I have said it before (quite possibly here): US politics sometimes seems like some kind of bizarre reality media show put on by the US to entertain the rest of the world. No serious political system could be that dysfunctional? Could it?
But this post is going to concentrate on the just one of the possible candidates (despite the media reports there are lots) – Donald Trump. It might be a little tin foil haty to ask this, but is anyone sure that he really isn’t a democrat supporter running as a spoiler? I mean the guy is so over the top as a buffoon, it seems like the most likely cause of his behaviour is that he really is a Democrat supporter who is running as a Republican to remove any possibility that the Republicans can conjure up a credible candidate.
Just look at some of the things he’s said :-
Do you mind if I sit back a little? Because your breath is very bad.
Just a silly example to start with. Most of us have thought this from time to time, but usually have second thoughts before opening our mouths. Now why do we re-think and decide not to say it? Because going around being nasty to people without consideration is indicative of a certain level of sociopathology. What is worse is that it is indicative of a dumb sociopath, as most people with enough sense to keep breathing without being constantly reminded to do so, will realise that acting like a dick will not win friends and influence people.
The point is that you can’t be too greedy.
Really? Kind of symptomatic again.
All of the women on The Apprentice flirted with me – consciously or unconsciously. That’s to be expected.
Creepy. Even ignoring political correctness, the later sentence implies an horrendous arrogance to the man.
If people can just pour into the country illegally, you don’t have a country.
Now there may well be problems with illegal immigration (although personally I doubt the problems outweigh the advantages), but the idea that you’ll lose you country because of immigration? Ridiculous. Illegal immigrants are nowhere near populous nor powerful enough to take over your country, and by the time their descendants are, they won’t be illegal immigrants any more but they will be you.
Scare mongering is the tactic of the lowest form of politician, and we all know how low they can get.
People love me. And you know what, I have been very successful. Everybody loves me.
No they don’t. Some people may love you, but not all. To think so is extremely delusional.
As for successful, it all depends on your criteria for success but most of his alleged success has taken place in the property development field which is notoriously easy if you already had money to invest (he did). There are a considerable number of serious commentators out there who question his business acumen.
I feel a lot of people listen to what I have to say.
What he neglected to mention is why people listen. Sometimes it’s to fall about pissing themselves with laughter.
That’s one of the nice things. I mean, part of the beauty of me is that I’m very rich. So if I need $600 million, I can put $600 million myself. That’s a huge advantage. I must tell you, that’s a huge advantage over the other candidates.
Which is of course another condemnation of the US political system which allows the rich and powerful to buy their way to power.
Sure, sure, I’d like to see Apples built in the United States, not built in China. I’d like to see them have factories in the United States. At least partially. They make nothing in the United States, virtually.
I’m reminded of King Canute (or Cnut) trying to hold back the tide. Fundamentally China is successful at producing mass market goods because it has very low labour costs. By the time you reduce US labour costs to the level of the Chinese, you will be looking at a revolution; the myth of the American dream won’t survive starvation.
As for nothing being built in the US, Trump needs to get out of his tower and go and take a look. There’s plenty being built in the US, but you won’t find cheap consumer goods (unless you count that made with slave labour; sorry I meant prisoner labour).
As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology.
I hear the LGBTQ community has more to worry about the violence and oppression of a hateful domestic ideology.
Thanks to Hillary Clinton, Iran is now the dominant Islamic power in the Middle East, and on the road to nuclear weapons. Hillary Clinton’s support for violent regime change in Syria has thrown the country into one of the bloodiest civil wars anyone has ever seen – while giving ISIS a launching pad for terrorism against the West.
This is not the only quote about how Hillary Clinton is responsible for all of the world’s ills (and probably the four horsemen of the apocalypse too). Fact is that no foreign policy is going to cure the world’s ills; you can only respond to what other countries and people are doing. Foreign intervention in a country can make an existing situation worse but not create that situation.
build a permanent border wall between the US and Mexico that Mexico “must pay for”. The plan proposes various sticks to force Mexico to cooperate, such as impounding all remittance payments to Mexico from illegal wages earned in the US.
Ah yes! The infamous wall to stop immigration from Mexico. If we assume the wall will cost $1.5 million per kilometre, covering the whole 3,200 kilometres of the US-Mexico border will cost a cool $4.8 billion although this is probably a wild underestimate of the cost given that the 2006 Security Act allocated $1.6 billion for just a fence, and critics claim that it will need at least $4.8 billion more than is allocated. And that is for a fence not a wall.
And why should Mexico pay for it? They are not getting the benefit.
And you can use all the long words you like, but “impounding remittance payments” is just theft.
And that is of course just a quick taste of the inanities that Trump has come out with. There are those who excuse these comments by claiming a blunt honest man is better than another slimy politician. But there is a difference between bluntness, honesty and just plain stupidity. And having a stupid man in charge of the White House (and all that goes with it) is definitely not a good thing.
