I have become more and more concerned over the last month or so. Not because I think that Donald Trump - with all of his conspiracy theory-based beliefs, racism, sexism, cracked theories on foreign policy and the world order, admiration for Putin, etc., etc. - will get elected President of the United States, but because I am seeing a slow but sure demolition of our democracy. Let me explain.
Donald Trump is a builder of buildings. We all know that. He grew up in the industry and learned the business from his Dad. As anyone can realize, the first step in the building process is -DEMOLITION - tear down before you build up. I have come to believe that Trump fully intends to do just that - but, this time, in the business of government. That explains his attacks on "the establishment", the press and the media, Democrats and Republicans alike, office holders like Paul Ryan, heroes like John McCain, and virtually every media outlet - conservative or liberal - that has not enthusiastically towed the Trump line. Like a train wreck, he has castigated his opponents, attacked those groups - political, racial, ethnic, gender-based, economic, academics, age-based, etc - who do not display their fealty to the Trump brand. He is always right, never wrong, and those who disagree must be demolished. Donald - the Demolition Man. This is a very real danger.
Trump, ever the master of conspiracies and cracked theories, and, always the "outsider" working to take down the "establishment" (read Party leaders, Beltway insiders, the media, and everyone else not named Trump), has undertaken a continuing line attacking "the system" and describing the electoral process as "rigged." He has called legitimate polls - even those of the conservative Wall Street Journal and Fox - "rigged" and a fraud. The Trump campaign contends that these are all flawed and "rigged" to show Trump in a bad light or they are no more than a reflection of the "dishonest" media (read, all media). Last week, Trump himself noted that he could not lose Pennsylvania unless illegal voting took place in "certain places" (read, urban areas and minority districts) and called on his supporters to vote and then descend on these "districts" and make sure that the election is not "stolen" through vote fraud (maybe they will all wear brown shirts so they can identify each other during the polling place fist fights). Trump's claim flies in the face of every recent poll taken in Pennsylvania that has Hillary ahead of the Donald by double digits - a spread that he is unlikely to be able to overcome. So, why does Trump claim that Pennsylvania is a sure win?
Also, last week Trump claimed that the entire national election was being "rigged." Never-mind that a Presidential election is really 50 state-based elections added together in the form of state "electoral votes" and that each state determines its own rules for the election, conducts the election on voting day, and certifies the results - lest we forget Bush v Gore. Forgetting that there are more states governed by Republicans than Democrats in 2016, the Donald somehow thinks that some nation-wide conspiracy exists with the singular goal being to deny him the Presidency (one can only hope...). Evidently, should he win, then the election is "legitimate." Should Hillary be elected, the election would be "rigged" and she would not be the legitimate President of the United States. Maybe he would conclude that Hillary conspired with Ted Cruz, John Kasich, the Bush family, and Mitt Romney to commit massive and nation-wide voter fraud to "rig" the election and elect Hillary. In that case, as Trump recently suggested, maybe the "Second Amendment People could do something about it." And, if they don't ...well, what then? Sit back? Go on vacation? Take pot-shots from the sidelines? Does that sound like the Donald that we have come to know? Or, do you think that he would continue his "movement" to tear down and de-legitimize the government that we elect this fall? Will there be a Trump "call to arms"? And, would that be simply a Hillary political resistance movement? Or, would the "arms" be actual weaponry? Are we really this close to a national nightmare? "Oh", you say.... "it really cannot happen here." Those sorts of things happen in distant places like Latin America or some backwaters in the Middle East (Arab Spring) or in the streets of less stable European countries. You mean all of those places that do not have right-wing "militias" practicing war games in the backwoods of most states and do not have more guns than people spread around their neighborhoods?
These Trump psycho behaviors and attitudes would be merely amusing if Donald was some third party whack-job out in space who missed his daily dose of Thorazine. But, right now, this guy - crazy theories and all - is just one step away from the Presidency and the nuclear "football." And, at the same time, virtually every week he is slowly but surely de-legitimizing the national government. So, what does he hope to "build" in its place, you ask. The answer appears to be government by Trump edict - an oligarchy of the Trump family - with new controls on the press and public comment courtesy of "reformed" libel laws, and numerous appointees to the US Supreme Court to back it up.
Perhaps it will all be enforced by Trump's new Attorney General, "Lock-Her-Up" Chris Christie, himself about to be indicted for his part in the NY/NJ Port Authority George Washington Bridge scam, while our new Secretary of State, Paul Manafort, dissolves NATO and re-draws the map of Eastern Europe with Putin allies in Moscow - the site of the newest Trump Tower.
Donald Trump has created chaos this election year. First, for the Republican Party. Next, by unleashing and the legitimizing of electoral violence at his rallies. Now, he is undermining the very pillars of our two hundred plus years of political stability - the election process itself - in an attempt to dismiss Clinton's election, should she defeat him in November. But, why? The only answer can be that should Trump go down to defeat in the fall of 2016, he intends to take yet another "tower" down with him - a tower of hope and freedom that has been the envy of the world for more than 2 centuries - the American democratic process and the peaceful transfer of power that occurs here every 4 or 8 years. And, should that happen, pray for peace... and may god save us all.
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