Tag Archives: Trump

“Greatest Spectacle” Indeed

I have been heartened by the effort to get the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to retract its invitation to Donald Trump, who is inexplicably scheduled to drive the pace car at this year’s Indy 500. Granted that the invitation was extended before Trump’s most recent (successful) effort to embarrass himself, it was still baffling. Trump is one of those increasingly numerous figures known for being known, rather than for any contribution to society. (Granted, he is entertaining in much the same way a car wreck is entertaining, but I doubt that analogy was what the folks at the Speedway had in mind.)

Trump is the perfect “Ugly American,” a symbol of everything most of us teach our children NOT to be: pompous, uninformed, narcissistic, tasteless and erratic. If he has redeeming characteristics, I’ve missed them.

I hope the Speedway officials take the “dump Trump” movement seriously. Otherwise, this year’s “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” will be remembered as a different kind of spectacle.

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Better to be Thought a Fool than to Open Your Mouth and Remove All Doubt

Donald Trump. Need I say more?

Trump has actually trumped the buffoonery displayed by his birtherism. Today, he is being quoted as saying that President Obama wasn’t smart enough to go to an Ivy League school. This is a none-too-thinly veiled attempt to paint Obama as the beneficiary of affirmative action. (Perhaps he was worried that the racism of his prior attacks had been too subtle?)

The most depressing thing I can say about contemporary America is that it includes a not-insignificant number of people who actually take gasbag self-promoters like The Donald seriously.

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Politics as Farce

That anyone–anywhere–is taking “The Donald” seriously is a black mark on America.

This megalomaniac with really, really bad hair, whose most salient characteristic is a breathtaking lack of self-awareness, is busy pandering to the very worst elements in our political system–much as he has pandered to our obsession with money and celebrity. As a side show, I suppose some may find him moderately amusing, if bad taste and cluelessness are your thing. As a presidential contender, not so much.

On the other hand, the shamelessness with which he is playing to the Tea Party folks makes it abundantly clear what truly motivates them: hatred of Obama. Not the real, flesh and blood person who occupies the White House, but the idea of Obama. “Birtherism” is simply a slightly less obvious attack on Obama’s race. The other attacks flow from that central conviction: a black President is unthinkable, illegitimate.

Was there intense hatred of George W. Bush? Absolutely. But it developed over time, as Bush took actions that enraged many citizens. Even after the disaster of the hanging chads and the Supreme Court’s intervention, there was partisan disapproval but not the white-hot anger that developed as Bush revealed himself through word and deed. That is not the case with Obama; he was the object of searing personal attacks before he even assumed the office. You don’t have to agree with everything he’s done (and I don’t–especially his continuation of Bush’s national security policies) to recognize the difference.

But even the most reactionary among us surely don’t hate Obama–or America–enough to consider Donald Trump anything but the shallow side-show he is.

Right?

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