Donald Trump:
Candidate from Your Parents' Worst Nightmare (Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland)
"Twice now
in these pages I have foretold the imminent collapse of billionaire Donald
Trump, who in the U.S. presidential campaign is breaking all records of
ignorance, insolence and boorishness - yet his poll numbers only get better and
better. … Signs in the heavens and on the earth suggest that this isn't just a
summer fling. And so what if right-wing America is tempted to take a motorcycle
ride into the unknown with a guy from their parents' worst nightmares? I'm
ashamed to admit it, but part of me is quietly counting on it."
Washington: Twice
now in these pages I have foretold the imminent collapse of billionaire Donald
Trump, who in the U.S. presidential campaign is breaking all records of
ignorance, insolence and boorishness - yet his poll numbers only get better and
better.
Naïvely I thought that that during the debate of the Republican
candidates he crossed the line when he publicly insulted Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly [upper right]. He suggested,
among other things, that she is a "bimbo" and that she asked him
difficult questions because it was her "time of the month."
Any normal politician after something like this would be
done. It turns out, however, that the billionaire, who organizes competitions
of beauty queens and has a habit of putting his name on large buildings is able
to get away with more than the others.
Some still hope Donald Trump is just a cucumber season headliner
["cucumber season" refers to the summer months during which there is
little real news]. They recall that in the summer, six months prior to the presidential
primaries in Iowa, candidates who shine often have an exotic edge, such as in 2011,
for example. At the time, 15 minutes of fame descended on Michelle Bachman, who
claimed that vaccinations trigger mental retardation in children.
Packaged with the first favorable international cartoon of Donald Trump that this journalist has seen - from none other...
Prize-winning journalist Amy Walter believes that in summer,
Americans act a lot like thrill-seeking 20- year-old girls: "You are
unattached and care-free." You meet a guy who is "everything your
parents hate. He's loud. He's disrespectful. He probably smokes and drives a
motorcycle."
An equivalent of that terrible boyfriend is, of course, Donald
Trump.Meanwhile, as Walter further
explains, "your parents want you to meet a guy like Jeb Bush" (brother
and a son of the last two Republican presidents, who was considered the
favorite in the primaries before Trump's star began to shine). So calm, so responsible,
perhaps even a bit boring.
But, "as Danny and Sandy taught us in Grease, summer lovin'
doesn't last. Remember 'it turned colder/that's where it ends'? Summer is the
time of possibility and personality. Fall and winter
bring accountability," Walter claims. Will that be the happy ending of this
year's Republican primaries? Well, not necessarily …
First of all, Trump is a billionaire - and Americans generally
like and appreciate people who have succeeded. What appeals to many people is
the fact that the rich have politicians in their pockets - but Trump cannot be
bought. On the contrary, he is the one who has bought politicians. For example,
he gave money to Hillary Clinton, and therefore he boasts that she obediently came
to his wedding.
Second, the Fox News
debate had the highest ratings of any in the history of presidential debates - thanks
to Trump, naturally - which eventuated in a snowball effect. Now all TV
stations race to invite Trump, while his rivals spend fortunes on ads that draw
only a fraction of the audience.
Third, in the opinion of the general public, the Trump candidacy
has ceased being exotic. Not only do 32 percent of right-wing voters support
Trump (Bush is at 16 percent according to the Aug.
21 Reuters/Ipsos poll), but more than a half of Republicans
expect him to win the primaries and be the candidate of the party!
Posted by Worldmeets.US
It is Trump's simple if unrealistic recipe for tackling the
problem of immigrants that people liked - building a wall along U.S.-Mexican border
and deporting 12 million illegal immigrants. In a recent CNN poll, 44 percent of Republican voters chose Trump as the
candidate with the best chance of solving the problem of illegal immigration
(Jeb Bush, who wants to give them the right to remain, has support of just 23
percent.)
However, faith in Trump is not limited to this single issue.
Supposedly, he stands the best chance of coping well with the economy – so say
45 percent of Republican voters (only 8 percent believe in Bush and in other
candidates, even fewer). Interestingly, Trump has never revealed his ideas on
the economy, reassuring only that he is a man of action - as opposed to professional
politicians who only talk.
These and other signs in the heavens and on the earth
suggest that this isn't just a summer fling. And so what if right-wing America
is tempted to take a motorcycle ride into the unknown with a guy from their
parents' worst nightmares? I'm ashamed to admit it, but part of me is quietly counting
on it.
If Trump ran in Poland, a sense of responsibility for the
country and a survival instinct might outweigh a natural fondness for a scuffle
- but this is a story set in America, where I live only temporarily. That's why
I am going to stock up on Mexican Coca-Cola (made with real sugar, unlike the U.S.-produced
version produced with corn syrup) in the event that after the election, the border with Mexico is closed - and watch the show.
