American Politics – Page 30

Donald Trump: Ego Parentus.

October 4, 2016 by Peter Lowry

It is truly amazing how Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump can put down women so casually and then hide behind one. The question is though whether his daughter Ivanka is like any ordinary woman you know? She fronted Trump at the Republican convention in the summer and is back again to star in $7.5 million worth of television commercials.

The very fact that the Trump campaign is finally spending some money on television advertising is a message in itself. The message is that he knows he is losing. He has discovered that social media alone cannot do the job. He has already hit the ceiling with the social media reach. He is old news.

But using Ivanka is in itself a story. To say that Ivanka is a Trump product is only half of it. She is a slim and perfect 30-something Barbie Doll. Mattel should sue Trump for infringement on their copyright. Animated, tall and cold, she is an amusing foil for her misogynist father. She appears on the television screen as the best that money can buy.

All she lacks is credibility as she reads the prompters about the plight of women in her father’s society. From her opening lines. It is almost as though she is saying: ‘If he can produce a person as perfect as me, he can’t be all bad!’

But it leaves you wondering if she could possibly be the result of accidental meeting of sperm and egg. Is she human? Would she be as rich if she were not so loyal to her father? Would she be as articulate without the coaching and scripting? Would we even listen if she was not her father’s daughter?

But when he uses her is it not really his ego that it serves? If there is one thing that Donald Trump convinces us of, it is his ego. There is an ego there that could serve an army of politicians. It is that ego that we watched carry him through the Republican Party primaries. We watched him glibly lie and tell tall tales reviling his opponents. A politician would have gone down in flames doing what he did.

But Trump trumpeted on. He won a free pass into the Republican National Convention. It was his to co-op into his triumph. It fed his ego from beginning to end. He did it by trusting family over politicians.

And he continues to use family as an extension of himself. It is as though he were an ancient potentate establishing his dynasty. It will be interesting to see how many Americans buy into that dynasty on November 8.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Donald Trump: Ego Imperious.

October 3, 2016 by Peter Lowry

Watching the Trump phenomenon in the United States has become a Canadian pastime. It is almost as good as the Toronto Blue Jays making it to a bid for the wild card. Though it is nowhere near as exciting as the Canadians winning that faux World Cup of Hockey the other night.

But what puzzles Americans and Canadians alike is where this hatred comes from? Trump’s campaign is feeding on hatreds. It is reaping votes from ignorance. How can ‘born-agains’ support such an ungodly candidate? Is the American dream to be destroyed by a rape and pillage capitalist?

Donald Trump does not want to be President of the United States of America. He wants to be Emperor Trump I. He neither understands nor cares about the system of government of the country. He wants to rule. He wants to launch a dynasty. He wants to create a Trump Thousand Year Reich on North American soil.

And he hardly cares how. The litany of lies, fabrications, and falsehoods of his campaign are there for all who want to see to see. He has no interest in the truth. He titillates his mob. He has no truths for them. They feed on his fabricated rants and he suggests further lies to keep them coming back for the next episode. His is a campaign of hatred and they dose on it daily.

It is interesting that Secretary Clinton has stopped responding. She would prefer not to mention his name. It just seems there is little point to giving any credence to his abuse of truth.

Trump’s supporters are having to reach further and further each day to try to alibi his falsehoods. The best the other day was some purported tax documents from 20 years ago that showed his manipulation of the system. One foolish supporter told the media it shows how smart he is. If he was a serious candidate, he would release his tax returns. Serious candidates for President for many years have shown his (and now her) tax returns. It simply goes with the position.

But Trump stands defiant. He is not your ordinary candidate. He makes his own rules. Nobody tells him what to do.

He wants to be leader of the free world. And where would he lead?

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Donald Trump: Ego Rampant.

October 2, 2016 by Peter Lowry

Watching the claims and counterclaims of the presidential candidates in the United States this past week has been both a political apparatchik’s nightmare and a spin doctor’s dream. As expected both sides claimed victory at the first debate for presidential candidates.

As a political apparatchik, you look at the mistakes, the opportunities lost, the facial give-aways, the forgotten words and scripting—and that is just your own candidate. And all the time, you are admitting that the opponent was at the top of his or her game.

But the political spin doctor sees if differently. You have to analyze the total picture. What had effect? On both sides? What phrase had legs? What were the distractions? What will the gurus, analysts and commentators decide they have seen three or four days later? The spin doctor has to see that future and it is not as easy as some of them make it out.

Sitting here in the catbird seat, safe from the daily grind and involvement in the American scene, it is easy to see where the protagonists are standing. A wily Hillary Clinton is doing deep breathing in her corner, waiting for the next opportunity to inflict pain on her opponent. A flustered and frustrated Donald Trump is barely listening to to-day’s advisors. He claims victory and yet aches for revenge.

