Confidence is one thing; narcissism is quite another.
Donald Trump is a riveting speaker, no doubt about it, because he’s the diametric opposite of the typical mealy-mouthed politician. Trump shoots his big mouth off; he can afford to; he basks in his own ego; he projects brash braggadocio. It’s easy to do that when you own billions of dollars, when you are trying to buy your own election, when you can trash everybody and tell them to go to Hell, as if they are all bankrupt business rivals.
Never mind Trump’s stock-in-trade, his modus operandi, is to insult his fellow Republican candidates, sometimes in sexist terms. If any other candidates – Republican or Democrat – dared to spew the ugly words and phrases Trump cavalierly tosses off, they would be condemned to Hell by morally upright people, but ironically enough, many of these upright people are the very ones who are pushing Trump ever upward in the polls.
Trump’s insults are similar to Rush Limbaugh’s, who got away with calling a college woman a “slut” years ago after which his fans rallied to proclaim, “Gee, Rush is just an entertainer.” Some entertainer!
But, whoa, Trump does make some good points. For example, who can deny the border between the United States and Mexico should be strengthened? Who can disagree there are too many illegal immigrants now in this country? Yes, Trump exaggerates his solutions to these problems – deport all 11 million of them. However, his sweeping conclusions, solutions, make sense to so many gullibles who crave easy answers: Just round ‘em up, ship ‘em out. Spoken like a cattle-trail boss. Trump is also at least partly correct about off-shoring jobs and about foreign domination of financial markets. But where are his serious ideas, other than bluster?
Trump is, after all, a ruthless big-time businessman. Many Americans, so tired of a do-nothing Congress, thanks hugely to years of Republican obstructionists, think a billionaire businessman, by golly, is just what we need to get this country on the right track. They think business should supplant government. There is a difference, and those who so abhor government will miss it desperately as soon as it’s gone, as soon as the forces of privatization take over. Are you listening, Social Security and Medicare recipients?
Trump is not the answer; he’s the problem, at least these days to the Republican Party, which is being splintered because of his boisterous brouhaha.
Riches have benefits; they have drawbacks. Spoiled children – little or big – ultimately don’t get their way. Reality punishes them. Trump, the cat’s meow now, will lose his bid for the presidency, once people wake up with their sanity restored.
Trump is not just not the answer; he’s the very incarnation of the Big Problem – that is, Money equals Representation.
What if? What if Trump succeeds in buying his way into the Presidency? Well, sad to say, dangerous narcissism fueled by big bucks will have triumphed. It will be the grotesque finish of our so-called Democracy. But, hey, let’s be optimists. Let’s pop our popcorn and watch Trump’s irresistible bad-boy antics and let’s consider his sometimes pointed truths, but then in the meantime let’s make sure he doesn’t win.
