Our crazy nominating system- and Trump as a horrible accident
There can be no doubt that our system for nominating candidates for president is kinda weird. One reason why it's even weirder than it needs to be is that candidates who run for president aren't necessarily really running for president.
Here's a great article by former U.S. Senator Jim Talent (R-Minn) about what's really going on this year- and how you can't always avoid getting what you don't want. It also does a wonderful job of explaining the otherwise inexplicable phenomenon of Donald Trump.
As anyone who has even glanced at this blog knows, it would be difficult to imagine a degree of contempt for a public figure who isn't a mass murderer or the literal Antichrist much greater than that I feel for the Trumpmeister. But reading the article has convinced me that in one sense maybe it's a little- just a little, mind you- excessive. Donald Trump may be a clown, but now that I think about it some, he can't be the total idiot he appears to be. Nobody with the smarts to accomplish what Trump has accomplished (however little it may be compared to what he's like you to think he's accomplished, or what his supporters think he has accomplished) would have said the kind of things he's said, done the kind of things he's done, or been nearly so sloppy in the policy department if he'd actually been trying to become president of the United States.
I'm frankly a little annoyed with myself for not having thought of this before, but what if Trump is running for president merely as an exercise in self-promotion and never expected to win, or even come close? What if all this is simply an ego trip that got out of hand?
What if the Donald is as surprised-and shocked- as the rest of us? It would certainly explain a great deal that otherwise is inexplicable in this nuttiest and most nationally embarrassing of election years.
Graphic by DonkeyHotey
Here's a great article by former U.S. Senator Jim Talent (R-Minn) about what's really going on this year- and how you can't always avoid getting what you don't want. It also does a wonderful job of explaining the otherwise inexplicable phenomenon of Donald Trump.
As anyone who has even glanced at this blog knows, it would be difficult to imagine a degree of contempt for a public figure who isn't a mass murderer or the literal Antichrist much greater than that I feel for the Trumpmeister. But reading the article has convinced me that in one sense maybe it's a little- just a little, mind you- excessive. Donald Trump may be a clown, but now that I think about it some, he can't be the total idiot he appears to be. Nobody with the smarts to accomplish what Trump has accomplished (however little it may be compared to what he's like you to think he's accomplished, or what his supporters think he has accomplished) would have said the kind of things he's said, done the kind of things he's done, or been nearly so sloppy in the policy department if he'd actually been trying to become president of the United States.
I'm frankly a little annoyed with myself for not having thought of this before, but what if Trump is running for president merely as an exercise in self-promotion and never expected to win, or even come close? What if all this is simply an ego trip that got out of hand?
What if the Donald is as surprised-and shocked- as the rest of us? It would certainly explain a great deal that otherwise is inexplicable in this nuttiest and most nationally embarrassing of election years.
Graphic by DonkeyHotey
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