My days as a political prognosticator are long gone.
I have been given several hints that I’m no longer able to predict political outcomes. They occur every time a prediction turns out to be, umm, wrong!
Not everyone has gotten the message, apparently, that I’m through making these predictions.
My wife and I were shopping for groceries the other day. I’m standing in the aisle with our shopping cart and a gentleman walks by, stops, looks at me and out of the blue asks: Does Trump have a chance?
I don’t know this gent. Never seen before in my entire life. My wife believes he recognized my picture from the days I wrote for the Globe-New here in Amarillo.
Man, the guy’s got a memory and a half; I left that gig more than three years ago!
My answer? Normally, I’d say “no.” But this is no ordinary election year.
And that brings me to why I’ve given up predicting anything.
Donald Trump continue to lead the pack of Republican presidential contenders/pretenders. And for the ever-lovin’ life of me, I don’t know why.
He denigrated John McCain’s Vietnam War service and declared he was a war hero only because he was captured by the North Vietnamese, who held him captive for more than five years and beat him within an inch of his life — on multiple occasions.
That did it, I said at the time. Trump is finished.
But oh-h-h-h no! There would be more.
He imploded at that initial GOP candidate joint appearance at the question posed by Megyn Kelly of Fox News about his views of women. Then he made that hideous remark about Kelly spewing blood “from her whatever.” That would do it, right? Hardly.
Then he poked fun at fellow Republican candidate Carly Fiorina’s appearance. Everyone in the country knew what he meant when he wondered whether anyone would vote for someone “with that face.” Trump said he was talking about her “persona.” Sure thing, Donald.
One more? Sure. How about when he said most recently that if Ivanka Trump weren’t his daughter, “I’d be dating her”? Who … on God’s Earth talks about their children like that?
There are other incidents. I dare not call them “gaffes,” because many among the Republican faithful seem to love this guy in spite of his serial tastelessness.
The McCain statement should have done him in. So should his remark about Kelly, or his quip about Fiorina, or his hideous reference to his daughter.
I was certain we would witness the end of this guy’s so-called “candidacy.”
Silly me. I was wrong, but I take small comfort in that other observers were wrong, too.
That’s how wacky this election cycle has gone.
Actions and statements that used to pass as committing political suicide have now become some kind of weird badge of honor.
How in the world do you ever hope to predict an outcome based on what you hear from the likes of Donald Trump?
That’s why I no longer won’t even try.
This is no normal election season.
