Friday 18 October 2024

Trump: the US election barrels on

I think it’s clear by now that the US election in under three weeks will go down in history as the weirdest ever, and by some margin, whatever the result. One of the two candidates, the former president Donald Trump appears to live somewhere between a dystopian, parallel universe and total insanity. At 78, he’s the oldest man ever to stand and by far the stupidest. I’ve been following a lot of anti-Trump commentary on Twitter and some of it is well past surreal, even by American standards.

He is cancelling events left, right and centre and when you look at the ones he’s attended, you can see why. Whenever he opens his mouth, he damages his own cause and alienates the undecided voters.

I’ve lost count of the number of senior Republicans publicly declaring their support for the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. The last two Republican VPs, Mike Pence and Dick Cheney, have both said they aren't supporting Trump.

I remember Enoch Powell more or less endorsing Labour in the 1974 general election (as the only party offering a referendum on Europe) and the absolute furore that sparked. And Powell didn’t openly call for voters to vote Labour. Republicans, are quite explicit in their belief Trump poses a real risk to US democracy yet he still has half the country in thrall.

His former Secretary of Defense and retired 4-star General James Mattis has called Trump “the most dangerous person” in America after previously describing him as a threat to the Constitution.

Trump has been talking recently about the "enemies within" - meaning anybody who doesn't agree with him - and which he claims is a "bigger enemy than China or Russia":

Think about that. He has actually suggested he could use the National Guard or the US military against his political enemies.

At one recent event ordinary members of the public put questions to him, and this particular guy, a former registered Republican, asked him about his actions on 6 January 2021 and during Covid -19 and if members of his own administration don't support him, why should he:

His answer was to double down and claim the questioner was wrong!!

At an economic event, he was his usual rambling self. Asked about the hugely damaging impact of tariffs, which he intends to impose on many US imports, by the economics editor of Bloomberg, he said: "It must be hard for you to spend 25 years talking about tariffs" to have somebody (him) explain that "you're totally wrong."  What an ego. Stunning.

He honestly thinks he knows more about trade than an economics journalist!!

And what about his tough guy image?  Listen to this one:

He says he didn't like playing football at school in case some guy "from a bad neighborhood" would rough tackle him!  He is expected to stand up to Putin and Xi Jing Ping but was scared of a tackle even when wearing all that padding and protective gear!

Finally, you should read this apology from the head of marketing at NBC for creating a monster when they were building The Apprentice into a national show and promoting Trump as some sort of business genius:

"To sell the show, we created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty. That was the conceit of the show. At the very least, it was a substantial exaggeration; at worst, it created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.

"In fact, Trump declared business bankruptcy four times before the show went into production, and at least twice more during his 14 seasons hosting. The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV."

Trump was a failure from the start. But now he is older, crazier, more demented, angrier and intent on revenge and saving his own skin, nothing else.

Plenty of commentators don't see him lasting more than a few months before he is relieved of his office by his running mate JD Vance, which many think was the plan all along.  Let us pray we never find out.

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