The Republican Convention 2016 is history. Hurricane Trump has moved inland, the Lake Erie coast has been spared. No riots, no attacks. Now we just have to slog through the usual follow-on storms and the eventual cleanup.
What I took away, first of all, is that Donald Trump has a set of World-Class vocal chords. I watched and heard him scream for 75 minutes during his acceptance speech. Some say his screams were scary dark, that he dwelt on doom-and-gloom. The media called it "midnight in America". Others say he was just telling it like it is. I heard a bit of both.
These are scary times. Domestically, race relations are tense. Many cities are potential powder kegs. Too many cops have itchy trigger fingers. Too many of our citizens need anger management. The average Joe is falling behind. He/she hasn't had a raise in 20 years (after inflation). Too many good jobs have gone overseas.
Too many educated young people with staggering student debt can't get a job commensurate with their smarts. We're flipping far too many burgers. Too few Ivory Tower dwellers pull too many strings and are too far removed from the country the rest of us have to live in. Fact. (Bernie and The Donald can have a lovefest on that one!)
Internationally, it's a pretty f__ked up world out there, and it gets more f__ked up every day. Look at what's happening in previously stable, vibrant Turkey. We have a tiger by the tail and we don't know how to turn loose of it. Our attempt at "nation building" has NOT worked. Fifteen years and a TRILLION dollars later, all we've managed to do is stir up a fire ant pile. Islam has proven to be an apparently easy religion to subvert. As one of the convention speakers pointed out, while only about 10% of the world's Muslims have any sympathy for Islamic terrorism, 10% of 1.6 billion Muslims is 160,000,000 potential bomb chuckers!
The basic premise of Donald Trump's grievances are true. The issue is, can he and he alone fix it? Lemme think....*one nanosecond later*....NO! Like all politicians, he's over-promising. ISIS will not crawl back into its hole on January 20th. Ronald Reagan might have backed down the Iranians back in 1980, but the Iranians were sane. ISIS isn't.
The underlying racism that exists here at home can't just be legislated away. Crime will not instantly vanish on inauguration day. His wall isn't going to build itself. American companies* aren't just going to put their greed aside and move production back here. (I see a Trump Presidency as being an absolute gold mine for lobbyists!)
*Is there such a thing as an "American company" any more? IMO their loyalty seems to be to their money, not their country.
So if Donald Trump is just blowing smoke, does that mean that Hillary Clinton should have an easy time exposing him as a 21st Century Don Quixote? I'm doubtful. It will be difficult for her to say she can bring us the change (now where have we heard that before?) that will right all our wrongs. Why? Because SHE IS THE ESTABLISHMENT! The Establishment with the lowest approval rating in history. Want proof?....look who the big financial interests are throwing their money at this election year. They are the ones who have the most to lose if the status quo should implode.
And as I've said forever (and you know I'm never wrong *wink*) Hillary has too many skeletons in her closet. Too many people just don't like her. There isn't enough lipstick....no, I won't go there. Hillary will have her week, we'll hear her tell us how she'll fix things, and then it's up to us to choose.
Just to stir the pot a bit (more), have you looked at the Libertarian candidates? The Libertarians are an odd mix....fiscally conservative like traditional Republicans, yet socially liberal like traditional Democrats. Their poll numbers this year are up into double digits, very good for them. They won't win this year, but they just might build themselves into a viable third party, one that might temper the other two some day. Give them a look-see.
Enough of my bloviating. Your feedback, either (politely) positive or negative, would be welcome.
S
I have mentioned several times before....this is all like a train wreck you can't take your eyes off ... or those signs "don't look at the arc" and then you find yourself staring at the arc and left with spots before your eyes. This is the most horrifying spectacle to watch. But I can't stop....and I can't wait to see where it all takes us.
ReplyDeleteI'm concerned about Hillary's chances. We don't elect Presidents because it's their "turn," and we don't typically elect people who have been prominent in the public eye for more than a quarter century. Even people who really WANT to like her have to be concerned about 4 more years of slow-boil scandals if she gets in.
ReplyDeleteIf she were running against someone like Romney, I'd say she didn't stand a chance.
But Trump might punch an old woman on camera next week, so I'm not going to even guess what is going to happen.
Except for a few references to LGBT, the tone and cadence of Trump's controlled rant last night had some real historical precedents.......National Socialism, the German party of Hitler in the early/mid thirties. He changed them quite a bit after getting power, as I expect Trump will if he manages to fool the American people.
ReplyDeleteNote that he said that he, and only he (not the American people, not the Republican party, not congress) could 'fix' all the dreadful ills of the US. That was the main message of Hitler, too.
Your assessment of our current political situation is spot on. Both candidates have disapproval ratings so high that Pulling this country together after the election will be nearly impossible.
ReplyDeleteAre you missing your view of the airport yet?
ReplyDeleteSpot on with this post, that is the shape we be in.
Trump's speech was very Hitlery. This whole idea of "I'll keep you safe! I'll make us #1 again!" was pretty much what propelled Hitler into power because that's what the German people craved after WWI and the reparations from it. Except we didn't even really lose a war so the white majority's desperation to cling to a demagogue like this seems badly misplaced. Not that I think Hillary is the candidate we need at this point either. She's just a bland establishment wank with no vision or ideas. But no ideas is better than insane and dangerous ideas.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right about Libertarians. And I believe that too many people right now still think that if they vote Libertarian NOW, that will mean the more hated other candidate will be elected. So then they decide to vote for their less hated other candidate.
ReplyDeleteOne of my friends recently commented on Facebook, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that "Libertarians are just Republicans who want to smoke pot." LOL.