OPINION: Trump and the rockets' red glare
As the Fourth of July passes, and I look back on all the big, loud, ostentatious, oh-so-provincial colorful explosions I may or may not have set off, I’m reminded of Donald Trump’s candidacy.
In normal times, it wouldn’t make any sense. In these times, not only does it make sense, but it seems to exist for the same reason the Fourth of July exists — a reminder of what could happen when the people’s representatives confuse that responsibility with the abuse of the power loaned to them for the purpose of exercising the people’s will.
Donald Trump is a giant, noisy explosive signal rocket lit by a restive American public. Not the established players, but the no-kidding, honest, fed-up, ever-growing number of citizens who are increasingly distanced from their elected representatives. He certainly is out of place in the “establishment.” Republicans seem to hate him; Democrats really, really hate him; the media hates him; and apparently, everyone in the rest of the world hates him. Nowadays, that’s what’s known as an “endorsement.”
He uses coarse language: “Stupid” is the favorite descriptor for a wide range of dysfunctions, and his policy solutions are usually a three step process.
• I’m Awesome.
• I’ll find Awesome people.
• There will be an Awesome result.
And yet Trump was well ahead of the Republican field, blowing through it like a hairy, loud tumbleweed. He plowed through the establishment stable consisting of safe members of the insiders’ club (Bush), a guy who thinks that the reason this country exists is for Cubans to have a place to immigrate to, and an accomplished lawyer who unfortunately resembles Count Chocula. Then there was John Kasich, who was winning huge in his mother’s living room. So why did Trump move so easily through this field?
Donald Trump is no great conservative champion: he has proven through the years to take whatever positions are most advantageous to him at the time. To be fair, that was his only responsibility; growing his business, making more money and employing thousands of people while getting fabulously wealthy himself. In order to do that he has paid for many politicians, including the Clintons. He overpaid.
So what? What have the great conservative champions done for the party of the right? The bloated omnibus bill that passed pulled back the curtain on the inner workings of the exclusive Washington club where the little folks who elected this bunch of integrity traders are a distant, if considered, thought. The omnibus was a complete invalidation of the reasons that conservatives were elected in the first place. So all of the Grade A, super-conservative, by-the-book, National-Review-Approved-Conservatives accomplished no more than if all conservatives had voted for liberals.
I don’t even need to know a thing that was in the bill. If the opposition gushes that it was a complete victory and they got more than they expected, that’s good enough for me to condemn Republicans. Whether by cowardice, incompetence or corruption, the Republican Party is ineffective. In spite of the inherent disadvantages of being the party of grownups, America sent alleged conservatives to state and federal positions in historic numbers in recent elections. And they have produced nothing of note, except smug Democrats. If the other team is doing celebrations, you are in the wrong end-zone.
And what does that have to do with Trump? Everything. As mentioned above, he doesn’t have much on the way of provable bona-fides for the conservative club. He seems like a blue-collar guy who just happens to have tons of money, fame and hair products. He doesn’t have a lot of specifics on his positions, and isn’t super articulate in the ones he does have. Ironically, he’s really not a good candidate for either the Republicans OR the Democrats. So what is he?
A warning.
Donald Trump is a step in the continuum that, if not interrupted, ultimately results in the exercise of the Second Amendment. When the First Amendment loses its voice, the Second clears its throat. For so many in this country, the government has become unresponsive to them; growing ever more oppressive and aloof. The voting booth is where those issues are supposed to be rectified, but what happens when, through the proper exercise of voting, the government still tacks ever more leftward? The people haven’t; the government has. A large swath of the electorate feels alienated and oppressed by elected officials who refuse to live under the laws they pass.
The Founders had a remedy for that. After penning the rulebook for how the U.S. government is supposed to work, they realized that they should probably write down the rights of the people, just in case anyone got confused about who was supposed to serve whom. And to serve as a restraint on an overreaching government, they put a couple of steps in the part of the rulebook that talks about people’s individual (not collective, or as agents of a state) rights.
The first safeguard was speech. Through speech, and lots of it, there would be redress for an ever expanding government and any muffling of speech that was noxious to the ruling class. Like “Don’t Tread on Me.” Now, the muffling is accomplished through safe spaces, trigger warnings, and the ever tiresome “-phobic” or “-ist” slurs. And the shrinking violets we’ve elected allow themselves to be bullied into compliance. Common sense, fiscal restraint and the will of the people evaporate as representatives that were elected based on one set of values suddenly see that looking the other way on illegal immigration or continuing racial and sexual discrimination results in them being able to command a slightly higher price for their integrity as they sell it off, slice by slice.
And then comes Trump.
Whatever the man’s failings, giving a hoot about what people think is not one of them. His narcissism is second only to the current White House occupant. But it also makes him resistant to being swayed by negative comments, and the constant bullying of the left. If anything, he seems to thrive on negative energy. Not by rethinking positions, but by taking his ball and going home or doubling down. Don’t think he can build a wall? Well, he will, AND he will make Mexico pay for it. Mexico says no? It just got 10 feet taller. An incredibly vain person has their strengths, and if their issue lines up with yours, you have a huge ally.
So I don’t care about Trump’s conservative pedigree. We elected a whole raft of conservatives to the Senate and the House who’ve been waiting for something, I guess. If he just controls immigration, strengthens the military, and puts some discipline into government spending, that would be a HUGE win. The shrieking, mewling, crass bleats of the left will mean nothing to him, and may embolden him to greater issues. He can be a loud, obnoxious spine for the conservative cause.
The fact that he’s a candidate at all is an indicator of the times, the growing restlessness of a population that is frustrated that no one is listening. And every time someone criticizes Trump for the things he says, they are merely reinforcing the fact that the normal methods are becoming less and less effective. In other words, Mitt should shut his pie hole.
It’s ludicrous to have to defend thinking that illegal immigration is bad; that the Iraq War was a huge victory until the Democrats forfeited the sacrifices of their betters in order to skulk away from our young allies; that a country should be able to pay its bills (even if that means that trans-gendered tree frog mating habits in Zimbabwe must go un-studied).
The only thing that will hurt Donald Trump is if he starts backtracking on his signature issues. If he starts smelling like another politician, then he’s toast, and people will start applying the same rules to him as they do to others. Right now, he gets a pass. A scent of betrayal and he won’t.
He’s crazy, but he’ll do. At least he’ll be crazy on our behalf.
Banzet, a 1986 graduate of Flathead High School, is a retired major in the U.S. Air Force and the author of “A Flowershop in Baghdad.” He now lives with his family in Ohio.