If you really do not understand Donald Trump, your favourite psychiatrist might be able to help. You can also just think of Trump as another cathartic solution to the American condition. He is not that unusual a happening in politics.
Trump is not even the first billionaire to have delusions of the power of his money. Texan Ross Perot was well ahead of Trump when he took on Bill Clinton and George H. Bush in the 1992 Presidential election. It should also be noted that as foolish as some people thought Perot to be, at least his business dealings did not build on the bankruptcies and manipulations of the real estate transactions of “The Donald.” More and more people around the world are coming to the opinion that the name “Trump” on any building should be properly followed by a question mark.
But it is Trump the politician that has people really wondering. The only interesting comparison is the history of the Weimar Republic in Germany in the 1920s and 30s. Trump lacks the Brown Shirt support but his “solutions” to America’s problems carry much of the verve and clarity of Mein Kampf.
Trump the politician has much the same characteristics of a living politician in the form of Toronto’s former mayor and current Councillor Rob Ford. Ford was thought to be a buffoon when he first ran for mayor of that city but the righteous anger of society’s losers was not well understood by the bulk of political apparatchiks of the time.
The many millions of America’s losers have long sought a champion. While pushing the hot buttons of anger, bigotry, frustration and rage, the Grand Old Party was tolling its own death knell. This is not just the religious, the ignorant, the ignoble and the downtrodden who want to get even. This is populism at its worst.
Even America’s Democrats are struggling with the populist supporters of Bernie Sanders without realizing, they have their own angry and frustrated voters with which to contend.
The only regret is that America seems to be learning nothing from the situation. The rest of the world can hardly isolate Asylum America until it cures itself. We need to be understanding and as helpful as we can be. God Bless America: Somebody has to help!
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Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
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