Joe Scarborough is a conservative host on a network that has leaned to the left. And he has said that he can not support Donald Trump because of Trump's refusal to disavow the endorsement of David Duke, former head of the KKK. Sadly, Joe's outrage, and the outrage of the GOP elite is too little, too late. The only chance that Trump can be stopped is if the Democrats put up a winning candidate.
Sadly, Hillary Clinton is a weak candidate. Even worse, in an election where the public (for the most part) wants to vote to "throw the bums out", Hillary represents the interests of the ruling elite. In the past 30+ years, the elite of both parties have praised the benefits of globalization, without providing a safety net for the structural unemployment that this trend would create. Neither political party has given a damn about the growing inequality between the working class and the wealthy elite. In fact, people like Trump have said that our national minimum wage is too high. Too high?!?!?!? When I was young, minimum wage was enough for a person to feed his/her family and put a roof over their heads. Now, a person working minimum wage would be lucky to be able to take care of one person's needs while working 3 jobs!
Where was the outrage in the GOP when Trump insulted Mexican-Americans? Where was the outrage when Trump insulted Muslims? Where was the outrage when he acted like a bully, destroying healthy political discourse? Sadly, the GOP reaps what it sows, and may possibly fall apart as the Whigs did in the 1800's. And this would be a healthy thing, if centrists were to regain control of the party. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening.
Recently, Chris Christie came out in support of Trump. What will he get for his endorsement? We now have bombastic blowhards who have seduced a large part of society in the hope that a "fearless leader" can "Make America Great Again." We've seen what happened in Central Europe did this in the 1930's.
Why do I mention Central Europe? Two things happened today that give me pause for concern. At my office, two people were having a political conversation (both moderates) about Trump, and got concerned about my overhearing their chat - as if I were a Trump supporter. They were pleasantly surprised to find out that Jimmy Kimmel, Matthew Broderick, and Nathan Lane did a spoof of "The Producers", and that I had a sense of humor. Instead of being worried about being open around me, they became relaxed because they found out I may have the same sense of shock that Trump is a viable candidate for the GOP nomination. And then, on the way to the railroad station's parking lot (on the way back to my car), one woman and I had a more serious conversation, both of us seeing the parallels between the USA and Weimar Germany.
How can Trump be defeated? One can't do it by being mean. He's a mean person, and can out do any civilized person who has any sense of ethics. But he can be defeated - by humor. If people laugh at him, make fun of him, he will lose power each time a person laughs. One of my favorite spoofs at the expense of Trump came with a person echoing Trump's words from a South Carolina speech with a "gay voice". Once you hear these words coming out of someone else's mouth, you'll realize how insane these words sound. And the clip is funny - unlike Trump....
We have an important choice to make in November. But the work to make sure that dysfunctional leaders don't get elected starts now.....
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