What if Trump says Just Kidding
What if Donald Trump’s bid to become President of the United States is all just an elaborate hoax?. What if, someday soon, he announces that he is just kidding in his presidential bid?
The bombastic Trump has defied all political pundits to date, while riling the powers that be within the Republican Party. Most never really believed he was serious at the beginning and suggest he was not supposed to get this far. But get this far he did, and only now we see the wheels are coming off the campaign truck.
Trump was always regarded as a Democrat for the company he kept and the candidates he supported. A former friend of the Clintons, Trump’s bid as a Republican upset several apple carts, not the least of which was the traditional GOP political machine.
A Good Short Game
Trump seized upon the angry mood of voters, tired of the same-old-same-old, the same sentiment that carried Bernie Sanders to the doorstep of the Democrat nomination. The difference is that Bernie is real and dedicated, while nobody is certain of Trump.
His campaign carried him through the primaries, the U.S. version of the nominating process. What started with the usual array of senators, governors, politicos, and one Donald J. Trump, seventeen in all, withered to the self-styled billionaire borne on the shoulders of an adoring mob.
He heard their frustration with the status quo and he spoke their language. His simple, and I use that word more than intentionally, his simple pitch was that he was not a politician, not part of the establishment, not one of them. His angry mob took up the cudgel and parlayed the independent billionaire into “the” man of the people.
Trump never told us how he would do anything, he just kept repeating that he would fix everything and do what nobody else could do. Short on substance, reason, or logic, his mantra was simply throw the bums out.
He never said why nobody else could fix America, he just said that Barrack Obama had failed and that Hillary Clinton would fail too. The fact is, no President of the United States (POTUS) has been able to fix much for a very long time. In recent years, gridlock has tied the hands of every POTUS, not to mention almost every sitting politician.
The U.S. system gives certain powers to the Senate and House of Representatives, and other authority to the President. Looking back over the last few decades, those powers have conflicted with a Republican dominated Senate facing a Democrat POTUS, or vice versa. That recipe allowed one to stall the initiatives of the other such that little to nothing of meaning or worth has been accomplished for quite some time. The well nourished politicians have fiddled while the mighty U.S machine circled the drain.
Not Geared for the Long Haul
This brings me back to the famous Mr. Trump. What if he has simply been fiddling with the American electorate, railing at the inaction to incite the troops, his not those of the military? It clearly worked to his advantage in the primaries, vanquishing all opponents. And it was easy for Trump because railing at opponents is what he does best. But now, the game has changed. People want substance. They want answers, and “it will be great,” is not a sufficient answer.
To make matters worse for Trump, he doesn’t know how to turn off the spigot. He is the attack dog without a handler. He just doesn’t know how to respond other than to attack those who do not agree entirely with his point of view, however vague or narrow that might be. So feted by his mob of admirers, Trump now bites the hand that could feed him in the national election.
But the big question is what happens when he realizes he peed in his pickles? What happens when he comes to the conclusion that he offended too many, turned off the majority, and frittered away the election to Hillary? Trump hates losers and he is not likely to allow that title on his own hat.
As the self-appointed head of the Donald Trump Fan Club, he will not take kindly to a loss. He might say the system is rigged and begin to suggest that he never had a chance, as he appears to be saying these days, but that would still leave him with a loss. Instead, he could disavow himself from the proceedings and declare it was all for the fun of it. Rather than lose, The Donald might simply say, “I was just kidding,” and suggest the joke was misunderstood and went further than he intended. He might even blame it on the media, the group he calls crooked, corrupt, and inept, that conveyed his every word just as he gave it to them.