Donald Trump Is An Idiot, Why Are Conservatives Fascinated With Him?
Donald Trump is a twit. A bombastic, intellectually shallow, ideologically inconsistent media hound who seems to care much more about trolling the media and trending on Twitter than he does about serious matters of public policy.
Unfortunately, a lot of people seem to think he’s serious.
This evening my wife and I watched the last episode of Black Mirror
[mks_pullquote align=”right” width=”300″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#000000″ txt_color=”#ffffff”]I’m not sure who in the ever-expanding field of GOP candidates I’ll eventually support, but I do know if that if conservatives are serious about their support of Donald Trump then we deserve every hear of President Hillary Clinton we get.[/mks_pullquote]
The episode we watched was called “The Waldo Moment,” and it featured a cartoon teddy bear called Waldo who is a character on a Daily Show-style television production. The producers of the show decide, over the misgivings of the man who created and voices the character, to have Waldo enter a race for parliament as a candidate.
This turns out to be something of a coup as the foul-mouthed and crude antics of Waldo become a viral sensation.
I won’t spoil the show for you by going any further – you really should watch the episode for itself as well as the rest of the Black Mirror series – but I couldn’t help but feel as I watched that Trump is Waldo.
Not a serious candidate, but a cartoon character. A caricature of a real candidate who is only on hand to abuse rivals and troll journalists while titillating the low information masses.
Trump’s goal is not to win election to enact a platform of policies for the betterment of America. Trump’s goal isn’t even to get elected.
Trump’s goal is to keep people talking about Trump, and he’ll say whatever it takes to make that happen.
This should be obvious to the serious political observer, yet for some reason Trump’s cartoon act has found resonance with a certain sort of conservative who will embrace anyone – even a billionaire buffoon – who puts his thumb in the right media or “establishment” eyes.
Trump’s apologists tell us that he’s “starting a conversation” and that he’s drawing a lot of attention. But the Kardashians are the subject of a lot of conversation, and train wrecks also get a lot of attention.
It would be a mistake, a downright travesty, if we allow the debate about who will lead this country after 2016 to become wrapped up in a billionaire’s ego campaigned fueled by the angst of True ConservativesTM who are happy to play along to stick it to, say, Jeb Bush.
I’m not sure who in the ever-expanding field of GOP candidates I’ll eventually support, but I do know if that if conservatives are serious about their support of Donald Trump then we deserve every hear of President Hillary Clinton we get.
