-- Mark Twain
I find Mark Twain to be one of the genuinely great thinkers of the past three centuries. I like him because he was able to put very complex ideas into succinct and folksy terms - none of this high-fallutin' Descarte or Kant kind of rhetoric. Just plain, simple language that carries a truck-load of meaning.
I have lived by the quote at the top for most of my adult life, and it has rarely failed me. I say rarely, but as I sit here, I can't think of a single instance when it failed. I absorbed it and made it my own with a more metaphoric image: When you see everyone running one way, you should probably run the other way.
I have lost friends because I thought the whole Global Warming thing was bunk - and that was in the early 90s, before ClimateGate or folks like Piers Corbyn or Ben Davidson. I have pretty much always thought that there is an alternative history, such as espoused by folks like Joseph P. Farrell and Graham Hancock, that was more satisfying and more accurately reflected the available facts. The one and only time I have ever voted was when Ross Perot ran in 1992 (I believe like George Carlin that NOT voting gives me the right to bitch), and that is about as close to mainstream thinking as I can remember coming.
So when I say that I have serious reservations about Donald Trump, it comes from a long line of contrarian thinking. If all these folks are running in his direction, there is very likely something deathly wrong here. I said it about Obama back when he was still a patron saint and I ran a big risk of being beaten by fanatics, and I am saying it now about The Don.
To say I am a contrarian doesn't mean I am Young Bear in Little Big Man. I don't ride horses backward or wash with dirt and dry off with water. That is an emotional condition. I come at it from a reasoned position, though whether my reasoning is sound or not is up to you, dear reader.
Reason #1: One of the major problems with the US government (and many others) is that it IS a corporation, run by corporations, for corporations. The last person who should be at the helm is a corporate man who sees everything as a business problem needing a business solution. Governments, at least real ones, are organic institutions that protect natural human beings from such dangers as soulless, conscienceless, godless corporations, whose sole existence is to subjugate humans and suck the natural and economic life out of them. Trump said it himself, "I have never gone bankrupt - I have never." Sure, he hasn't, but what about his CORPORATIONS, and more importantly, the PEOPLE who worked for them? See, his artificial lifeforms have died, taking many organic people with them, but he has never been hurt by it. Strike 1.
Reason #2: Trump's wild-ass plans will likely never come to pass. And he knows it. It all sounds great to a bunch of organic human beings struggling against decades of corporate subjugation, but it is all clap-trap. Trump can't slow down the corporate exodus to Mexico and beyond, nor can he slap import taxes on the products from it, because NAFTA and soon enough TPP will already be law, and he will have to repeal such laws through a Congress that is bought-and-sold, which will never happen. Furthermore, how does he plan to fund a massive deportation effort with a Treasury that is broke and has been since 1913? This is all pie in the sky. It sounds sweet to out-of-work organic human beings struggling to save their families, but do you honestly think a corporate man like Trump will kill Obamacare and prevent the Pharmas from forcing their swill down everyone's gullet? Or will he call upon his years of experience to negotiate deals that look good to Average Joe, even as it slides the knife between the sternum and rib number 6? Strike 2.
Reason #3: Folks seem to be flocking to Trump because he appears to be the US equivalent of Putin, but there is a world of difference between the two. Putin's power and appeal come from a man who is educated in international law, a former leader in the KGB, a man deeply knowledgeable of his cultural roots. Trump, on the other hand, is a hair-spray cardboard cut-out of Americana. He has no discernible cultural background. He has no demonstrable education in law of any kind, other than what he has picked up of local property regulations running his corporations. In fact, other than his TeeVee personality, Trump doesn't seem to have any substance to him at all. The deepest things he's ever said would make pond scum seem positively profound. In fact, the most apt metaphor I can muster is that Trump reminds me of those little water sprites that literally run on the skin of a pond. In all fairness, I have tried to find some deep insight from the man, but frankly I come up dry. Strike 3.
I see Donald Trump as the next Ronald Reagan...all fluff and media, but very little depth and meaning. I have even seen the word "teflon" applied to Trump, meaning we are seeing a clone of Reagan already fitting out his chair in the Oval Office.
Trump is no Putin. Putin is a man of learning and inner strength. Trump is a product of the media. Putin operates from a long view of history, both Russian and global. Trump can barely spell "history". If America is trying to compete on the Manliness Scale with Putin, it will be a long row to hoe.
The one saving grace that I can truly enjoy about Trump is that he may save the US from Political Correctness and Feminism. He is unapologetic about his views and doesn't appear to care who he offends. For that, I give him a large lump of credit. I am all for anyone who can lead the US out of its long, dark teatime of the soul, as Douglas Adams so wonderfully named it. For America to begin healing itself, it must cast off the burden of Political Correctness, because frankly, if you breathe, someone will be offended by it. Who cares?
Is it enough to get me excited about Trump? No.
Trump is a symptom, not a cure. He is the natural outcome of years worth of inorganic slime dominating the American culture (such as it is). He is more likely to create the systemic abuses of the Reagan Era that America is still suffering from, than to correct the course of the "ship of state".
The natural follow-up question is, "Who do you think will win?"
Honestly? Hillary. Why? Two reasons. In American politics, there is a trend to keep the party in power going for 12 years, no matter how much damage it does. Also, however much teflon Trump appears to have, that Battle Axe appears to have many more layers than he. I mean, all the dead and dying surrounding Hillary, all the scandals and rumors, all the slime and silliness, and yet people still take her seriously. A Trump/Hillary contest should be endlessly entertaining, but still not enough to drag me out of my voting hiatus.
I prefer to complain.
And be a contrarian.
So I can say, "I told you so."