(Note: I hesitate to write this, as I want to use the platform God has given me to promote Yeshua and when I venture into politics, it usually has to do with Israel. I know there are strong feelings about this particular topic. And yet, I feel compelled to write this. If you don’t get me… that’s fine. We can still love each other.)
When I first heard Donald Trump share his vision for America in July, I found myself strangely drawn to him. I was surprised that I was taking him seriously. Yes he is a character. A narcissist. Full of himself. Brash. But he tapped into my frustration and many of yours, as well.
Sure I cringed when he said that Mexico was sending us rapists without fully explaining, but cheered when he said he would build a fence and make Mexico pay for it. It didn’t matter if Mexico would actually build it; I was just so tired of six years of hyper-sensitivity to everyone from Islamic Terrorists to Illegals. It was refreshing.
Mexican Rant
The more he was called on the carpet for his Mexican rant, the more he doubled down… and kept winning. He took credit for bringing immigration back into the political discussion, when anyone who follows politics knows that Ted Cruz and others have been talking about it for some time. They just don’t get the airtime that the Donald gets. And frankly most people don’t watch the news daily.
But let’s be honest, it only turned positive for Trump after a five-time deportee shot and killed Kate Steinle. That had much more to do with bringing the immigration issue back to the forefront, than Trump’s trumpeting. But he is smart and took credit.
“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even be talking about illegal immigration.” He said in Thursday’s debate.
It was no surprise that he rose in the polls.
‘I Like People that weren’t Captured’
But then, he publically said that John McCain was not a hero. It was wrong to say, really wrong. John McCain (and I am no fan of Mr. McCain the senator) spent five years in a Vietnam prison camp, turning down early release because his father was a famous admiral, choosing to stay with the other prisoners. Trump, who never apologizes, explained that he did say McCain was a hero… well, you be the judge.
“He’s not a war hero… He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.”
Yes, if you edit his sentence, Trump does say the words, “He’s a war hero…” but he continued the sentence with a qualification that should be an offense to anyone who has ever fought for the USA, “because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.”
Is there anyone more beloved in the US, than captured US soldiers? We will move heaven and earth to get them back, but Trump doesn’t like those who are too stupid and get captured. I said to myself, surely this is the end of P.Trump.
And amazingly he rose higher in the polls as he brilliantly turned his personal, disgusting attack on a war hero into focusing on the horrible condition of the V.A. and how he was the champion of veterans (just not the stupid one’s who get captured!).
Double Digit Lead!
He started with more name recognition than any other candidate and used his bigger-than-life personally to hog up airtime… thus jumping to a double-digit lead over Jeb Bush. With little details he made broad and powerful statements that connected with many Americans.
The Chinese are laughing at us. The Mexicans are smarter than us. They’re all stupid in Washington! “I would bomb the hell out of those oilfields. I wouldn’t send many troops because you won’t need ’em by the time I’m finished.” (CNN, 2015)
Trump Loves Trump First
But what was becoming more and more clear to me was that Trump is more in love with Trump than America.
In one of his books, Trump declared that,
“All the women on ‘The Apprentice’ flirted with me — consciously or unconsciously. That’s to be expected.” Who talks like that? I just can’t see Ronald Reagan making such a statement.
Trump thinks he is irresistible to women.
Women find [my] power almost as much of a turn-on as [my] money.” (Source.)
Donald Trump thinks every woman wants him and every man wants to be him.
Thin-skinned
The other thing that has become clear, is that he is more thin-skinned than Obama—a lot more—and takes any perceived attack against him very personally and overreacts in the Twittersphere in a way that makes Kanye West appear mature.
Here he states his philosophy on dealing with attacks:
“For many years I’ve said that if someone screws you, screw them back, When somebody hurts you, just go after them as viciously and as violently as you can.” Trump: How to Get Rich
“As viciously and as violently as you can.” No one can accuse him of being a hypocrite. He is doing just that.
On twitter, the would be President, in just the first 48 hours after the debate has used these words referring to people who disagree with him or offended him:
a major sleaze,
a buffoon,
a bimbo,
a clown,
dopey,
dumb,
another person, a clown,
a low class slob
a duntz (on NBC)
And one of these, Charles Krauthammer, is a respected doctor and journalist who overcame great odds, after becoming a paraplegic in a diving accident as a young man.
Glenn Beck, after the debate referred to him as the most arrogant candidate he had ever seen: “I mean, there’s nobody I’ve seen more arrogant than him,” said Beck.