Hillary Clinton is savouring the successes of her intense preparation for the first-round debate. She knows there was no knockout. There were some good blows landed. Trump lacked the experience and briefings to ward off the traps he fell into. What Clinton achieved was to reassure her base.

But Trump’s greatest enemy continues to be his ego. His most obvious gaffes in the debate were his rude comments that helped Hillary hang him high as a misogynist. He accepts what he sees as the pandering of politics to the voters but fails to follow through. He knows Hillary is hurting with her studied and accurate advertising targeting him. He personally hates the repetition of television advertising but hardly wants to spend his own money to make a countering campaign happen. He is obviously doing more with social media but fails to understand its limitations.

There seems to be little chance of seeing a reformed Donald Trump in the remaining weeks of the campaign. There can be little redemption in the remaining debates. His ego remains rampant. He only destroys himself.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Donald Trump: Ego Erectus.

September 27, 2016 by Peter Lowry

The world was witness. Someone said yesterday that Republican Donald Trump would win the first of the presidential debates last night because he was experienced in using television. He obviously forgot everything he ever learned when he walked on that stage last night. He also forgot that it was not all about him.

The contrast between the two candidates was dramatic. Secretary Clinton was almost frighteningly political. Trump was abusive and a bully and talked over her and the moderator. She rattled off a list of policies at the beginning and then watched as Trump tried to take the debate down his personal rabbit hole. She seized the lead position of polished politician and held on to it for the rest of the evening.

Trump wasted the audience’s time. He gave a litany of old tales of the Rust Belt that he must have learned at his daddy’s knee. He made wild and unrealistic promises that no serious person could believe. The only sham he left out was the Mexican wall and we were all waiting for it. Instead he got caught up in the President Obama Birther story and somehow wanted to stay with the story when his audience wanted him to get over it.

It might have been a better evening if there had been a stronger moderator. Mind you, keeping Trump on subject is a tough task.

Trump thought he got one good lick in against his opponent when he said she decided to stay home instead of being out campaigning in recent days. He was saying he did not see the need to prepare for the debate (which became obvious). Her comeback was yes, she prepared for the debate and she was also prepared to be president.

We are not saying here that any votes changed among the viewers of the debate. That would be an unrealistic objective. Trump was Trump and Clinton was Clinton. Though Clinton was at her best. Trump’s claque will have to write the evening off as a weak effort. Clinton’s supporters will be cheered by her performance.

But there is still six more weeks of this presidential water torture. Trump will continue his self-aggrandizement and bluster, his rash promises and his pie in the sky lies, his strutting and posturing.

What the debate showed was that Hillary Clinton is the only choice on November 8. She deserves to win. Trump is somewhere back there with the Neanderthals of North America. They are the breed we do not need.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Can you fight fire with fire?

September 16, 2016 by Peter Lowry

Got an interesting complaint from a frequent reader: he disagrees with our Morning Line assessment of the Republican candidate in the coming Presidential election in the United States. He thinks the odds should be even between the two candidates. His reasoning is that Hillary Clinton has failed to answer Mr. Trump’s claims about her. Frankly, it would be interesting to hear just how the reader thinks she can answer them?

It is a classic political conundrum. How do you deal with a negative? How do you explain that you never have beaten your wife?

The Republican candidate is like a kid in a candy store who is already on a sugar high. He thinks he can get away with anything. The more outrageous the claim, the louder his clack cheer him on.

The problem is that Trump is not a politician. He has none of the constraints of a politician. He also has no idea of what the job is like to be President. And he is quite unlikely to get the job the way he is going about it. He has enraged Hispanics, demeaned blacks, denigrated women, denounced Muslims and insulted veterans. And his campaign team is furiously trying to use social media on the Internet to try to backstop the damage.

Hillary Clinton in the meanwhile—who is very much a politician—is faced with what to do about it. Her problem is that she cannot answer some of the outrageous things he says about her, as that would give his claims credibility.

What she finally tried recently was to suggest that a portion of Mr. Trump’s supporters might be ultraists. Only she called a spade a spade and the bigots ‘bigots’ and a politician cannot do that. Even though Trump pitches most of his campaign to the bigots among us, a politician never attacks another’s supporters. It is based on the faint hope that the idiots might change their minds and vote for her.

It was obvious at the time of that speech that she might not have been feeling too good and she gave it to those Trump supporters (and bigots) with both barrels. And she was roundly criticized for it.

The best advice for Hillary Clinton is to let her very capable back-up team of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama deal with Trump’s foolishness. Her role is to look and act presidential. She has to solidify her base vote and pace herself carefully so as not to make herself sick again. Americans like to vote for a healthy President.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Trump should go pee in a cup.

