It is stunning.
Donald Trump is going to be the Republican Party’s candidate
for president of the United States.
For months, Americans have watched as the party’s leading
lights have turned an important part of the democratic process into a crude
spectacle of taunts, insults, and bathroom humor.
We have heard Donald Trump accuse Ted Cruz’s father of being
with Lee Harvey Oswald before John Kennedy was killed; Cruz charging that Trump
is a “serial philanderer”; Marco Rubio suggesting that Trump has peed in his
pants and has a small, well….
That kind of little-boy braggadocio is nothing, though,
compared to the insults that Donald Trump has aimed at women, at the physically
disabled, at Mexicans, at Muslims, at prisoners of war.
The result of all that? Donald Trump has waltzed off with
the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.
He is a dangerous, dangerous man, not only unfit to serve as
president but a complete disgrace, to his party and the nation.
We have had a bully as president before. We have had
presidents with dangerously misguided views of the world, misjudgments in
foreign policy that have created havoc and cost lives for decades afterward.
But we have never had the likes of Donald Trump.
Trump didn’t create the racism and xenophobia that we’re
seeing right now. It’s been there all along. But he has unleashed it, whipped
it up, declared it respectable, and encouraged its angry expression in
cheering, packed rallies.
A few Republicans have stood up for American principles and
are refusing to support Trump, Jeb Bush, Lindsey Graham, George W. Bush, and
George H.W. Bush among them. But others have jumped right on board. Chris
Christie. Mitch McConnell. Reince Preibus. Tennessee’s Marcia Blackburn.New York’s
Chris Collins and Tom Reed. Our own Tom Golisano,
Bill Nojay, and party chair Bill Reilich. Newt Gingrich. Rick Perry. All supporting
him.
Dick Cheney (no surprise): supporting him. John McCain – as
if his selection of Sarah Palin didn’t create enough doubts about his judgment
– will support Trump if he’s the Republican nominee.
Maine’s Susan Collins, who I thought was one of the few
ethical Republicans left in the Senate, says she’ll support Trump if he stops the
“gratuitous personal insults.”
And Paul Ryan is dissembling. “I’m just not ready to do that
at this point,” he said on CNN. “I’m not there right now.” But: “I hope to,
though, and I want to.” And: “I think what is required is that we unify the
party.”
“I hope to, though, and I want to.”
“What is required is that we unify the party.”
Honorable people can disagree on abortion, the death
penalty, monetary policy, foreign policy, the role of government. But racism?Misogyny?Ethnic and religious tracking?
In the Washington Post last week, Dana
Milbank cited examples of what American Muslims have endured as the Trump
candidacy has gained steam: insults, taunts, death threats, desecration of the
Koran. And Trump himself has proposed a registry of Muslims in the US and a ban
on Muslims coming here.
This is the Republican Party’s sole candidate for president.
“Now Republicans across the country will be forced to make a
moral choice,” wrote Milbank. “Do they associate themselves with the grotesque
things that Trump and his supporters have said and done? Or do they refuse to
allow such things to be said and done in their names?”
Presumably some of the prominent Republicans lining up
behind Trump are happy to have such things said and done in their name. Others,
though, are embracing him for the sake of the party. Party
unity.Protection of the party’s control of the Senate
and the House.The party over the principles and moral
fabric of the country.
In a very real sense, Donald Trump has become the face of
the Republican Party. The party formerly known as the party
of Abraham Lincoln.
Stunning.
Simply stunning.
This article appears in May 11-17, 2016.
Trump is a doer, a builder, successful and a winner. The guy occupying the White House right now is a destroyer. He’s destroying everything that made America great. And he is tearing apart relationships, especially making the black/ white issue much worse. Unfortunately, with the help of people like Mary Anna, he’s been successful. To read this OPINION piece show that Mary Anna is either very ignorant of what has been going on, or agrees with it. Very sad.
I forget who said it, maybe Thomas Jefferson, that America won’t be destroyed from outside, but from within. It’s sad to be witnessing this first hand, especially knowing that others, posing to be journalists, have lost their way. Journalists are supposed to be skeptical of those in power, not cheerleaders for those they agree with.
Wanted:
Presidential Candidate for the United States of America, NO GOVERNMENTAL EXPERIENCE NECESSARY OR DESIRED!
I hope that the Clinton campaign will focus on this for the next six months
Today was a great day for Trump rounding up the KKK and other white supremacist vote, or at least a good chunk of it. Make America great again!
Don’t forget Robert Byrd, the WV senator who WAS a KKK member. The KKK were democrats for you not informed.
Bankruptcy equals success??
