A few thoughts on Trump getting the nomination

There isn’t much to be said that the late-night comedians (Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Larry Wilmore) haven’t already said.  It’s ridiculous, ludicrous, and frightening.

But I’m not sure what concerns the Republican establishment more:

1) that a narcissistic, sociopathic, bully, entitled buffoon who wants to put his name on everything and bang his daughter (thanks Trevor Noah), and could send us into nuclear WWIII with the entire world (even our allies) through his quick insults, is their nominee,

2) that he has said things which make many of us–even the ones who recognize that labeling everything “Hitler” or “Nazi” is a weak argument–think of Hitler and the Nazis,

3) that he’s most likely going to lose in a landslide to Hillary Clinton, leading to another four years of a Democratic president (a great thing, yeah, but they’d hate it because they want to dismantle all the good things Obama accomplished, like the AHC Act),

4) or that he’s thumbing his nose at much of the Republican platform.  It was really weird recently to realize that Clown Prince Trump is more moderate than, say, Cruz, whose very name makes me }}}shudder{{{ .

It was amusing watching the clips on TV of how my birth state received Cruz }}}shudder{{{ .  No, I don’t believe Indiana has the Wisconsin reputation for being uber-nice, which is probably where my acerbic sense of humor came from, even though I have to keep it in check around the hubby.

Every election cycle, I hope for the best candidates to be put up so that even if the other guy wins–which is usually the case–I won’t feel like the city/state/country is going to go down in flames.  The GOP had some decent candidates, many of which I would’ve greatly preferred, such as Kasich.  Instead, it’s turning out to be Trump vs. Hillary, even though Bernie is still fighting on (Go Bernie!  Feel the Bern!).

Yeah, I know Bernie’s policies could put us hugely in debt, but remember, President is NOT King.  We have a huge Congress to keep the President in check (which is why Obama has, sadly, been unable to do much of what he’s wanted to do, especially closing the notorious Guantanamo).  Also, character matters a great deal, which is why so many of us don’t want Trump–and, by the way, why so many don’t want Hillary.  At least Bernie has character.

On the one hand, seeing Trump clinch the nomination isn’t so terrible when I realize that the Democrats are now almost certain to win the Presidency in November, so there’s little chance of him becoming the President anyway.

Except–Well, that’s what people said about him becoming the nominee.  :{  :O  Better read up on how they used to escape from WWII POW camps, because we might need some escape ideas when they start rounding up the Muslims for concentration camps.  😛

Which one will eat fewer of your children?

Germans know fascism when they see it.

While Americans can joke about “Soup Nazis” and Hitler mustaches, Germans know firsthand what it means when a failed businessman moves from a fringe candidate to a leader who takes over your democracy and burns everything to hell.

I learned this, repeatedly, while I was in Germany for a weeklong lecture on the 2016 U.S. presidential election hosted by the State Department and German officials.

As I hopped from one beautiful, Old World city to another, from Hamburg to Frankfurt to Munich to Berlin, every person I spoke to said that the rise of business mogul-turned-reality-TV star-turned-GOP front-runner Donald Trump reminded them of the early stages of Adolf Hitler’s rise to power.

…At a reporter’s roundtable in Frankfurt with Germany’s version of NPR, someone asked me for the hundredth time, “Can Donald Trump actually win the American election?” I gave my boilerplate answer regarding the numbers, his behavior, the nation’s temperament; that a Trump presidential win in 2016 just doesn’t seem that likely.

Then an older woman, maybe in her 60s, who’d been anxiously listening, started talking.

“I guess I’m the oldest here, so I’ll just come out and say it,” she said, looking around the room. “You say he can’t win, you say not enough people take him seriously, you say not in your democracy. We were saying the same thing in 1933.” –Jason Johnson, To Germans, There’s Something Familiar About Donald Trump