The President of the United States is the final and ultimate arbiter of decisions we make as a nation. He or she is the “here” at which the buck stops; and the repercussions – good or bad – for our actions as a nation begin. They are the person with the power to put nations at war (in both conventional and nuclear terms), to shape the economy, to influence how we carry on our daily lives as a society, and considerably more. Given all of this, I do not understand why we would want a serial failure – both in business and in his personal life – to be that person.
I’m not saying I’m better than Donald Trump (I might be, I might not be… odds are I am in some ways and not so much in others), but I am willing to say (and don’t feel that I’m reaching at all to do so) that there are candidates on both sides of the isle that are. Candidates that haven’t given it the old college try four (4) times to select a political party, three (3) times to get married, and five (5) times taken stabs at running his business without self-created debt from overextending his assets (post 4 bankruptcy’s).
Normally, I don’t like to take shots at people, I prefer to talk about the benefits of a different candidate and let those inherent qualifications take the day. But, somehow, this man who has suggested religious screening in the land of the free and the home of the brave, who has suggested that our next door neighbor “sends us” their murders, rapists, etc., who has stated that he could shoot someone in the middle of the street and not lose votes, who has just recently advocated for bringing back water-boarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques” (asked, in reference to beheadings, “Do we win by being more like them?” Trump replied “Yes, I’m sorry. You have to do it that way.”), who has advocated occupying sovereign nations and taking their natural resources (to pay, in part, for our military), who has said these things and so many others… this man is leading the polls. And, as such, I feel compelled to ask America, what the fuck it is thinking.
I get the idea of wanting change, of wanting something different than what we are getting from Washington. What I refuse to believe is that hundreds of thousands (perhaps even millions) of Americans are ignorant enough to think changing the people within the broken system is going to bring about that change. Sure, a few knuckleheaded, lazy, unread idiots who didn’t (don’t) care enough about their own knowledge base to understand how government works might slip through the cracks of common sense, but hundreds of thousands of people (perhaps even millions)… are you kidding me? If this is really true, then, collectively, we are too stupid to be allowed behind the wheel of the most powerful nation on Earth.
From a “change” standpoint, it doesn’t matter who you put in the various offices in Washington DC. No outsider (or insider) is going to change the culture of a system that is entrenched and self-protecting, that takes the will of the people. A clear majority of the people united (usually across party – or other, e.g. gender in the suffrage movement – lines) toward the improvements they want to see is what drives systemic change. Any source of historical information will validate this for you if you are not inclined to take my word for it.
In other words, Donald Trump (much like Donald Duck, Sarah Palin, Sarah Connor (yes, the one from Terminator), and other equally realistic candidates for President) cannot make things better just because he has not been chewed up and spit out by the social/political/economic machine that is DC politics. His inexperience within the system offers nothing but an ignorant approach to an ongoing issue. It’s like replacing the starting quarterback on an NFL team with the local sports radio talk show host because you don’t like the play calling and the effort of the offensive line. Same bad play calling, same ineffective offensive line, new – completely inept – quarterback… what could go wrong???
That is the scenario we are facing during the primary season (and potentially in the general election this fall). Clearly, our QB is retiring and we need someone new to run the team. Obviously, we all seem to agree that the playbook and supporting players leave a little to be desired. The question is, given these deficiencies (which are not going anywhere any time soon), do we want a qualified, experienced QB, or a guy who’s last completion came in the family Turkey Bowl a few years back (if even then)? The answer is glaringly obvious… wake up America, and get busy scouring the free-agent wire for the best option, rather than simply looking for something different.