Political Rant

I am going to attempt to explain the appeal of Donald Trump.   I need to state ahead of time I am not a supporter of the man and have no intentions of voting for him.  I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat and am simply giving my non-partisan view on this race.  I wonder if the media doesn't see what I am about to say or simply doesn't want to say it because it opens up a can of worms the status quo isn't ready to deal with yet, but it is this illusion of a binary election that is making people choose Trump.

The simply truth that nobody wants to admit is that Trump is not a factor in this election at all really.   This election is the quintessential "Yellow Dog" race.    This is why Trump's popularity is never affected by the stupid things he says and does.   He doesn't matter; this election is all about Hillary Clinton.   It is about the last 16 years of this nation spent at war.   It is about things not really changing for too many people regardless of which party has been in control.  It is about broken promises, perceived selling out of those in power, and the expanding helplessness the average American feels.   And it is about fear.

Despite 16 years of constant war in the name of defending ourselves and making the world safe for life, we are not feeling safer.   We are more scared than we've ever been and frightened people make stupid choices.   They seek immediate relief rather than long term stability.   They vote based on what if instead of what is.

Hillary Clinton is not unknown to the America people.   Since 1991, we have known her and she has spent those years, in the Senate and as Sec of State, confirming our ideas of her, whatever they may be.   She is secretive while proclaiming openness.   She is a Hawk while proclaiming the Rational Dove.   She is two-faced while pretending to be honest.   The one thing we know a Clinton Presidency will bring is more of the same, for better or worse.   She offers nothing else.

Enter Trump.   He is running as the opposite of everything Clinton portrays herself to be: irrational; short-tempered; vindictive; unpredictable; a bully; a hypocrite willing to say anything to win.  He is full of shit and quite open about it.  As Carlin said, the American people will support him because Clinton pretends to be honest while Trump doesn't and America will respect how honest he is about what a horrible person he is.   Sad, right?  As Carlin put it: He may be full of shit, but at least he's honest about it.  

The binary nature of how most people see our elections leaves them with this simple formula: I know Clinton, she says she is honest, and I don't trust her vs I don't know Trump, he says horrible things, and everyone tells me he is a liar.    Clinton is inside and Trump is outside.  I don't like inside, so therefore I support Trump.

If given two choices, I can't blame them; the problem is that they are not given two choices, but four.   There are two other candidates running whom the media chooses until recently to ignore and who now are only sort of being given tongue in cheek coverage because the people are calling for it despite the media's attempts to keep things simple- one on one.    It is even easier when you have someone like Trump who embraces the villain role and makes Clinton a hero by default in the story.   Why complicate it with other possible heroes?   America doesn't like complicated stories.

This election is a mess and only going to get worse.   The worst part is that, if I am right and Trump was in the race solely to make Clinton appeal to the masses, this miscalculation is going to end in a Trump presidency neither he nor America really wants and then what?   Will he quit? Quitting isn't in his nature, but failing is; declaring bankruptcy so he can start over with a "whoops" is.    And what do we know of Mike Pence, who would become President?

If the media did their job, the fact that it is a four person race would be the focus of the news and the other candidates would be given equal time to appeal to the American people.   Let America dismiss them because they don't agree with those candidates, not because they've never heard of them.