We have all seen advocates of Donald Trump by now. People who, for some reason, seem to look up to this man.
A coworker a few years back (during the 2012 election) said that he would vote for Trump, because "he would get things done."
Whether or not whatever Trump would get done would be worth getting done, or what the country would need to get done, he did not seem to elaborate on. And now, a couple of Facebook friends, including a former high school classmate that I had previously assumed would have known better, are posting a whole bunch of proud posts, suggesting that if everyone, from liberals to conservative, from the major media to the two major parties, all seem to hate Trump, then he must be doing something right.
Okay.
He says that he knows what it takes to make America great again. I wonder how he could possibly know that, since he represents the very antithesis of what made it great. If anything, he and his business practices have greatly contributed to taking away from what once made the country great.
Pardon my strong language here, but the thing is that Trump is still just a rich asshole, essentially. He epitomizes all that is wrong with America, being a rich, white, racist, elitist, loud and obnoxious prick with a false sense of entitlement. That apparently speaks to many people, but quite frankly, it should not.
Yet, he leads the Republican field. It is surprising but, quite frankly, not shocking. After all, look at the other candidates. It is like a clown convention. You have Jeb Bush, the other rich, elitist, entitled prick with a false sense of entitlement, who had assumed that he would automatically win the race, because of his last name. He has stumbled out of the gate with a diverse variety of faux pas and by capitalizing on too many opportunities to stick his foot in his mouth.
Then you have Rick Perry (see above). And Mike Huckabee. You have Rand Paul, a Tea Party favorite. Ted Cruz, another Tea Party favorite, who even fellow Republicans believed to be a little crazy.
The scariest candidate to me in the Republican field is Scott Walker, who is considered a serious candidate. This, despite his advocating that Americans do not work hard enough (although Jeb Bush also claimed this same thing) and saying that he would eliminate weekends. He also suggested that he would start a preemptive war on Day 1 of his assuming office. Finally, he claimed that he wants to build a wall between the border of the United States and Canada, because maintaining the tradition of the longest friendly border in the world is obviously a bad thing that we need to do away with. Personally, I think that man is dangerous.
Trump, by contrast, is rather clownish. Why? Because he is a loudmouth who lacks substance. He says things to get a reaction, and so far, that is what his campaign is about. That is all that his campaign is about. Shock value. That might be good if you are a popular dj, or maybe even a television personality on some cooking show or reality television. But when it comes to running for president, I would like to believe that it will take more than that, once the flashy early part of the race subsides, and it becomes more about issues.
Contrast that with Bernie Sanders, who is all about substance, and has an extensive track record to prove it. This is essentially a decent man, intelligent and capable. He has shown time and again that he cares enough about the American working class to fight for them, even when the political flavor of the moment for the last three decades has been decidedly against this.
Recently, none other than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar weighed in on this, and what he had to say on the subject was quite interesting. Here is some of what he had to say:
Attempting to bully the press to silence criticism of him is anti-American. He followed up this salvo on the First Amendment with a strike at the 14th Amendment, asserting that he’d like to deny those born in the country their citizenship. The biggest enemy to the principles of the Constitution right now is Trump.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders faced his own challenge at a political event last month, when two African American women pushed in front of him to use the microphone to demand four and a half minutes of silence to honor the death of Michael Brown. Sanders left the stage and mingled with the crowd. Later, Trump criticized Sanders as being “weak” for allowing them to speak, but truly he showed grace under pressure by acknowledging their frustration and anger. Instead of bullying their voices into silence or ridiculing them as losers, pigs or bimbos, Sanders left. After all, it was not his event; he was a guest. Besides, his voice was not silenced, but came back booming even louder: The next day, Sanders posted a sweeping policy of reform to fight racial inequality. (The timing coincided with Michael Brown’s death and had nothing to do with the two women.)
The two approaches reveal the difference between a mature, thoughtful and intelligent man, and a man whose money has made him arrogant to criticism and impervious to feeling the need to have any actual policies.
Two roads diverged in a political wood, and one man took the road of assaulting the Constitution and soon will be lost forever. The other will be a viable candidate who, regardless of whether he wins the nomination, will elevate the political process into something our Founding Fathers would be proud of.
Of course, you know Donald Trump is not going to remain silent. He basically dismissed this, and in a fairly insulting manner, at that. Again, showing that whole lack of substance, loud, obnoxious, vulgar manner that is his trademark. Here was his response:
“Kareem – Now I know why the press always treated you so badly — they couldn’t stand you. The fact is that you don’t have a clue about life and what has to be done to make America great again! Best wishes, Donald Trump.”
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar writes Powerful Message against Trump and for Bernie: Read How Trump Responded, September 6, 2015:
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