Political Blue Gene

WHAT A YEAR WE ARE HAVING

MARCH 26, 2016

 

Everyone seems to be asking how could we have gotten to this point, where Donald Trump might be the Republican nominee for President.  And everyone seems to have the same answers:  1)white people, especially the less educated, less affluent men (and some women) are angry about the economic and social changes in American society, feel powerless as whites become an ever-decreasing proportion of the U.S. population, and are scared of the future;  and 2)the modus operandi of the Republican Party, begun when Bill Clinton was first elected and that reached new heights of stridency, mean-spiritedness, and subtle racism, most notably as practiced on FOX News, has found its logical conclusion in Trump.  It has also been well-documented that those with authoritarian outlooks on the world, who are looking for that one person who can make everything all right, are drawn to his candidacy.  Ergo, the stereotype of the racist, xenophobic, fascistic appeal of Donald Trump.

 

Before and even after the first Republican debate last summer, columnists like George Will and other conservatives were crowing about the outstanding group of candidates who were running for their party’s presidential nomination.  Particularly after that first debate, however, it was clear that none of these candidates was even worth a vice-presidency (or its proverbial warm bucket of spit).  They ranged from the maniacal Rick Santorum to the most disliked person in Congress by his own party, Ted Cruz, to the ridiculous Donald Trump and Ben Carson.  Anyone who seemed to have a brain in his or her head and an ounce of common sense, was clearly wasting his time (pronoun chosen deliberately).

 

So now we have the specter of “establishment” Republicans desperately trying to force an open convention in July, where Trump might be denied the nomination.  Who knows if they will succeed?  But if they do, will Trump and his supporters go along, will they force Trump to run as an independent, will they stay home, or will they vote for the Democrat, even if it is the reviled Hillary Clinton?  All but one of those scenarios is good for the Democrats.  That one is the possibility that Republicans will choose someone liked (or not disliked) by most people in the party, who has the experience and gravitas to match Clinton’s, and who the party can unite behind.  Otherwise, whatever the Republicans do will probably be good for the Democrats.

 

Ah, the Democrats.  Even though she may not agree, the Sanders campaign has been good for Hillary Clinton.  She will still be the nominee, but the Sanders campaign has meant that she will have had the opportunity to respond to many of the arguments against her.  In short, Sanders has further toughened up an already tough woman.

 

As some Republicans have noted, (even George Schultz and S.F. Chronicle columnist Debra Saunders), her foreign policy address after the Brussels terrorist attacks demonstrated that she is the only candidate who understands world politics, foreign affairs, and how to deal with the international threats we face.  If all candidates were gathered together, she would be the only adult in the room.

 

Finally, my opinion of Bernie Sanders.  No, I don’t feel the Bern.  How do you spell Sanders?  I spell it M-C-G-O-V-E-R-N.  Just imagine the Republican commercials if he were the nominee:

 

• Picture of Stalin, Picture of Khruschev, Picture of Sanders
• Or perhaps a wedding ceremony, idyllic young couple leaves for their honeymoon, shot of couple superimposed on Soviet Union military parade from the 1960’s. (Sanders went to Russia for his 1988 honeymoon.)

 

So there we would have it (at least according to their opponents):  Sanders vs. Trump, the Commie vs. the Nazi.

 

 

That’s it for now.  More when the spirit moves me.  Enjoy the show!