THE MAN WHO CONNED AMERICA
During the entire sixty years of my adult life, I’ve never before been witness to such a spectacle, as a man who purports to be seeking the Presidency of the United States, by first outraging, belittling and abusing whole segments of the electorate. Then not content with this irrational display, we see him go on to magnify his senselessness by (in the next breath) claiming that these victims of his abuse “really love him” and would actually vote for him in a general election.
Yet in the face of such insanity, the man is able to gather a following? The last time I saw something like this was in 1933 - in central Europe (yes, I went there). More than that, his approach is astonishingly similar. With nothing to offer by way of improvement in the quality life, for either the poor or middle-class America (if he were actually to be elected) he parades through his candidacy by marketing fear and prejudice - as if they were commodities!
Then too, one basic question erupts from this man’s candidacy - “where’s the beef”?
What are his proposed solutions to the monumental issues that confront this nation today? And, as a leading nation in world affairs, what would HE do, as President, to resolve the existing international catastrophes? But finally, has he demonstrated even a passing grasp of these issues - or to the contrary, has his loud-voiced rambling simply served to expose his tenuous grasp on reality.
He claims that he’ll build a multi-billion-dollar wall along our southern border - and then make Mexico pay for it !!!??? Has anyone bothered to ask the next question? What could possibly motivate Mexico to pay a dime? Like so much of this man’s questionable outbursts, it makes no sense!
Yet, what amazes me most of all, is the extent to which the entire news media “has been played by this man, like a 2-dollar banjo”. Our world of “intelligent commentators” hasn’t yet wakened to game this man is playing. To run a political campaign is expensive, considering the cost of TV, radio and newspaper ads, organized assemblies, and speaking tours. But how much cheaper is it, if you just scream out some outrageously abusive rhetoric - knowing that by nightfall your name will be on the lips of every commentator in the country. Then, how cheap it is, when this outrageous character keeps the ball rolling - day after day, and week after week?
His name, and outlandish ideas are welded to everyone’s consciousness - and it hasn’t cost him a dime! What exactly will it take, BEFORE A HEALTHY CHUNK OF THE MEDIA COMES TO REALIZE HOW THEY’VE BEEN USED?
This commentary is certain to raise the ire, or complete outrage, of many. Good, as it should. Why? Because either many will not be able to accept the extent to which “they’ve been had” or they will agree with the realization and speak out against it.