Gimme the Red Pill

The great Arthur C. Clarke once said that either we were alone in the universe or we were not and that both options were equally frightening.    Well, either Trump is going to be President or Clinton is and I find both options equally frightening.   That's right, I said "equally" and I feel each is an equal threat, although not the same threat.   The two candidates are basically extremes of both ends of the "unqualified to serve" spectrum.   Let me explain.     First Trump because I know that is what you want to read.   I hope you stick around for the Clinton explanation, but I doubt it.

TRUMP-

The guy defines loose cannon and personifies the says "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing."  He knows just enough about any issue to think he knows enough.   He is not only not curious, but down right hostile to the concept he may be ignorant about something.   He shows constantly he is at least ignorant of the value of admitting you are ignorant.  

Nobody knows everything.   We are all practitioners of everything and masters of nothing.  We dabble.  We may really focus on something for a day, week, or even a fortnight, but then we move on.  And those few who do really focus on something to the point of knowing it backwards and forwards are ignorant on a vast number of other topics their focus stole access to.  We have to start with this concept when discussing Trump because I feel it is central to his horrible Presidential run thus far.

Trump wants you to believe that HE ALONE is the solution to not just some of the problems the world faces, but all of them.   He believes in his heart of hearts that his vision is the best path; the only sensible course.  He is filled with such hubris that he can't imagine he may be wrong about anything.   He attacks those who point out he may be in error and makes enemies of former friends in the process.    His skin is too thin and he takes everything personally.   And, most importantly, he speaks before thinking based on emotional response and not logical or even political ones.

Let me say this again: He speaks before thinking based on his emotional response and not on a logical or even a political one.    He says what sounds good based on how the question is phrased to him and, if you change the phrasing of the question, you get a different answer.    It would be funny if there wasn't a real chance he was going to win.   And his ignorance on a great so many topics wouldn't be a problem if his hubris allowed him to not know something, but it doesn't.

The threat of a Donald J Trump Presidency is the randomness we would all face.   We would have to shutter in fear every time he spoke to a foreign leader; crossing every finger and toes available and praying to long forgotten deities that he doesn't do or say something stupid or insulting.   I don't fear him with the nuclear football because it takes two to use it, but I do fear him so infuriating some Islamic leader that our nuclear launches would be responsive and unavoidable.

As far as Trump's plans for America- I don't give them any consideration.   He is a buffoon of biblical proportions and his election would probably be the only thing that could unite the DNC and RNC sides of Congress- neuter Trump.

 
Now for Clinton...I don't have the bandwidth to really get into everything about her, so let's do a Cliff's Notes version, shall we?

Emails, Clinton Foundation, favors, private servers, etc....I'm not getting into it.   There is enough there and enough written about it that if you care, you already know and if you don't, you have already scanned ahead to the next paragraph or quit reading.  My issue is her love of aggression.

Iraq.  Syria.   Libya.  Yemen.  Ukraine.  There is not a conflict she doesn't want a piece of and that frightens me.   She is always regretful for her past mistakes, but also always quick to point out how the failure wasn't her fault and she could do it better next time.   She sees the world through a Cold War lens still and is hungry for a Big Bad we can use to justify our own expansion into the world.   She thinks "if we don't, someone else will, so we must" regardless of the situation of whom we need to aid and why they are willing to work with us.    She judges allies based on who they oppose and firmly believes the enemy of my enemy is my friend and seldom is that true.

I don't believe her tenure as Sec of State or in the Senate or in the White House as First Lady taught her anything other than how to blame others for her failures and she, like Trump, is dominated by a hubris that she is the answer to all the problems.   She also, like Trump, is vicious when any shortcoming is pointed out and any example of her ignorance is dismissed under an accusation of Sexism.

So what's my point?  We are pretty much screwed, unless this has all been a test.   I've had a theory that the Matrix we live in is on the blink, because nothing really makes sense anymore.  I've thought it since we had a Vice President shoot a lawyer in the face with a shotgun.   That kind of stuff doesn't happen in real life.  September 11th doesn't happen in real life.   Someone like Trump doesn't get the nomination of a major political party in real life and someone like Clinton drowns under the weight of their scandals in real life.  

I'm ready Morpheus; gimme the red pill!