The Summer of Trump

Who would have thought that, after all these years of suffering through the existence of Donald Trump, that he would be bigger than ever this summer? He's always flirted with running for the presidency, but now he really seems to mean it, and these past few months have seemed to have consisted of nothing but his campaign, which more resembles a performance art piece.

Trump, with his ridiculous hair, New Yawk accent, and gargantuan ego, has always seemed a creation of fiction, like a Bond villain. His motives would appear to be nothing but feeding that ego, which is like feeding a stable full of elephants. But what's fascinating is how its has played out in the Republican candidate clown car. They hate him, but are scared of him, and won't go after him, lest they alienate his base, which they need.

Of course, it also amazing that 25 percent or so of Republicans actually choose him as their number one candidate. At this point in the race a lot of that can probably be chalked up to name recognition, but he seems to have really tapped into the dumb white person pool. They probably watch The Apprentice religiously, and since that demographic thinks smart equals rich, fancy that he does have solutions to problems. But really--do they want Donal Trump with his finger on the nuclear button?

Lately Trump has taken to building his platform on the demonization of Mexicans. We already have the stain of Islamophobia in the U.S., now it's Mexicans. He suggests that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees citizenship to those born here, would not stand up in court, showing he doesn't really understand how the law works. He wants a wall built on the border, with Mexico paying for it. Followers of his beat up legal immigrants. All this, but Bill Maher points out that he has married two immigrants.

I'm really getting sick of those who are railing about "anchor babies." Just what is the solution? That only people whose parents are citizens can be citizens? If we go back far enough, everyone is descended from an immigrant. De facto, except for American Indians, we'd all lose our citizenship. This xenophobic clamor to change an amendment that does no harm to anybody is infuriating.

But Trump's candidacy provides liberal Democrats two pleasant daydreams. The more likely is that Trump, who probably won't win any caucuses or primaries, will run as an independent candidate, which would surely give the election to a Democrat, since he would probably take up to five percent of the vote. The second, and more risky, is that he somehow does become the nominee, and while Republicans haven't gone after him (except for Megyn Kelly), the DNC will open him up like a soft nut, insuring a landslide for a Democrat. But as I said, that's risky, and falls in the "be careful what you wish for" category. Remember, we don't Trump's finger on the button. Mushroom clouds would surely be in our future.

One conspiracy theory floating around is that Trump is doing this to get Hillary Clinton elected. Though this seems unlikely, it has just enough sense to it to have me choosing to think it might be true. That would be the height of deliciousness, and the greatest hoax ever perpetrated in the history of humanity.