A DESPICABLE MAN: There is no way I can vote for Donald Trump.
And it's not for any lack of having given him a fair hearing. Having had more familiarity with Trump than most Americans--I went to high school in New Jersey and later lived in New York City for much of the 1980s--I was used to Trump's bombast, his impatience, and his great skill in making the powers-that-be look foolish and inept (Google "Trump Wollman Skating Rink" and read all about it). Of course I knew he was a braggart and a blowhard (or a "puffoon" as we might say hereabouts, a word that defines itself). But he helped make the dreary reality of the Eighties in the Big Apple at least a little bit humorous.
You could say that I lost touch with Mr. Trump after I moved to Wisconsin nearly 30 years ago. All I can recollect from that period Trumpwise is a young starlet named Marla Maples (who shared a name with my then-girlfriend) and some scuttlebutt about "The Apprentice"--coworkers laughingly shouting "You're fired!" at each other. And that's about it.
Then the Donald suddenly appeared at the GOP Presidential debate with two creatures I thoroughly despise (Scott Walker and Ted Cruz) and a bunch of others I can certainly do without. It was high humor for me; I knew enough of Trump's braggadoccio and self-referencing to know he would make absolute mincemeat of dangerous but wooden demagogues like Walker and Cruz, who probably spent many miserable schooldays with their heads in the toilet. Donald Trump was no doubt the guy who would have inflicted every possible schoolyard indignity upon them. Since it wasn't my fault that the Wisconsin GOP have foisted all manner of hardship upon the citizens of Wisconsin (I never once voted for any of the Tea Bagger posse that rules our state with an iron fist), it was kinda fun for me to watch the bully that is Donald Trump take the little wussies to the woodshed.
Heading into the Republican convention, I was one of those waiting with baited breath to see if the oligarchs would find a way to deny Trump the nomination that he obviously deserved. It was really a test of American democracy. And I certainly breathed a sigh of relief when the real nominee managed to secure the nomination.
Then the campaign began.
I thought Donald Trump was a gate-crasher who might be the perfect man to bring my longtime concern with income inequality to the fore (see any number of previous posts on this blog, although in my feeble defense I have always preferred Bernie Sanders, if for no other reason that he is a modest, decent, well-reasoned man). But I was kind of pulling for Trump against Hillary Clinton, a politician whom even a modest perusal of this blog will prove that I strongly dislike.
I don't like Clinton now more than I ever did, but at the very least... she's not insane. That's a real important point when you're electing a President, and one I never thought I'd have to descend to. There have been lots and lots and lots of Presidential candidates I've seen over my sixty years... but Trump is the first one who really and truly belongs in a nuthouse.
I started to have serious doubts when he denigrated the Khan family, whose son had died a combat hero in Iraq. Gee, yeah, that's a real great message to send to Muslim-Americans... your son or daughter can make the ultimate sacrifice for this country, and you will insinuate that they still somehow, as a Muslim, haven't done enough.
And I don't want to see every Mexican who came here illegally deported. Some of my favorite people are Mexicans who skirted immigration issues at first (Carlos Santana, Cesar Millan). And who in the hell do you think cooks you those great steaks in practically every restaurant from one coast to the other? That's right. Without Mexicans, you'd better develop a taste for oatmeal. Hey, I'm all for them taking legal paths to citizenship, and making that a priority. But deporting them all as "rapists"??? Puh-leeeeeeze.
Or what about begging a foreign government--in this case, RUSSIA--to help his campaign by "finding Hillary's missing e-mails"???
And finally... and most importantly... there's this little problem Trump has with women. Let's just say that I do not share his little problem. I have lived, worked with, and loved women all my life... all without complaining about how "vagina is expensive." And then there was the "grab them by the pussy" tape. Locker-room banter, sez Trump. I can tell you from firsthand experience that the last time I heard a guy talk like that in a locker room, I was a freshman in high school. And we avoided the guy who said it, because in blue-collar Jersey parlance, he was a dooooouuuuuuuuuuche.
And then he was caught live, sizing up a ten-year-old girl.
Sorry, folks, but Donald Trump is a run-of-the-mill perv and groper. I wouldn't want a guy like him living on my block. And voting for him as President of the United States? HELL NO.
Posted by Alois on
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