September 13, 2016 by Peter Lowry

So the Republican candidate for the presidency thinks his opponent is looking a little peaked these days. Is he concerned that she might be a little too old to become President? Or is he being solicitous of her supposed feminine frailty? Does he consider his diagnosis to be better than her doctor’s prescription of anti-biotics and some rest?

It seems more likely that he is stringing himself up to be his own piñata.

Among his constant attacks on Hillary Clinton is that she seems to him to be exhausted and that she sleeps too much. Since it is unlikely that he gets invitations for sleep-overs at the Clintons, he should pull back on the outrageous claims and stick to being more forthright about his own health.

And when you consider that the Republican is two years older than the Democrat, he should be aware that the life expectancy of men in the United States is 76 years. Women in the U.S. make it to an average of 81. Being rich would give them both a couple more years but he has to remember she has seven more years just for being younger and a woman.

But we should really take a hard look at the Republican candidate. This guy has been ripe for a massive coronary for the past quarter century. He is a hard driving businessman, in a high-stress line of work. He has been screwing other people out of their money ever since he got his daddy’s money. He is either being sued or suing and he is packing too much excess fat around the waistline. The way he talks about it, it seems he has no idea how much he is worth. And just because the IRS does not believe him is no reason not to release his accountant’s opinions.

Before Trump tells any more lies about Hillary Clinton’s health, he should think about his own condition. It is the very thought of the Republican candidate and how badly he is suited to the role that is constipating millions of Americans. Hell, he even has people north of the border in shock. And in Mexico, they are just mad.

Trump is a walking, talking, advertisement for portable defibrillators.

But what enquiring minds really want to know is what is keeping him going at his current pace. A Presidential campaign in the U.S.ofA. is no stroll in the park. Clinton will get over her current malaise: Trump will still be Trump. And he is a hands-on type of guy. Nobody runs his campaign but him. He has to be involved in every decision, every expense, every change in plans. Nobody tells Trump.

Please pee in a cup Donald, we all want to know what a 70-year old is on.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Rob Ford could have trumped Trump.

September 11, 2016 by Peter Lowry

Canadians have to stop worrying about politics going so far downhill in the United States. Before we cluck over the Republican candidate for the American presidency, we should remember the late Rob Ford. If Ford had been an American and with billions instead of just his father’s millions, he could have given Trump a hell of a run for that Republican nomination. The big difference between them is that Ford would have known what he was dealing with in the Republican Party.

Sure Ford might have smoked a little recreational crack cocaine but he was guaranteed to give better answers to reporters’ questions. Ford probably felt the same as Trump does about the news media but he knew how to use them. Ford was even popular with the late night shows in the U.S.

But Trump has gone too far in expressing his distain for American news media. Between the state-run electoral systems and the news media, he is not sure which is going to really do him in. He says the news media is biased against him and the election is rigged for his opponent. He talks like he is going to lead the next American Revolution when he loses. And that is scary.

Rob Ford understood the voting systems in Canada. He knew how to identify and get out his vote. Trump will be lucky if the registered Republicans in the United States even bother to vote for him. He has been turning off more thinking Republicans every day. They have no idea what his plans are or where he wants to lead the country.

Could you imagine, Trump calling on the National Rifle Association to rise up and support him if he loses the election? Maybe he can also call on his friend Vlad Putin to send troops? Rob Ford was never a sore loser.

The real difference between Ford and Trump is that Ford made use of the system in existence. He was deeply into the Conservative Party, federally and provincially. His father laid the groundwork for his sons in the party and they were aware of the benefits it could provide in they wanted to stay in municipal field or move on to take advantage of provincial or federal opportunities.

Donald Trump came into the Republican race in the United States as an outlier because in a broad field of candidates there was nobody emerging from the pack. Nobody thought he could buy the nomination. He not only bought it but he ran the convention.

The Excited States of Red and Blue.

September 9, 2016 by Peter Lowry

To the surprise of many, the United States 2016 election officially launched on Labor Day. What you have been watching all summer was just the warm-up to the event. And on the evening of November 8, all will—hopefully—be revealed. That will be when the College of Electors—that has no campus and never meets—is expected to select the next President of the U.S. of A.

It is all very confusing to Canadians (and many Americans) that there are blue and red states to consider. It is why most national polls in the United States are a waste of time. All but two small states choose their presidential electors on a winner-take-all basis. Only a state-by-state analysis and careful addition can give you an inkling of what portents.

Frankly, Babel-on-the-Bay continues to stand behind its summer Morning Line assessment. Clinton is still 2 to 1 and the Republican is only 4 to 1.

