So, here we are in early April 2016, and the political races are well underway. On the Democratic side, there’s a good race between an establishment centrist who is the presumptive nominee and a challenger from the left.
On the Republican side, we see what has been referred to as a clown-car: comedians, hiding behind farcical positions, appearing periodically to entertain people with a ridiculous show.
As a Democrat I initially took great joy in seeing this. After all, this should make the general election easier to win. Right? Actually, no.
The Clown assuming the role of ringmaster is Donald Trump. He is the consummate entertainer. He’s so good that he is on TV hosting a show where contestants vie for the right to be the person who will get to kiss Trump’s orange behind for a living room.
Now, we see the same thing happening in real life. But with a distinct difference: the only winner will be Trump.
Worse yet, his campaign has exposed an ugly side of America that we haven’t seen out in the open in many years. Trump holds rallies where thousands of people feel comfortable enough to express ignorance, hate and racism. They follow Trump’s lead and try to hide this ugliness behind nationalism.
“Make America great again,” Trump puts forth, oblivious to the fact that America’s greatness rests on the shoulders of the very people he seeks to exclude today.
Fortunately, it seems, that the Republican establishment sees the problem of having Trump as their nominee. Forces within the establishment are working to back a different candidate. They rightly assume, that although Trump has significant support within Republican voters, his support does not transcend to the general electorate. All signs indicate that if Trump is the nominee, either of the two Democratic candidates would best him in the general election.
Yet, having shot itself in the foot by letting Trump get as far as he has, the Republican party is proceeding to shoot itself in the other foot by choosing Rafael “Ted” Cruz.
In choosing to back Cruz, the GOP establishment has opted to back a vile, conniving person, instead of a misogynistic, racist, narcissist. Not sure the change is form the good. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see how things play out in the fall.