There is an irresistible temptation to forget about Trump and get on with life. It is painful and a chore to write again and again as he soldiers on with more and more outrageous behavior. The latter seems to keep him afloat and affords him and his backers hope that all is not lost. It is the Republican contender’s modus operandi to provide eye raising fodder, upping the ante each time. The latest outrage is his preferring Putin over Americas’ Generals and Commander in Chief. Doubling up on his cozying up to a dictator he repeated his criticism of America on Putin controlled Russian TV. Maybe he is looking for a positive poll result in Russia. Jay H.Ell’s frustration is that after Trump’s ongoing train smash is that he is still standing and the media regards him as a “normal” candidate. This rather than point out that his behavior is outside the bounds of the democratic process. Why this has happened and who are The Donald’s supporters needs to be understood.
THE WHY
Some of the factors that have brought us to this Alice in Wonderland world cannot be controlled and are just facts of life. In many ways the Trump phenomenon can be categorized in “The only in America category”. Here there is worship of unbridled individualism with an unconditional love for the celebrity. As entertainment, in all its forms, is the lifeblood of America and Trump is a highly rated tv entertainer, he is natural for all this attention. Trump, the entertainer, is an icon with an insatiable appetite for publicity.
All that was coupled with a Party political system that has no discipline and allows all comers to mix in regardless of whether they agree to the Party’s Constitution or Principles. This allowed him easy access into the system.
The final ingredient is the wall to wall coverage the media, who thrive on sensation, provide during a Presidential election which in America is a two year ordeal. The media are more in the business of business then they are in the pursuit of truth and education. Trump, the American icon is a highly charismatic amoral businessman/entertainer whose objective is the American Presidency and he will say or do anything to achieve that end and the media provided him the stage.
Now who are the peoples that are backing him?
THE DISILLUSIONED
To help meet the Presidential objectives of this Trump there is the anger in the country, directed at the “do nothing” legislature and their blatant ignoring of their electorate’s needs, to feed off. The outsourcing of jobs and the fact that the middle class in America has not advanced in decades rankles. There is an anti establishment mood. This group make up Trump’s largest constituency and regardless of whatever he says or does he, being a non politician, is their man. The bulk of this group are blue collared workers, including several former Democrats and nearly all are white males. These people mistakenly believe that anything is better than establishment candidate Hillary Clinton and they are unconditionally backing “Trump the Man”.
CROOKED AND LYING HILLARY
In the above vein some citizens, for reasons they cannot fully articulate, assert that Hillary is a crook and a liar, as she has been all her life and or she is “unlikeable”. They point to all the investigations, albeit that were all politically inspired, where she was cleared - they then argue that there is no smoke without fire. Recently they point to her e mails, as a continuation of her criminality. In this they are the helped by the media where Trump’s latest profane saying or act is juxtaposed with an outlandish interpretation of her e mail negligence. The fact is the e mails too have been investigated by teams of FBI agents lead by the Republican appointed FBI Director who could not find a hint of criminality. “It was not even close”, Director Comey clarified. Jay H. Ell can do more than quote The Dallas Daily News, who for the first time in 75 years is endorsing a Democrat, Hillary Clinton, for President. They contend, “Her being cleared of crimes by investigation after investigation has no effect on these political hyenas - they refuse to see anything but conspiracies and cover ups”. The Dallas News editorial was followed up by one in the Washington Post who berated themselves and the rest of the media for inappropriately obsessively focussing on her e mails.
The faithful are only happy to agree with The Donald that the FBI and the media like everyone else was in the pocket of the Clintons.
THE KOOKS AND THE ONE INTEREST GROUPS
Then there are the usual suspects like the right wing groups such as the KKK and the rest who obviously attracted to xenophobia and racism. There are interest groups who believe that The Donald is their man. These include those who adjudge that Second Amendment Rights are the most important matter facing the country. There is a small section of the electorate that magically believe that he will better for Israel than Hillary. (Incidentally, this view is not shared by the Israelis according to a recent poll published The Times of Israel}. Other one issue voters include certain members of the military who believe that Trump can be better entrusted to look after and grow the military constituency. The one issue group that are firmest behind Trump are ironically the Evangelicals who are terrified of seeing the Supreme Court turning liberal after decades of control.
THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE - THE WORST
The most egregious of the Trump enablers are the Republican Party National Committee who are counter productively backing a candidate who has scant commitment to what they stand for. In the best case scenario, if he loses he will set their party back a generation and if he wins obliterate it from contention forever as Trump's ragbag of positions will be the face of the Republican Party to the nation and the world. The Committee, led by a light weight intellectual bureaucrat Reince Priebus, who has not the courage of his own convictions, the committee members, against an ever-growing number of the Party’s leadership and intellectuals, are aiding and abetting the Trump candidacy. For example, Trump has no organizational infrastructure and instead of letting him sink they are using the Party infrastructure, much needed for electing Congressional candidates, to assist him.