The reasoning behind our assessment is that the Republican candidate has consistently pissed off women, blacks, Hispanics, Muslims and college-educated voters. Winning back any of those votes is a tough job. And how does he protect his base vote while trying to win back those he has lost?

His second problem is that his base vote is not among the frequent flyers at this voting business. Of the anticipated 50 per cent vote for President on November 8, the only reliable voters he might have are older Republicans. These people are feeling the pain of his candidacy and just might forget to mark his section of the ballot.

He is hoping his biker friends will go to the polls as his monitors. He thinks they will intimidate people into voting for him. His problem with that is the bikers are intimidated by the voting process. Are any of them registered?

He can hardly expect the Republican Party machine in hotly contested states to have any resources to spare to help him. They are trying to save congressional seats if and where they can.

You can hardly win the party’s nomination and then rub noses in it at a convention you control.

And it will be very interesting to see who funds the Republican candidate down the home stretch in October. Social media will be tired out at that stage of the campaign and someone is going to have to come up with the big bucks for TV. We wonder who?

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Doing Dr. Goebbels proud.

August 29, 2016 by Peter Lowry

Sometimes when you see what the American Republican Party candidate for president is doing, you have to appreciate the origins. It also has to do with that old adage that those who ignore history are bound to repeat it. What we saw the other day was a classic use of the big lie. This was a major tactic of communications used by Reich Minister of Propaganda Dr. Joseph Goebbels in 1933 to 1945 Germany.

The specific incident we are talking about was the very reasoned and calm discussion on a campaign platform the other day by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton of her opponent’s apparent promoting of bigotry.

The reputed answer to this by the Republican, that was recorded, was for him to scream that “She is the bigot!” What she had ever said that could be interpreted as bigotry was not disclosed.

But that does not matter when you are using Dr. Goebbels’ philosophy. He was an expert in the use of the media as it existed at that time. Today, the Republican candidate has the reach of the ubiquitous Internet that can spread his word like wildfire to his highly gullible followers. And that is where they follow him. These are not the readers of the New York Times or the Washington Post. Most college-educated voters across the States are hardly going to vote for him anyway.

Internet social media is the pulse of North America today. Dr. Goebbels would dearly love the electronic speed and reach of this media. Only he would turn it to anti-social media. There might be rules against cyber bullies but there are no effective rules about cyber liars. While some totalitarian regimes try to control the Internet, they are not all that successful.

The good news is that the Republican candidate is playing with toys that can also destroy him. He is already setting up the scenario that the election process is corrupt. It indicates that he has been made aware that he has no ground troops to help turn out his vote on November 8. And as his supporters are not the type who usually go to vote, he is trying to get them to the polls in the guise of monitors—hoping they think to vote while they are there. Since very few Americans really understand the Electoral College process that chooses their president, there is little question that there will be lots of confusion.

But does he think these losers who support him are going to rise up to put him where he belongs? Mind you there is a certain warmth in thinking about where he really belongs.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Destroying the American dream.

August 20, 2016 by Peter Lowry

There is serious concern about what the current presidential campaign is doing to the U,S.A.’s reputation and position around the world. What is serious is the impact on the image of the once most powerful country in the world. It is holding the country to ridicule. It is destroying the American dream for all.

After all, what is America to the rest of the world? It is an ideal. It is the largest and most successful democracy. It is wealth and power. It is innovation and assembly lines. It is a physically fit, healthy and well trained young military that can rain destruction on the seas from the air or on land.

America shares a dream of democracy and the good life in a world of the oppressed, the downtrodden, the abused. The current presidential campaign might amuse Canadians and raise eyebrows in the salons of Europe but what is it doing to the less sophisticated? This is a campaign built on bigotry, fear and ignorance.

What can people think of a campaign that blames the country, the systems, the structure for a candidate’s own failures. He says the system in America is corrupt. He blames the news media for his gaffs. They report him wrong he says. He constantly refers to his opponent as a liar and criminal with no proof or reason. He is afraid of her so he demeans her. He is a sham of a man.

Almost a quarter of the earth’s population is Muslim. And yet we are expected to tolerate a bigot’s constant railing against the second largest and fastest growing religion in the world. This is fostering a dangerous level of racial hatred.

And how do you think Mexicans feel about being constantly described as murderers and rapists? And what leaves observers aghast is that his followers think he will build some sort of wall. Frankly he could get pretty good advice from Berliners and Israelis that walls do not work. Even the ancient Britons and Chinese could not keep the Celts or Mongols where they thought they belonged.

The real problem with the Republican nominee for the presidency is that he might not be satisfied with the presidency. After all, he would be taking over that job from a black. He has been telling people how corrupt the election will be as his alibi for losing.

But will there be a meltdown when he loses to a woman?

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]