There are many Americans who do not like the way our country is today and how it got there, through pompous liberal, “feel good” causes. There is more division that unity, more racism, more hateful, bigoted notions as Mary Anna so adamantly displays in her disdain for Trump.
Trump has given hope to so many Americans who believe that our country was hi-jacked by left wing liberals or progressives. He represents how many Americans feel, in that, enough is enough; we want our values to be respected and returned rather than be chastised for not changing or giving them up.
Tolerance works both ways; everyone needs to be more tolerant of other’s opinions but legislating and using the government to impose a particular belief or value is going too far.
I like that Trump’s middle (second) wife is American. Because freedom. Too bad for those who were evidently in a coma from 2001-09, to see how much our President cleaned up the Bush Catastrophe.
And Johnny, how about that Betty Grable? Hubba-hubba. For the uninformed, the late Robert Byrd, one of our Senate’s great civil libertarians, spent most of his life redeeming himself from his misspent youth.
Trump is just a symbol that we’re completely fed up with “politics as usual”. It’s time for another revolution, this time to overthrow BOTH “bad-to-the-bone” political parties and establish a lean, fiscally responsible governing system with severe restrictions on its authority. If decent, courageous people don’t stand up NOW we will continue our decline, and our children & grandchildren will have no future.
Dennis Regan
While I agree with much of what you attribute to Trump:
“He is a dangerous, dangerous man, not only unfit to serve as president but a complete disgrace, to his party and the nation.”
The same could (and should!) be said of Hillary Clinton. One might even argue Hillary is a proven danger while Trump is only theoretically dangerous. The Butcher’s Bill for her time as Sec of State is frightful in its scope, ranging from favorable trade deals for one of the worst human rights violators on the planet – Colombia, to her support and political cover for a right wing coup in Honduras, her encouragement of actions which led to the the collapse of Syria, Ukraine and Libya, punctuated by her homey little chuckle following the infamous “we came, we saw, he died” statement in a direct appeal to the finest of Imperial traditions.
As Commander in Chief one can only speculate what country will next be flipped on its head with the citizenry (the lucky ones) fleeing for their lives, but the wait won’t be long once she takes the oath.
While I have no intention of voting for either, if one looks at past actions and stated intentions, Trump is the lesser of two evils by a comfortable margin. Trump might even oppose the TTP and TTIP and inject a dose of sanity into our relationship with the Russian Federation.
I cannot recall a time in my life when the US was engaged in so many bloody, pointless foreign entanglements. Meanwhile the homefront withers while the Federal government racks up 20 trillion in dept, with the Pentagon alone unable to account for 9 trillion dollars (over $1200 for every man woman and child on the planet!) and real unemployment tops 20%. I do not believe for one second that Hillary is the person to deal with any of these issues, she has been inside the Beltway and heavily involved at the Federal level for the worst excesses of the last five administrations (I leave out B Clinton’s first term).
So while it is stunning that Trump is poised to become the “face” of the Republican Party, it is no less disturbing that Hillary is poised to become the “face” of the Democratic Party – it has gone a looong way from its roots and not in a good direction.
“Ignorance is Bliss”… Apparently Trump believes this, and so do his supporters. They rant against “leftwing progressives” who are forcing their beliefs (for civil and voting rights, gender equality, LGBT rights) onto everyone, but have no problem with Republicans wishing to force their beliefs (homophobia, limiting voting rights, assaults on women’ right to won their own bodies, racism to the extreme). Adding to the “ignorance” part is Republican’s refusal to accept scientific evidence of climate change and other important issues. Lord have mercy!
I always laugh when busy bodies like retireme tries to define us, on the right. We are not like you. We Don’t impose our views on others. That’s you guys, remember. We just want to be left alone.
Lord have mercy. Your comment is really one for the books
Johnny, it is nice to know there are some on the right who are pro choice and in favor of equal rights for the LGBT community. If only more were like you.
Yes Tom, I am pro choice. If I choose to have unprotected sex and then change my mind later when I am pregnant, that’s “I changed my mind.” Pro choice is making the decision before having sex and sticking with the decision.. But anyway, If you want to have an abortion, go ahead. In my view, that’s murdering an innocent life.
LGBTXYZ, I don’t care. Why do we need all these special laws USING people to gain political power over others. Why can we all just be ourselves and keep the government out of our lives?
We all have God given rights. However, if your “rights” entail imposing on my rights or other peoples, those are not rights. The government can’t give you rights.
Johnny… Seems you are imposing your definition of pro choice and you impose your ifrs that we have God given rights. I do not agree with either imposition.
Tom, I imposed nothing on you. I just stated my beliefs and granted you the freedom to live yours. If you feel imposed upon by that, well….
Oh yeah. We all have Mother Nature given rights. Better?