I’ll say it at the outset, lest I be misunderstood. I’m not a Donald Trump supporter.
I support many of
the ideals he seems to mock with alarming regularity. I’ve argued
against some of his harebrained ideas in my columns (No Room for
Xenophobia, for example). I detest everything the man stands for!
It would be very easy to think we could laugh him
off the stage, but we’re well past that point. He’s not the clown some
of us seem think he is. As Roger Cohen put it in the New York Times, “He
is in earnest. And he’s onto something. It is foolish not to take him
seriously.”
Just what is he on to? The mood of the country, that’s what!
This is how Cohen described the way many
Americans feel these days — “A near perfect storm for his rabble-rousing
is upon the United States. China is rising. American power is ebbing.
The tectonic plates of global security are shifting. Afghanistan and
Iraq have been the graveyards of glory. There is fear, after the killing
in California inspired by the Islamic State, of an enemy within. Over
more than a decade, American blood and treasure have been expended, to
little avail. President Obama claims his strategy against Islamist
jihadist terrorism, which he often sugarcoats as 'violent extremism,' is
working. There is little or no evidence of that.”
The fear, frustration and anger are real and
they’re widespread. We’re looking for leadership and all we see is a
massive black hole. Almost everyone in the Western world is sensing
this. The Los Angeles Times recently described how Frenchman Joseph
Camus felt after the recent Paris attacks that killed more than a
hundred: “Frustrated by the government’s failure to revive a moribund
economy, fearful of rising immigration from the Middle East and North
Africa, and convinced that recent terrorist attacks in Paris won’t be
the last, Camus says he has lost all faith in the country’s mainstream
leaders.”
Camus lives an ocean away from us, but his fear
and loss of faith are every bit as real to millions of Americans as they
are to him. We’ve lost faith in our leaders and Donald Trump has jumped
in to fill the void.
His rhetoric is reckless: “I’ll build a wall.”
“I’ll bomb the shit out of ISIS!” “I’ll put the Chinese in their place.”
“I’ll refuse to let Muslims into the country.”
Like a gunman running amok in streets, he lets
the words fly. They sound like the ravings of a madman, but they’re
striking home. The adoring throngs seem to be growing.
Why is it working? Is our leadership deficit that bad?
This past summer, ISIS was still in the business
of beheading Christians, Yazidis or anyone else they considered to be
infidels. They were expanding their caliphate into Libya, Afghanistan
and Pakistan. They were more than likely in the final stages of planning
their attack on Paris. The Iranians were launching mid-range ballistic
missiles, in violation of the agreement they’d signed in Lausanne. Syed
Rizwan Farook and Tashfeeen Malik, who killed fourteen and wounded 21 in
a terrorist rampage a few weeks ago, were more than likely discussing
jihad over candlelight dinners.
What was the President of the United States doing
this summer? He was cavorting around Alaska with Bear Grylls, preparing
for an episode of "Running Wild.” According the British tabloid the
Independent, he was sipping tea made from a wildflower called catkin and
eating the remains of a salmon that a bear had left behind.
Thankfully, the President was adequately
protected during his great adventure. He and Grylls were accompanied by a
food taster (shades of the Old Testament cup bearers), 50 Secret
Service personnel, helicopters and a few snipers, just in case ISIS was
lurking around. According to Grylls, Mr. Obama said it was “one of the
best days of his presidency.”
Good God, what was the President thinking? Did he
give any thought to the optics of his adventure? The world is on fire.
ISIS and other enemies are moving on our flanks and the President is
cavorting around Alaska. It’s like being a passenger on a jumbo,jet and
seeing that the engines are on fire while the captain is heading for the
exit wearing a parachute.
Sadly, America is in that kind of shape right
now. Our ship of state is about to go down in flames and our captain is
donning a parachute while the rest of us wait anxiously for the next
shoe to drop.
Is it any wonder, then, that a lunatic like Donald Trump is gaining in popularity?
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