Donald Trump: riding the tiger
How much of Mr Trump is schtick, and how much reality? The $64 question, and I have not completely satisfied myself on that point. But a successful con man -- and Mr Trump is certainly that -- must have some native intelligence, or at least shrewd cunning (and a low opinion of his fellow man). My instinct is that he is not fully in control of what is happening, that he is riding opportunity as far and fast as he can, at least in part because he doesn't know how to dismount the tiger. He keeps pushing the envelope farther and farther, as if he is asking the country how long he can keep on being so outrageous, how far he can go. I don't feel (I use the term advisedly, I have insufficient evidence to make a satisfactory determination) that things have gone exactly as he intended, in terms of specifics: he wanted the glory and the adulation, but didn't want to be threatened with actually having to make good on his act. I still don't think he really wants the job, but he has in a manner of speaking painted himself into a corner, unless the GOP does initiate a coup and precipitate a constitutional crisis.
He reminds me a bit of an author who said in his bio he wanted to be a writer, then immediately corrected himself: what he wanted was to have written. All the benefits, in other words, with none of the work. And he reminds me of certain other politicians who have pushed inflammatory rhetoric to absurd extremes, and then are horrified when they have to live up to it. This sort of thing has led to more than one war.
Scary either way, because he has tapped into a deep well of rage and fear, and by expressing it, validated it and given the crazies the knowledge that they aren't alone, them and their little militia buddies. And of course, other opportunistic politicians are now more inspired to tap into this wellspring, although it is to the credit (sort of) of many that even they won't stoop so low. In the end, the message matters more than the man, and that message is not without peril to the security of the nation. I have always believed the RW nuts were too cowardly to start anything serious, but the knowledge of their numbers may inspire some intemperate acts down the road. And if Mrs Clinton is elected president, which still seems to be the likely result, will the monster go back to sleep, or will it resort to those 2nd Amendment solutions the more fanatical make noise about? We may doubt that outcome, but I don't think we can disregard it out of hand.
-- Mal
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