DONALD TRUMP IS NOT THE PROBLEM

The problem is not Mr. Trump himself. It’s the disturbing excess of Americans who seem convinced that he would make a terrific President.  That’s the problem.

 

As a candidate, Donald Trump has been a subject of abject fascination by the press, a glorious windfall for comedians, and a rich vein of source material for vivisection by political analysts.  For decades, he’s been an icon of arrogance and narcissism, famous primarily for conspicuous opulence and shameless self-promotion.  He achieved some political notoriety by putting a bounty on President Obama’s birth certificate, apparently convinced there could be no proof of genuine U.S. citizenship, demonstrating a propensity for elevating a hunch into a proclamation of personal conviction.  When he announced his candidacy, with bluster and animosity towards Mexicans, it seemed a passing spectacle, much like a circus with an undercurrent of cruelty to elephants.

 

Then something happened: he rose in the polls, pulled in crowds wherever he spoke, kept himself firmly in the middle of the news cycle, and showed staying power.  At first he was dismissed as a sideshow gimmick, then the coverage shifted to his surprising traction among potential voters, and ultimately he became a story about how he doesn’t seem to be going away.  He went from basically entertainment news covering his latest outrageous pronouncement, to a shakeup factor troubling the Republican establishment, to a dominating figure slapping around the likes of Jeb Bush.

 

The focus of attention has revolved around two centers of gravity: Trump himself and the problem he presents for the traditional Republican power structure.  It’s hard to take your eyes off the man.  What’s he going to say next?  Who’s he going to insult and offend now?  From Mexican rapists to Syrian refugees, feuds with Univision and Fox News, asking a fan to vet his hair, demonstrating how his belt won’t stop a knife, claiming he saw thousands of Muslims in Jersey City cheering on 9/11, mocking a reporter’s disability, endorsing the registration of Muslims – you just can’t look away.

 

Meanwhile, there’s quiet panic among the Republican power brokers.  A guy like Scott Walker can’t fly into the primaries even with the financial imprimatur of the Koch brothers, yet a dangerous renegade like Trump is sailing into frontrunner status and cruising past the crash-and-burn prophecies.  Surely the right wing establishment will rally behind a more sensible candidate and the process will reassert a measure of sanity – except, that hasn’t happened.  It’s looking increasingly likely that he’ll last deep into the primaries, perhaps threaten a brokered convention, and then the institutions of conservative politics will descend into madness and bedlam.

 

All of which, of course, is gripping drama and full of intrigue.  But what’s getting lost in all the maneuvering and tactics, all the frenzied controversy that surrounds the orange madman, the real story here is the horde of supporters who seem convinced that he is our next great leader.  Who are these people and where did they come from?  Have they been here all along, just waiting for a spokesman to screech their frequency?

 

For the Republican mainstream, it’s embarrassing enough that a billionaire hype machine is announcing his divisive views and associating them with right wing, conservative, Reaganistic GOP doctrine.  The true horror lies in the unmistakable conclusion that he’s connecting with a broad base of Republican voters.  He’s giving voice to all the anti-Latino, money-worshipping, xenophobic, anti-feminist, religiously intolerant, plutocratic, cruel, selfish insecurities that Republicans have spent generations of rhetoric trying to deny, and he’s finding an enthusiastic audience.  He’s exposing a repellent id in red-leaning voters that the more genteel practitioners on the R side of the aisle generally take great pains to avoid acknowledging openly.

 

Take all the Trump enthusiasts and add in the crowds flocking to Ben “Chance the Gardener” Carson, Carly “Dickens Orphanage Matron” Fiorina and Ted “Ten Kinds of Crazy” Cruz, and you’re looking at a sizable constituency backing what in a civilized society should be at worst a fringe perspective.  In light of comment sections on websites, you know there are troubled souls out there, but you’d rather not think in such numbers.

 

When Trump and his stripe put out the call, there are far too many across the country raising their hands.  I still have faith we won’t see Trump in the White House come January 2017.  But the mean current of intolerant malcontents, who see in the Donald an invigorating tonic for their frustrations, they’re not apt to be mollified by whatever pale substitute carries the Electoral College.  They will still be around for years to come, thinking their thoughts.