Elections are about choices and from a liberal perspective Hillary is clearly preferable to Trump. Then again, so is any Republican candidate who ran in the general election in the last 50 years.
The lines between Trump and Hillary have become too blurred for comfort. Hillary’s use of a private email server and how she —and Bernie Sanders —dismissed concerns about it was inexcusable. The DNC’s undermining of Sanders, which is now indisputable thanks to Wikileaks, reveals a corrupt and immoral organization that was rigged in Hillary’s favor.
In other words, Hillary and the Democrats have committed unforced errors caused by hubris and arrogance. Equally concerning, their actions are indicative of a stunning cluelessness. Newsflash: In 21st century politics and business, emails are not private or secure.
When Trump came down the escalator looking like a mannequin with a stick up its ass, I thought it was a joke, as did most everyone. In my mind the Knicks had a better chance of winning the NBA title than Trump making it through the first primary. But as the Trump campaign caught fire and started burning down his more qualified and better funded opponents, one thing became clear to me: In the unlikely event that Trump found a way to win the nomination, there was no telling how far the Trump wildfire might spread.
Liberal friends kept telling me that there was no way this could happen. Some of them are still saying that. But liberals who are not in denial are now afflicted with a deepening sense of Trump-induced nausea. And with good reason. The swing state polls are close and a new CNN poll shows Trump with a lead. Hillary is widely disliked and mistrusted. Trump has better hair. And, in case you haven’t heard, he will make America great again.
The next President will likely nominate three or even four Supreme Court Justices. Justice Breyer is 77, Justice Kennedy 80, Justice Ginsburg 83 and there is one open seat. We could have a Trump Court for the next two or three decades.
With a bitterly divided and utterly paralyzed Congress, the Supreme Court now has unprecedented power to make law in the guise of “interpreting” the Constitution. There is no point in lamenting this. The Constitution is like an ancient holy book, revered, though in many respects archaic. To amend it requires the consent of 38 states. We couldn’t get 38 states to agree on what legally constitutes a hat.
In this poisonous environment of stagnation the Toxic Trump Avenger has undeniable appeal. What the hell, things can’t get much worse, let’s give him a try, or so the thinking goes. It is easy to say that decent people are aghast, but I know decent people who will vote for Trump. And they are not disaffected, unemployed white guys from the rust belt. They are northeastern school teachers and cops. They are wealthy businessmen and Wall Street workers. They are also all white.
Trump will lose the black vote, the hispanic vote, the gay vote, and the women’s vote, but he can still win. Repeat: he can still win. With Trump being crowned the Republican nominee we have officially entered The Twilight Zone. Trump is unabashedly full of crap, a showman surrounded by colorful characters and sexy women. Hillary plays loosey-goosey with the truth, shrieks in a pantsuit, and hopes against hope that her husband has finally realized that he is more of an ass than an asset. Don’t be surprised if Trump hires Monica Lewinsky as his campaign manager or announces that she will be his Secretary of Labor.
We get the President we deserve. We also get the candidates we deserve. I would have liked to see Kasich vs. Sanders, but those guys had too much integrity and were too decent for their respective parties. So we are stuck with Trump and Hillary.
Trump is a nightmare candidate; Hillary an unappealing one. Trump is a reactionary, clinging to a past when white men ruled the national roost and minorities knew their subservient place; Hillary is a career politician with unmatched experience, yet alarmingly poor judgement. It is her poor judgement and that of her party that has led us to where we are now: an election too close to call with the Toxic Trump Avenger casting his dark shadow on the soul of America.