Explaining Trump

First off, I have the solution for campaign finance reform. At least for this election cycle. Here it is.

Hold the Democratic and Republican national conventions next week, and nominate Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Then, make them debate once a month on pay-per-view. Not only will they not need to spend a dime on ads, the money raised could probably make a serious dent in the national debt.

You're welcome. Moving on.

Second thing; the object of this is NOT to endorse Donald Trump. And, it's not to explain his popularity. The purpose of this is to explain him, his thinking, his whole point in running. It's a good point, it's a great point, you'll love it, all the polls say that you'll just think it's fabulous, when I posted this you know what happened? My numbers went up! People who are reading those other blogs, they're asleep! Hispanics love me. Love me.

Ahem. Sorry.

Jeb Bush has been, as I write this, taking shots at Trump for not being a real conservative or a real Republican.  Personally, I think this plays in The Donald's favor.  When he raised his hand at the first debate (being the only one at the time who refused to promise not to run as an independent candidate if he lost the nomination) I think his answer should have been; "Because I'm an American, not a Republican."

News outlets, and other candidates, take great pleasure in replaying old footage of Trump saying that he supports abortion, gave money to the Clintons, and on and on.  What people, media and political people in particular, tend to forget is that, until recently, Trump wasn't a politician.

When you're a politician, you've probably been one since you did it as an amateur.  You were the class treasurer in 5th grade.  You went out on your bicycle and canvassed the neighborhood for your favorite candidates and causes, years before you could vote yourself.  You made it a point to disagree with your Dad at the dinner table about some issue or other.  And you kept a calendar, marking off every day until you were old enough to run for the state legislature.

That would describe everybody currently in the race on both sides, with the probable exception of Carly Fiorina, Dr. Ben Carson, and Donald Trump.  These people had jobs, and lives, and probably didn't pay any more attention to politics beyond making it a point to vote.  They cared, they stayed in touch, they watched the news, but they also led busy lives.  They didn't worry about carefully crafting everything they've said since they were 12, in case it came up in a future campaign.  Trump was just another working stiff, a real estate mogul and part-time television celebrity.

Abortion?  Lots of women want to have them, the Supreme Court says it's all right, why not?  Sure, he supports abortion.  Clinton?  Hey, I want a foot in the door.  When I call, I want them to pick up and not let it go to voicemail.  If pressed, he'd have probably said in 1989 that he was against slavery and segregation, and for the free market.  So, you think you can come down another $100,000 on that building lot, or not?

When he started seriously thinking about running for President, that's probably when he started seriously thinking about policy.  And the more he looked, the more he realized that what they need (this is Probably Trump-think, btw) is a businessman.  People have been saying it for years.  Career politicians have, well, made a career out of maintaining the status quo, keeping everything on an even keel, and by all means don't DO anything!  Don't shake things up!  As the great songwriter, Bruce Cockburn, once said; the trouble with normal is, it always gets worse.

So if Donald Trump is so liberal ... then why isn't he running as a Democrat?  Because the field is so strong?  A scandal-ridden high-school class president clearly out of her depth, a geriatric banana-wacky who is NEVER going to be President and knows it himself, and "hoof-in-mouth" Biden.  An intimidating group, to be sure.  Oh, wait, I know; he's afraid President Obama will ignore yet another part of the Constitution and run for a third term!

If I were to hazard a guess - and that IS why I'm writing this - I would suppose that he might have looked at the issues in greater depth, and decided that maybe his earlier stands were ill considered.  Then, maybe he took a hard look at recent history and, like a good businessman, evaluated what works and what doesn't.  His conclusion, in this hypothetical situation, would apparently be that he's actually more of a Republican than a Democrat.

I think he's deadly serious about wanting to become President.  He isn't willing to cheat, but he believes he has a good shot, and a much better one than any of the "experts" think.  It used to be that a particularly successful General, like Eisenhower or Zachary Taylor, could get by the argument that they had no experience in government by pointing to how accomplished they'd been in their other endeavors.

So why not a businessman?  Are the politicians doing so well that nobody could do better?  Who, in the world of business, has the credentials to challenge the political class on their own turf?  Who has the accomplishments AND the name recognition?  Warren Buffet ... Bill Gates ... maybe a couple others ... and Donald Trump.

So should Donald Trump be President?  Well, that's the question we're all asking, isn't it?