I never thought it would come to this.
The Republican Party now looks as though it’s about to nominate a certifiably unfit individual for the presidency of the United States of America.
Donald J. Trump is the man.
I’ve had more conversations with fellow political junkies that I am able to count. Some of them are Trumpkins. Most are not.
To those who support Trump, I am no longer able to persuade them that they have made a huge mistake. To those who stand with me in their utter disbelief at what appears set to transpire in Cleveland this summer, I only can say: I feel your pain.
This individual’s political ascent is utterly beyond belief.
At any level imaginable, he is unfit for the office of president.
Let’s start with Trump’s personal history. He is married to his third wife. He divorced his first two wives. He produced a child with the woman who would become his second wife while he was still married to Wife No. 1. He would boast of his extramarital affairs.
His opulent lifestyle is beyond anything that virtually all Americans cannot relate.
Trump’s ignorance of policy take my breath away. He said he wouldn’t stand in the way of Japan and South Korea developing nuclear weapons as a hedge against North Korea. He utterly doesn’t understand or comprehend the reason for NATO’s existence in Europe.
How about this man’s initial statement about women deserving to be punished for obtaining an illegal abortion? Can there be anything more ridiculous than to punish a woman for making this kind of decision?
The insults have become almost too routine to chronicle. I won’t go there. You know what he’s said about his foes, about illegal immigrants, about one noted Vietnam War veteran’s captivity during that horrible conflict, people with physical disabilities.
He doesn’t understand the limits of power contained in the office he seeks. The people who wrote the Constitution built in some limits on the presidency. Trump keeps talking about all the things he intends to do unilaterally: build a wall, bring back jobs, make sure department store employees deliver “Merry Christmas” greetings to customers.
How does this buffoon keep getting support? Why, he “tells it like it is,” his supporters say. He hates “political correctness.”
Well, I never in a zillion years thought we’d get to this point.
What in the world has happened to a once-great political party?