of months, Trump has cursed on camera, offended world leaders, said he wanted to punch a protester in the face, made misogynistic remarks toward Fox’s Megyn Kelly — among other women — has insulted his GOP opponents and has attacked their character rather than their policies.
And this is the man whom we want leading our country?
Trump is fanning the flames of hatred and anger in this country.
Trump is fanning the flames of hatred and anger in this country. He’s not trying to unite the party or this nation. His positions amount to isolationism and his personality can be summed up as so:
You’ll either agree with me, or I’ll bury you beneath my feet.
I know that diehard Trump supporters will say, “what about Marco Rubio? He’s been behaving childish.” And you know what? Sadly, he has.
But you can be darn sure he didn’t start doing that until Trump dragged him down into the cold, dark abyss.
How can Trump’s antics be seen as anything but juvenile behavior? If you call him out on his record, he’ll call you a liar or a choke artist. If you disagree with his policies, he’ll pick on you like a schoolyard bully.
I’m just waiting for him to respond to a challenge one day with a “Nuh-uh, boogerhead. You’re wrong!”
I’m sure you remember what it was like during your school days when your fellow classmates were running for student council.
Did the smart, ambitious nerd ever win? Of course not. It was always the “cool kid” whom everybody envied and wanted to be like. The kind of kid who wanted to be president for the power and status, not to help his peers and improve the way things were running.
I think Jeb Bush’s former chief strategist David Kochel made the best comparison yet to Trump’s juvenile campaign running parallel to that of a middle school kid’s.
New lesson kids: sometimes, the best option for the fat kid is to just hand his lunch money over to the bully! #TrumpChristie2016
— David Kochel (@ddkochel) February 26, 2016
After the — let’s call him — generously-proportioned Chris Christie dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump for President, many people — myself included — viewed it as a blatantly transparent attempt for Christie to ride Trump’s coattails and stay relevant in the political landscape.
Christie may have been working for Trump all along
While most candidates running for President of the United States choose campaign slogans that have something to do with helping Americans, Christie chose a more personal slogan to put emphasis on himself: “Telling it like it is.”
Sadly for Christie, he never stood a chance with that slogan considering nobody “tells it like it is” better or more than Trump.
But I digress.
I’d hate to stereotype all of Trump’s supporters and call them “uneducated” — Trump said he loves the poorly educated, after all — because I know that’s not true. But I know there is a large contingent of them who are grossly misinformed about who Trump is and what he stands for.
Rather than study Trump’s policies and press him for details on how he plans to pay for and get them passed, Trumpers flock to his rallies to see him flaunt his celebrity status while they hang on to his every word, waiting for the next punchline or insult to spew from his mouth.
Trump’s “fans” are there to be entertained, not to listen to how exactly he intends to improve their lives.
I love our country and I’m grateful and thankful for the freedoms that we’ve been given thanks to the sacrifices of so many. However, with freedom comes responsibility, and I’m afraid not everybody in this country takes that seriously.
For example, I don’t think it’s ever right for an American to vote for a candidate based purely — or mostly — on that candidate’s personal appeal rather than the viability of his policies.
But, much like junior high class elections, we like to vote for candidates that look or sound good, that offer more sizzle than steak, and make us feel positive or hopeful about whatever trifles we’re experiencing.
I have to admit, one of the reasons why I strongly opposed Hillary Clinton in 2008 was because she was annoying. Her voice cut through me like nails on a chalkboard. I delightfully referred to her as the “Wicked Witch of the West Wing,” in an ode to a combination of the Wizard of Oz and the wing of the White House where the Oval Office is.
That was petty on my part. These days, I have much more substantive reasons for disliking her: she’s deceitful, a liar, not trustworthy, and has policies of which I hold almost 180-degree differences of opinion.
I’m just so sad and disappointed that an abundance of voters in this country are so upset and angry with politicians that they would vote for an unqualified outsider who has strong opinions but no real solutions. A man who preys on innocent Americans’ emotions and says what they want to hear, rather than what he believes.
Because when people act out of anger, fear, or any other type of erratic emotions, that’s when poor decisions are made and mistakes are bound to happen.
Fortunately for this country, there’s no way Trump will beat Clinton, considering how put off blacks and Hispanics are toward Trump — not to mention members of the Republican establishment who want nothing to do with him.
Unfortunately for the Republican Party, this looks like the beginning of a very long, disruptive process that could leave the White House in Democrats’ hands for many years to come.