Still crazy (and OLD!) after all these years
By TOM CANTLON
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| By David Horsey |
After he received the nomination in 2016, I wrote in a column that I was mourning the loss of an old frenemy, the former Republican party.
The party I often
disagreed with, but which operated in as rational a form as any. Now, it is
built mostly on falsehoods, but in a very smooth package. Being totally at ease
with all that falseness is a key part of what makes the new Republican party
feel so smooth.
For the first hour, Trump was very subdued. As he told
the story of almost getting killed by a sniper —we are glad he wasn’t, violence
would only make things worse — many, from barely old enough to vote, up to
retirement aged men in suits and ties were crying, fully sobbing at both the
sad story, and with pride and joy at what they felt was a great moment.
In the second hour, Trump got into more of his claims regarding what is currently wrong with the country, and how he would fix things. I won’t try to address the needed fact checking, there are numerous others doing excellent work at that.
Trump touched on many problems, and that
is part of his appeal. He is often right about things that need improving, for
instance, China for many years has stolen our intellectual property and trade
secrets. But then he turns it into an attack on a whole group of people, and he
uses clumsy, problematic tactics to appear as if he will do something about
said issues.
Of the many real problems though, the border got by far
the most attention, far beyond what would fit with reality. But it’s an easy
issue to cast in an us-vs-them framing and rile people with.
If you didn’t know any of the lies behind the speech, you would not find much to be put off by. It’s easy to lie your way to winning people over if it turns out so many millions don’t really want to know the truth — and then a whole infrastructure of false information flows through society to give Trump and others a different reality in which to live.
But how
can anyone not know the truth? All the words out of Trump’s own mouth about
feeling free to molest women, and about Black people being lazy — see the hyperlink
for yourself. Plus, the people who would run his administration documenting
their ugly plans in their Project 2025.
Trump’s way of saying he can stop so many problems just by sort of bullying his way to a solution is appealing. That he can simply stop leaders of other countries from starting wars by intimidating them, or more specifically, stop people south of the border from coming in by intimidating Mexico.
Or even create a stronger economy by intimidating other countries from
sending cheap products here. Some Democratic leaders could take a lesson. But
of course it’s all limited by what powers a president has, and if we’re going
to remain constitutional, by the proper powers of an administration. Trump also
ignored the potential complications of his hopeful actions last night, like
starting harmful trade wars.
But for those looking for easy solutions, Trump provides
a very smooth pitch. He is notably charming and personable from long practice
in show business. He knows that as long as he’s coming off that way, his long
speeches just give more time to draw people in.
Trump repeatedly hit on themes that the country will be
unified under him, and that splintering of the public must end. He gave a long
list of groups of people, men, women, white, black, etc. and promised to be
loyal, and a friend to all. But then, quickly turned to smearing whole groups
as horrible people.
Trump claimed some smaller countries were doing better
than the U.S. because they were sending all of their criminals, and worst
people here.
On the topic of crime and border security, he admitted, in an “aren’t I effective” way, that if he were head of one of those countries, they would be doing better still because he wouldn’t have just kicked some of his worst people out sending them to the U.S., he would have kicked them all out — to which the crowd cheered.
In other words, he would be the meanest, most
destructive, harshest bully among all the world leader bullies, and that’s why
we should elect him, because he’ll get things done. Just don’t let your
conscience dwell on how.
It’s a choice not just about what kind of country you
want, but what kind of adulthood. An adulthood based on morals and a country of
rights? Or just who can be meanest to others? Including to whoever gets in the
way — even those who the moment before thought they were part of the preferred
group.
Maybe women who don’t obey and yield sufficiently, or
anyone else who becomes inconvenient. Just ask some of his previous lawyers and
spokespeople who were thrown under the bus when that was the easiest thing to
do. It’s an ancient human story.
Trump presents a choice. Which do most voters want?
Tom Cantlon is an author and business owner. For
most of 20 years he has provided the leftward view in columns for a right
leaning daily paper in a right leaning area. Contact him
at comments@tomcantlon.com.