Rather than look at the freakish Party regulations that allowed his involvement in the first place and the reasons he connected with their base, they accept that because he hijacked the nomination he must be best for the Party. Not only are they letting their Party down they are being unpatriotic. Anyone with half a political brain knows that this disorganized narcissistic neophyte has no hope of running the country. It will be chaos.
Priebus was the main mover and shaker behind a report that diagnosed that the GOP would never win another election if they did not attract Latinos and African Americans. The Donald has zilch chance of doing that. Priebus, as the guardian of the Party’s policies should pick up on the fact that many of Trump’s economic positions are populist in line with the Bernie Sander’s wing of the Democratic Party. The Republican Party once claimed the monopoly of American exceptionalism and would have slaughtered a Clinton who cozied up to an authoritarian like Putin. The GOP has handed the patriotism narrative over to Democratic Hillary without a fight. So what is Republican or Conservative about Trump? The only attribute he has is that he says he is Republican and he is opposing Hillary who is a Democrat.
If the GOP hierarchy had any brains not to mention patriotism they would cut lose from Donald and concentrate at limiting the damage to the lower half of the ticket. Then they would start planning their party organization for 2020 and try to get their policies more in sync with the electorate they purport to represent.
THE MEDIA
The media are going to have to share the blame for this shock to the American system. They have abandoned their time honored responsibility of being The Fourth Estate to be a watchdog of societal values. They have done this for ratings. Their fawning to get Trump interviews, for example, has been pitiful to watch,
The media have been enabling Trump by headlining, news cycle after cycle, his on going lying, ignorance, childlike drivel, authoritarian statements, favoring US enemies, unpresidential behavior, criminal bragging and gross disgusting behavior, for too long now. The Commander in Chief forum on NBC “facilitated” by Matt Lauer was another glaring example of pretending this is a two way horse race with matched contenders. What America and the world is witnessing a manipulation of the democratic process by a demagogue who admires authoritarian dictators. This Presidential nominee threatens to fire Generals who disagree with him like any tinpot fascist and then who would pillage and plunder as a matter of policy. He would instruct the American security apparatus to break the law to torture. And in all this Trump’s feet are not being held to the fire.
TRUMP A SERIAL LIAR AND A SELF CONFESSED CROOK
The group currently supporting Trump because Hillary is a liar and a crook should take careful note of the Trump they are favoring. He unashamedly lies and bribes. To quote just one example, of what has been referred to a Tsunami of lies on Morning Joe, is his position on the Iraq war. There is tape on his support of that war and everyone knows it yet he persists on maintaining on TV that he was always against it. Apparently he does not care that everyone knows he is lying as he has bragged that his supporters would vote for him even if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue, New York.
He has repeatedly publicly stated that he pays off politicians and expects them to deliver when necessary. The body politic were given a front seat as to how the process works . The Florida Attorney General, Pam Bondi, was investigating whether to join other State Attorney Generals in litigation against theTrump University. She was also involved in a reelection campaign. Trump illegally donated, through his charity foundation, $25,000 to her campaign. In his tax forms he claimed that the donation was to another charitable organization. For this “mistake” he was fined $2,500 by the Internal Revenue Service. In addition Trump organized a fund raiser for Ms. Bondi. Ms. Bondi dropped the investigation against Trump. When challenged on all this Trump claimed that he had not spoken to Ms. Bondi about his donation but had known her for her a long while. Ms. Bondi claimed that she had had a conversation with The Donald. Trump had also held a fund raiser for her at one of his resorts. There is also no proof that there was any relationship between the two prior to the donation. Trump’s defense is that this is the only occasion his donation to a politician was not pay for play.
THERE IS HOPE -
There are signs of hope with the swaths of Republican leadership and intellectuals that have refused to support him. Some are even supporting Hillary. Jennifer Rubin who is a senior Washington Post staffer and a staunch Republican has claimed that in time to come people should have to answer if they voted for Trump. However with 60 days to go the effort must become more concerted. Trump needs to be defeated in the same fashion Barry Goldwater was in 1964 when the Republican Committee dumped him. Republican Senator Lindsay Graham has characterized Trump’s support of Putin akin to that of backing Hitler. He has exhorted his fellow Republicans that now is the moment to jump off the Trump train.
Hillary also has to get out there and attempt to counter the narrative that she is aloof and arrogant.
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