Over the Edge
That’s it. I’ve had it. I cannot listen to one more political analyst, pundit, or reporter pretend Donald Trump is anything but in over his head and out of his league. He’s not “not conservative enough.” He’s uninformed. He’s not revolutionary or unpredictable. He’s ignorant. He’s not strategic. He’s stubborn.
During Tuesday night’s town hall, Trump – when asked the top three functions of the federal government – answered “Security, security, and security.” Not because it’s that important to him but because he didn’t know what else to say. You know how I know? Because when Anderson Cooper pushed him, he defaulted to health care and education. Really? So he thinks the federal government should be in charge of health care and education? The man who – every day in every speech – rails against government-run Obamacare and Common Core (neither of which actually is a government-run program, by the way) announced two of the top three functions of the federal government are health care and education. And it’s not because he’s not a true conservative. It’s because he has absolutely no clue what he’s talking about. Period.
Trump can’t tell you what he should or shouldn’t be for or against beyond the rhetoric he’s memorized and regurgitates on the regular because he doesn’t stand for anything but himself. He has absolutely no idea what’s progressive or conservative. He has no deep-seated convictions. He’s not moored to any longstanding idealogical port. He just knows what gets a crowd riled up. He’s willing to say whatever whenever, and he doesn’t worry about having to walk something back because – strangely – absolutely nothing sticks.
Speaking of sticking, every time Trump got stuck on a question Tuesday night, he defaulted back to excerpts of his stump speech. There didn’t even have to be a connection between the two. He just launched into whatever came to mind because there is no original innovative thought happening in that brain when it comes to government, policy, or public service. He doesn’t know anything about international relations or political history or social justice or anything that truly matters for someone who wants to be President of the United States.
And what sucks so terribly is that no one I’m watching or hearing on cable news on a regular basis is flat out saying any of this because everyone’s trying so hard to pretend there’s a “there” there. Don’t tell me these longtime politicos don’t know Trump is a farce. A joke. They absolutely do. Why is everyone so afraid?
Trump may win this nomination because the GOP is that screwed up. But any rational, thinking human being – especially one labeled an expert on television – has a responsibility to stop playing make-believe and start saying what’s true. Stop participating in his game. Stop letting him and his surrogates manipulate every interaction and interview. Call them all out. Relentlessly. Now. Because trying to find some shred of decency in what this man’s selling is destroying what little dignity we have left. And frankly, once you put this fraud up against a real candidate like Clinton or Sanders, it’s not going to get better or easier. He’s completely prepared to take this charade all the way, no matter what damage it may do or what carnage it may leave in its wake.
Donald Trump isn’t about this country. He’s about Trump. Always has been. Always will be. In fact, that’s the one and only constant you can bank on.
I wanted to be a broadcast journalist since I was teenager because I wanted to dig up and tell the truth. Watching coverage of this campaign, I don’t think that profession even exists anymore. It’s been disappearing for years, and that used to make me sad, but today, I hit my breaking point. Listening to CNN on the radio in the car on my way home, I realized I’m not sad anymore.
Sadly, now I’m angry.