Listen to Beck post debate show. I could not agree with him more!
No one Humiliates the Donald!
But his ultimate low came when his anger at Megyn Kelly just could not be contained anymore—though he promised not to.
And honestly Megyn, if you don’t like it, I’m sorry. I’ve been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn’t do that.
But Don was humiliated. How dare Megyn Kelly talk to him that way! Doesn’t she know who she’s dealing with? And this is what you need to understand about Donald Trump. No one is allowed to get the upper hand, especially not a woman!
Only hours after a debate where Kelly challenged him regarding his inappropriate comments to women, did call her a bimbo!
He wasn’t finished.
“I just don’t respect her as a journalist. I have no respect for her, I don’t think she’s very good. She’s highly overrated…She’s a lightweight, I couldn’t care less about her.” (Trump to CNN’s Don Lemon)
Was this his well thought-out, investigative opinion of Ms. Kelly? Of course not. This is the Donald way. You see it is not that Trump hates women—if you ask him, he thinks there fabulous, tremendous—but he cannot handle a woman getting the best of him. It is not that he has a low view of women, but that he has an extremely high view of himself.
He suggested on CNN, his new favorite channel, now that he hates everyone at FOXNews (Trump announced that he has made up with FOX after Roger Ailes promised that “Trump will be treated fairly”…) that Megyn Kelly was dealing with menstrual issues, and he could not have been more crude and un-presidential in the way that he described it.
“There was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”
And to be clear, if you hear the audio and know Donald Trump, there was no mistaking his innuendo. You probably know the rest by now. He was disinvited to a speaking engagement over these comments and responded with the maturity of an eight-year-old.
Small crowds at @RedState today in Atlanta. People were very angry at EWErickson, a major sleaze and buffoon who has saved me time and money — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 9, 2015
Trump surrounds himself with angry people like him, so instead of his team seeking to calm down the situation they responded:
“This is just another example of weakness through being politically correct. For all of the people who were looking forward to Mr. Trump coming, we will miss you. Blame Erick Erickson, your weak and pathetic leader.”
Personality or Strategy?
Actually I have come to see that this is not merely Trump’s personality, but a strategy to keep people talking about him. If so, it is working. I am sitting here on a Sunday afternoon writing about him. Another part of his strategy is to blast anyone who disagrees with him at such a level of viciousness and violence (his words) that folks will be terrified to criticize him. He is a bully. Normally-bold pundits tip toe around him, for fear of a barrage of twitter attacks. Other’s praise him hoping for a retweet.
For the record, when Megyn Kelly called him out regarding his remarks about women, he responded by saying it was just Rosie O’Donnell. Oh, it is okay then to call her a fat pig. While I am not a Rosie fan—what absurd logic. Secondly, Kelly said it was more than Rosie and he denied it. In truth he has a history of filthy language towards women.
To Arainia Huffington he wrote: She is “a dog who wrongfully comments on me” and said she is “ugly both inside and out!” He tweeted a few years back about Bette Midler “But whenever she sees me, she kisses my ass. She’s disgusting.” (mashable.com)
And the comment that Kelly confronted him with, what he said to an attractive female contestant, “Must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees,” was absolutely, 100% a sexual comment, even if a joke. I listened to the audio, and there is no mistake what he was referring to.
President’s Get Criticized—A Lot
The point is that no matter what Donald Trump has tapped into—in terms of American frustration with politics as usual—he does not have the self-control, character or humility to be president. He is narcissist’s narcissist! He is a serial adulterer. He does not share your values.
If you are looking for a tough-talking conservative who is not intimidated by Washington, look to Ted Cruz. He just called his Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell a liar! If you want an outsider who is bold and articulate, there is Carly Fiorina—who I said a week ago would be the big winner of the debate.
You see Trump, if elected, will not be able to focus on running the country, because he will be fuming all the time at the attacks against him. Presidents get attacked hourly!
If he is responding to attacks and insults by calling people buffoons and sleazes before he is president—what will he do when people are attacking him from every side as president? Now don’t get me wrong—his press conferences would be reality TV at its best.
“That’s a stupid question…next.” “Seriously, you’re a journalist—you like a prostitute.” “Who let this buffoon in here? I saw what you wrote about me.”
One of the greatest strengths of Ronald Reagan was that he did not care what others thought about him. He never read opinion pieces about him. He simply led and brought down the Soviet Union. Trump is no Reagan.
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