Here we go again.
Donald Trump, the frontrunner (for now) of the Republican race for the White House, is at it again, making outrageous headlines for his brash behavior, and then arrogantly defends himself and his actions. Hell, he even praises himself and his reaction.
It is like a circus act.
In fact, that is pretty much what it feels like it is by now. A circus act.
Trump hardly feels like a really serious candidate, and that is probably because he is not one.
Yes, I know, he leads the GOP pack, for now. But his support is generating in the twenty percentile area of approval ratings, and has not come close to reaching thirty percent, and that is among Republicans.
Maybe I am dismissing the man too quickly, but it is hard to picture him actually garnering the kind of support that would be necessary to actually win the entire presidential race. Quite frankly, it is hard to imagine, even still while he has been the frontrunner for so long, that he will even survive the Republican race for too much longer.
Why do I say that?
Just look at how he handled this latest controversy.
He basically insulted a respected journalist, dismissing a legitimate question and acting in a manner that was almost frightening for how closely it resembled mafia boss type behavior. He simply ignored the question, and when Univision’s Jorge Ramos persisted, Trump kind of looked off to the side wordlessly, and one of his big men went over to the journalist and escorted him off.
Yes, Trump is actually quite pleased with himself for how he dealt with it.
“I think I handled that well. I got a lot of credit for it,” Trump he said to conservative radio host Laura Ingraham.
Hmmm....
But again, Trump does not appear to me as a real threat, as much as he is a sideshow, frankly. This man has basically zero percent chance of ever being elected president, and that is why I fear guys like Scott Walker and Jeb Bush far more than Trump. Those guys could get the nomination and win the election, while Trump most likely cannot.
Yet, Trump is receiving all of the attention, and it makes you kind of wonder why that is. He is making news, and not just here in the United States, either. He has become emblematic of the absurd American political scene now for many people around the world. Listen to what Paul Thomas, a reporter for the New Zealand Herald, had to say, summing up Trump's image outside of the United States with one amazing quote:
“Trump personifies everything the rest of the world despises about America: casual racism, crass materialism, relentless self-aggrandizement, vulgarity on an epic scale. He is the Ugly American in excelsis.”
And yet (isn't there always an "and yet?"), this may be self-serving, as many foreigners like to use Trump as a convenient way to poke fun at American politics, even as it essentially is a convenient tool to draw attention away from the troubling absurdities and trends of politics in those countries - particularly in Europe.
Take a look at Christian Christensen's article on this subject (see link below):
Trump is Global Journalism’s American Junk Food August 26, 2015 by Christian Christensen
Trump Proud of Kicking Jose Ramos Out of Press Event by Jill Colvin and Sergio Bustos / AP, August 26, 2015:
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