Map of life expectancy at birth from Global Education Project.

Monday, February 22, 2016

I'm of two minds

About the likely Republican nominee for president. In fact, ovewhelmingly likely. It's horrific and appalling that such a morally monstrous ignoramus could be on the verge of claiming leadership of one of our two major political parties. On the other hand, the people who are cheering for him and voting for him already existed, and they were already the constituency of that party. Republican politicians just kept the racism, mindless militarism, xenophobia and blood curdling threats of violence against all enemies real and imagined more obtusely stated.

So you could argue that it's salutary, even essential, to expose the rotten heart of American conservatism. He's opening up the canker and exposing the pus to the sunlight. And we all expect that in the general election, he'd be utterly wiped out along with the Republican Senate and even a good chunk of the House. Abrcadabra, Republican party destroyed, Hillary appoints Barack Obama to the Supreme Court (highly doubtful but wouldn't that frost their pumpkin?), and we get massive infrastructure spending, a carbon tax, immigration reform, and a multilateral foreign policy based on humanitarian objectives.

Or, the Trump candidacy legitimizes revolting rhetoric, extremism, and lunatic conspiracy theories. The world comes to view the United States with contempt and fear. (Maybe surprising they don't already.)

And then there's this. Could he possibly be elected? In a Clinton (or even more so Sanders) vs. Trump election, there's only one place the Koch brothers' billions could go. And the corporate media will be scrupulously fair and balanced. So who really knows? I wouldn't have thought the present situation was possible.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is the conversation we're having with our friends and family. What a crazy time.

Cervantes said...

Sure enough is. Best case scenario, Trump gets the nom and then gets wiped out like Barry Goldwater. Right now I'm also calling that most likely but who TF knows anything nowadays?

Don Quixote said...

Who TF knows, indeed! The pundits and pollsters sure don't . . . in the meantime, I have to look at pictures in the news of old, pasty, white senators with waddles under their necks looking like proud, naughty little boys as they announce their refusal to hold hearings to nominate a Supreme Court Justice . . . *barf*

roger said...

i think bernie, as the outsider, would be more succesful against trump than hillary.