It might have been.
2016 might have been a turning point in our political history. I had it all figured out. It hit me close to three years ago, when Obamacare was revealed as a fraud and a boondoggle, sold by a pack of lies. We’d take the Senate in 2014 largely because of it, and ride our political momentum into this year, winning in an historic landslide, and turning the tide of the 100 year progressive experiment. It would be another 1920, ushering in an era of economic growth and a return to constitutional principles through the use of Article V. All the opposition had was a deeply unpopular and distrusted Hillary Clinton. A piece of cake.
A year ago I didn’t really care who our standard bearer would be, as long as it wasn’t a Bush, and I wasn’t worried about Jeb. At least I got that part right. But as the eminent Richard Fernandez points out, what no one realized was just how royally pissed off people really were. I wanted people to be pissed off, because I sure as hell was. We had a lot to be pissed off about. But this anger was so intense it turned into blind rage. The establishment was a china shop, and people wanted a bull, and one came along.
Trump wants to make America great again by being smarter and making better deals, but that’s not good enough. We need a radical transformation of the way this country does business. Political corruption and crony capitalism are destroying us, and they are so embedded in the system that it will take years of hard work to turn things around. True political leadership is called for, by people with the knowledge and skill to turn campaign sound bites into reality. It’s a huge, team effort, and calls for a steady hand at the till. This is very serious business. Our country is at stake.
Based on his performance in Green Bay last night, Trump knows what he needs to do. But who wants to bet he can keep that up until November? Everyone says he doesn’t have a second act. Well, everyone has been wrong before about this guy before. It just pisses me off that I have to worry about it.
Maybe he figured out what his antics were doing to his brand, which is the same as his family. Ivanka knocked it dead in Cleveland, but who even remembers it? The Khan imbroglio blocked it all out. Who wants to be associated with a brand, or a family, who, in any way, and for any reason, criticizes the mother of an American soldier who died for his country? How many Trumps have made the ultimate sacrifice?
Trump has made history, but what will history say of him? He was the one man in America who could lose an election to Hillary Clinton. Quite an historic distinction. We could even make Trump into a verb, meaning totally screwed the pooch. As in, I Trumped up.
The fact that the consulting editor at American Thinker thought my previous post justified Russian aggression is instructive. It’s apparently unthinkable to put yourself in Russia’s shoes, and look at things from their perspective. In Alaska we’re very careful around bears. Russia will always be as aggressive as it can get away with. But that aggression is not directed at us. We want to channel that aggression in a constructive direction. Like south.
The yin and yang of American foreign policy has always, from our founding, been either idealism or practical realism. Our national goal, at one time, was to make the world safe for democracy. But our goal should really be to make the world safe for us, and worry about the rest later. You can see democracy at work in Turkey today. It’s not for everyone. But clearly enunciating a policy of realpolitik is politically hazardous. What Nixon said in private to Mao Tse Tung he could never say in public. We’re a high minded people, which is all well and good. I just don’t want American soldiers dying for our high mindedness.
I actually think Trump might understand this. Which makes me even more pissed off.
reaganproject.com 