The End of an Election (or a Country?)

If you sift through my blog here, you won't find many posts on politics. In the past 10 or 15 years, my interest in talking politics was similar to my interest in taking a ball-peen hammer and striking my forehead with it. So, what makes it different now?

Simple. Donald Trump.

It's difficult to remember a time when Donald Trump was not irritating us in the news. But to me, the mere thought of him running for POTUS was as realistic as Darth Vader declaring his candidacy. That's right. I give Trump the same respect as I give a fictional character in a sci-fi film.

But to my surprise, Trump did declare his candidacy, and back in the late summer of 2015, when Trump was holding rallies, my friends were getting nervous. I tried to reassure them that the primaries were months away, and by that time, the real political machines will be under way and Trump will be laughed out of the race before March 2016.

Well, as we all know, that never happened. The anxiety that my friends had that summer in 2015 about a Donald Trump candidacy was now something I felt myself. I fully expected Trump to be laughed off the stages of his rallies, but he surprised us all by defying every political predictor and convention.

Trump seemed to get away with everything, too. Call Mexican immigrants "rapists?" His poll numbers go up. Make fun of a disabled man? He dodges the heat. Call woman "pigs," "dogs," and "ugly?" His supporters are right there cheering him on. The level of this man's disregard for huge swaths of our population has been staggering to witness. And yet, at no point did it seem to affect his popularity.

That is, until the first debate with Hillary Clinton. He had a good twenty minutes before Hillary was able to pull him off-message and get him irritated. Hillary was so loose during that debate that when Donald finished a particularly scathing attack on her, she smiled. did a little shimmy, and said "Okay!" showing her eagerness to battle with Donald in debate.

Clinton won that debate because Trump simply did not prepare. Furthermore, Hillary was prepared for anything Donald could throw at her. But since Donald reverted to the debate version of a boxer wildly flailing his gloves in a windmill fashion, hoping to connect with something, Hillary was the precision boxer, tagging Donald here, tagging him there, and slowly and surely accumulating the points she needed to win.

Then, a few days before the second debate, there was the infamous leak of a 2005 video where Donald Trump and Access Hollywood co-host, Billy Bush, are heard making lascivious comments about women. Of all the bombshells in the campaign, this one hurt Trump the most and caused a drop in the polls. He made a low-quality video apology, which pundits say was more of a non-apology. He knew that this would be a question asked of him during the next debate.

The second debate was, arguably, a debate more suited to Hillary Clinton than to Donald Trump because it was a town hall format where a select number of undecided voters were selected to ask questions just a few feet away from the candidates. Hillary is very comfortable in town hall settings, but Donald seems to have trouble relating to the common American.

Almost from the start, Donald started doing something never seen in town hall debates before. He started stalking Hillary Clinton on the stage.

On several occasions, while Hillary was facing a questioner and offering an answer, Donald would walk over from behind her and stand just a few feet away like a serial killer about to pounce.

One wonders if Trump thought this was some kind of intimidating effort, but as a TV viewer, it looked more creepy than commanding. Also, when pressed on Trump's comments on the Access Hollywood video, Donald dismissed them, claimed he was a different man, and left it there. Clinton hammered him on this point, which is one of the reasons that Clinton won that debate, as well.

Then, the final debate was staged at UNLV. This would be a repeat of the first debate format, so in the minds of some pundits, all Hillary had to do was not screw up and she'd do well. For Trump, his steady decline in national poll numbers meant that he needed to win this debate decisively.

This was even more contentious than the first debate. Donald called Hillary a "criminal" for the Benghazi situation, called her "a nasty woman," while Hillary called Donald a puppet of the Putin regime in Russia. This was the first debate where the candidates did not shake hands before or after the debate, which is unprecedented in American political debates.

As with the first debate, Donald stuck to the issues for about 45 minutes and did well keeping to the issues before Hillary started rattling him with comments.

Donald failed on several opportunities to nail Hillary on some key points because he focused too much on defending himself from Hillary's accusations. This was exactly what Hillary wanted, and Trump was yet again pushed off-message. After the debate, early polls gave Hillary Clinton a clear debate win over Donald Trump by 11 points.

So now, we have the election in about two and a half weeks. Clinton supporters should be feeling good, but Trump has been seeding the clouds of discontent by claiming the election will be rigged and stolen from him.

One of Hillary's best moments un that last debate was when she detailed how often Donald blamed things that don't go his way on rigged systems. She even mentioned how after he did not win an Emmy for a season of The Apprentice, he tweeted that The Emmys were rigged. Instead of keeping his mouth shut, Donald remarked, "Should've gotten it."

But the biggest bomb to drop was moderator Chris Wallace's question to Donald Trump on whether or not he would honor the will of the people and accept the results of the election even if it did not go his way. Trump refused to say he would accept the election results.

This is not only unprecedented. It is bordering on treasonous. In a vain attempt to give himself an excuse if he loses (so it appears that it was not his fault,) he is calling into question the very foundation of our democracy. He is also communicating a strange message to his followers. After all, if the system is rigged like Trump claims it is, why would a Trump supporter vote at all? This is no incentive to vote, but a discouragement.

