When Trump burst on the scene I thought it was political theater of some kind. His form of ego nourishment, whatever. The first debate would tell the tale.
Surprise! He held his own, albeit clumsily and with little tact. But he wasn’t flat-footed stammering for words. Quite frankly, he pulled it off. It was we who were flat-footed and the media and political pundits. I remember thinking he might actually have a chance, if only he would polish his delivery, soften his countenance and make an effort at reaching out to those on the fence and on the other side.
But he didn’t do that. He held to style and if anything grew more hostile and confrontational, even down-right ugly, telling lies, calling names, making promises he couldn’t keep. Each debate taught us more and more who this man was, and I liked him less and less. Still his callous bravado and arrogance made him ever more popular. Go figure?
I did, discovering people were so damn angry and disgusted they wanted something extreme. Trump captured that, voicing in his adolescent terms and mannerisms all our frustrations. Our new champion. Like Don Rickles he insults our intelligence but also speaks to inner feelings about right, wrong and the absurd, validating our beliefs if not reverbating their truthfulness like a church bell across the town.
I loathe him. He’s a schoolyard bully, an oafish braggart barging around like a bull in a china shop. I don’t even know what he stands for or what he truly believes? Down deep I don’t think he’s a republican or conservative. I’d choose many others before him to be our president, if I could, but there’s no choice.
Hillary is a pathetic excuse for a public figure, an ignoble apparition haunting the political halls of our memory with false impressions of her devotions, loyalty and purpose. She’s about ambition, nothing more.
She’s a disingenuous pretender to principle who’s sullied character is no servant to protocol, propriety, prohibition or punishment. She gives license to every whim and suffers not criticism or rebuke. She’s outside the law, unbridled from any harness of respectability. As Secretary of State she was responsible for the deaths of four Americans, but she never apologized or gave full disclosure, only lies & obfuscations. She did accept full responsibility but, oddly, suffered no consequences, not even to her reputation. Friends in high places?
The Clinton brand is soiled. It can bring no solution or hope to our problems. Only embarrassment, ongoing governmental dysfunction and ruin. She cannot be a choice. Trump should not be a choice either, but we have no choice.
Al Shane
2270 N. Euclid Ave
Upland, Ca 91784
(909) 593-7431
al@bmgmtassoc.com
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