October 12, 2016 ·
All across this land people are taking their Trump University degrees off the wall for their grand-kids to sell as antique curiosities – like Confederate dollars. Posturing aside, as Trump finally self destructs, we all, as Americans, have to ask how it happened. It happened to the Republican party but something as media-driven as this could have happened in the Democratic party. All presidential candidates are – and must be – self centered. They are individuals who firmly believe that they know what is best for the country. I have posted this before and it should have been obvious all along. It should have put an end to Trump’s characterization of Secretary Clinton as “crooked Hillary.” At this point in her life she has nothing to gain financially or otherwise by being crooked though some of the things she’s done in the past were probably wrong and illegal – but no more illegal than others have had to do. They were what she perceived as good for the country. The same can be said of anyone, Democrat or Republican, who has held a cabinet post. Despite what Libertarians on the right and anarchists on the left might want, the good of the country – of any country – and the interpretation (and manipulation) of its laws is a complex matter well beyond the knowledge of us poor citizens enlightened only by over simplified and / or twisted and one sided media outlets. Few of us have either the time or inclination to read deeply on every subject including politics. We rely on experts to synthesize for us – most of them try to be relatively fair even when they have strong personal feelings, though some on the edges are too ideologically blinded to be anywhere near fair.
But to get back to the issue I mean to write about. It has long been obvious even to his supporters that Trump lies. In fact I question whether he wouldn’t pass a lie detector test since his whole career has been a flimflam act. I wonder if he even recognizes the difference between truth and lies. If he does he clearly considers it irrelevant. His only god is to be talked about like Hugh Hefner is (or was). He doesn’t care what is said so long as he gets headlines, in the same way as he doesn’t care about the truth so long as he gets noticed. He considers it to be simply good business if he gets noticed by lying and / or hurting others.
Have other politicians lied just to serve themselves? Of course. Bill Clinton lied about Monica Lewinsky. Nixon lied about Watergate and dared to claim that whatever the president does is legal. Others have lied, but for what they perceived as the good of the country. Bush Sr. tried to convince Americans that we were invading Iraq to save the Emir of Kuwait’s ass, not to protect the American Mideast oil monopoly. Even Ike told the world that a U-2 hadn’t overflown the Soviet Union. But these were what these leaders believed were for the good of the county as they saw the good of the country. Some of you reading this post no doubt think that I am naive because I believe people enter public service for the best of reasons no matter what may happen to them later. I refuse to always be cynical. Yet in the case of “The Donald” it is not cynicism. His self serving egotism and selfish business activities go well beyond what we expect from an investor or CEO. He is (and now we know that he always was) a simple self important flimflam man. America seems to have dodged the bullet but we must be worried about another round coming our way. Trump was a bad Republican. In fact he seems to have no real political ideology, only slogans to promote himself. But some other unqualified egotist could as well have come from the left. He was no Teddy Roosevelt, Ike, or Reagan – true Republicans all. Oddly, he reminds me most of Timothy Leary, to my mind the most evil American of the last century, who was so self absorbed that were he to have had political ambition he would not have cared what happened to anyone so long as he was on camera having fun at their expense.
It is not Trump that we have to blame. He is what he is and has always been. His hubris has finally led to his public shame. We who put being entertained by popular simplistic but unspecific “policies” above electing a solid Republican or Democrat are the ones to blame. Whichever doesn’t all that much matter. The Republic has survived more than one well meaning dim whit who, however, cared for more than getting a trophy job. That’s why there are three branches of government.

PS: Saying over and over that Obama was the worst president ever, or that our country is in the worst economic situation ever, or that our military leaders are stupid doesn’t make these things true. I have lived through far worse times. But the Big Lie has worked since the demagogues of ancient Greece – Hitler always comes to mind.

PPS: An aside about Hillary and Bill. Were they ever in love or was their marriage entirely political? I can’t be that cynical. They met in law school. They shared an ambition to enter public service. Surely at that age they didn’t expect to become presidents though they likely fantasized it – as who among us wouldn’t have in their situation? I doubt it was a starry eyed romance but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t share a vision of public service and a real fondness for each other. They probably still do. Hillary has to have known all their entire married life that her husband was a rutting moose but she is far from being the only wife who has put up with that. The things that drew them together in the first place still remain. Hillary should have said this long ago and told the clucking old women who wanted her to play the cheated wife to mind their own damned business.