It is a tradition for every candidate to humbly and graciously accept the election results and concede the election to the victor. Trump says he'll keep us "in suspense," as if this was a cliffhanger on a TV show. He acts like this is his personal reality show and it's all done to enhance his brand.

(heavy sigh)

This election has been like watching a violent car crash every day for over a year. The driver of that car is Donald J. Trump. Unfortunately, if he wins the election on November 8th, Trump will be leaving the car and driving the country off a cliff.

It is horrifying to me that this cartoon character of a man has come this close to becoming the leader of the free world.

The only thing that gives me solace, or some kind of feeling that reason and intelligence may win the day on November 8th is that Hillary Clinton has a larger lead over Trump in key battleground states, making it very difficult (and maybe impossible) for him to gain the 270 electoral votes needed to win the race. At this point, something rather catastrophic would need to happen to give Trump the votes he needs, and we are only 16 days away.

16 days away from triumph or tragedy; exultation or immolation;

If you lasted this long, I do appreciate it. Let me know if you felt similar to me about Donald Trump in this election.

Take care!

Comparison Between Donald Trump and Citizen Kane

Note: If you care to watch the Orson Welles film, "Citizen Kane," and you wish to avoid spoilers, come back and read this when you are ready.

The 1941 classic film, "Citizen Kane," might offer an interesting insight into the mind and obsession of Donald Trump.

In the film, Charles Foster Kane is a rich newspaper magnate in New York City who decides to run for Governor of New York State. In the film, Kane is caught in a love affair and is threatened with exposure if he does not drop out of the race. Kane refuses the threat and pushes on. The scandal is published and Kane loses the election.

A parallel between the film and reality occurs when Kane is faced with the decision to either drop out of the race or face the embarassment of his private affair becoming public. Kane says that the only person who can decide best what he should do is Kane himself. There is a stubbornness to Kane's refusal to back down. Stubbornness and pride get in the way of sense, because to Kane, nothing can stop him from winning the election no matter what is printed about him. In the film, this turns out to be false.

The film's character echoes Donald Trump a bit because, after the vulgar and salacious 2005 Access Hollywood recording of Trump and Billy Bush was released, rather than give up, Trump doubled down on his rhetoric, much like the fictional Kane, attacking Clinton with everything he had in him, refusing to admit defeat, and vowing to a never give up.

One wonders if the same stubbornness shown by Charles Foster Kane runs through the veins of Donald J. Trump. We have yet to see the results of the election to see if Trump's strategy is a success or not.

Another similarity is Kane's absolute confidence in everything he does. He loses an election? Kane prints in his newspaper that the election was a fraud.

Trump, in the last few weeks, has been dropping in the polls, and as a reaction to this, he is seeding the clouds of discontent by publicly claiming that if Clinton should win, it will be due to the election being rigged.

Trump and Kane cannot accept defeat. When defeat is looming, they both act in the same way. It's someone else's fault. It's not a personal or professional failing, but a failing of the system or some other scapegoat.

Charles Foster Kane is never shown talking crudely about women, and in fact, he is shown to have a very human side, despite his one example of philandering.

Trump, on the other hand, has bragged of his many "conquests," and even now, as a growing number of women come forward to accuse Trump of inappropriate sexual contact, Trump's main comment is to belittle the women as "ugly," saying he would never do anything with women so "unattractive." (As if to actually admit that if they fit his skewed definition of "attractive," he'd definitely do something to them.)

Kane is never portrayed in such a light. Sure, he lives a tragic life, one without love, and he is ever searching for something only he understands. But Kane's story is one of the well-worn "rise and fall" plot. With Trump, the plot has no end, but it is fascinating to see how two characters; one fictional and one real, cross each other.

It will be interesting to see how Donald Trump handles defeat. If he follows the Charles Foster Kane pathway, Trump will go into exile somewhere, build a mighty palace, and hide from the prying eyes of the world, and die in obscurity.

We should only be so lucky.

(Since writing this article, I found this AV Club blog where it shows that Citizen Kane is Donald Trump's favorite movie. I guess Kane's like is the only one that Trump can relate to. http://www.avclub.com/article/citizen-trump-what-donalds-love-citizen-kane-revea-232301 )

Why Voting Matters

You might remember the year 2000, or as pre-Millenials used to call "Y2K." This was an election year. Democrat Al Gore was leading in electoral votes going into Florida, where Republican George W. Bush lead the state's returns by a mere 537 votes.

Think about that. 537 votes was the difference between Gore and Buch

A controversy behind "hanging chads" on ballots forced Gore to request a recount, and that decision went all the way to the US Supreme Court, who halted the recount, effectively handing the election to Bush.

Now, whatever your personal politics may be, 537 votes is a scary narrow margin. That is less than the daily number of customers to the nearest McDonald's.

I'm not going to tell you how to vote. That is your business, but I urge you to vote for the President you want, the local legislators you want, and the local Propositions you support.

There is no excuse to be idle in 2016. This country is on a precipice of political upheaval, and your vote could mean the difference between four years of an administration you despise, or one who will lead to growth, strength, compassion, and leadership.

Don't refuse to vote this year. Make your voice heard. Make your vote count. Maybe this year, the difference between the winner and loser will be less than 537.

Whatever you do, please vote. Be a part of this democratic process. It's what makes us Americans.