America, are these really your best candidates for the office of President? I didn't think so.
So, why are they the only candidates? Is this what happens when we are all too busy to look up from our smartphones and think beyond the immediate? In an age where we have amazing possibilities with the proliferation of communication, we have perversely driven our tribes further apart. Worst of all, it seems that the art of politics has been relegated to those who could not succeed or be accepted elsewhere.
Nate Silver (Why Republican Voters Decided On Trump | FiveThirtyEight) puts Trump's rise down to 3 key areas: voters are more tribal, the Republican party is truly a mess, and the media has gone click-bait crazy, losing it's way as the fourth estate. There's certainly truth in all of that. "To me, the most surprising part of Trump’s nomination — which is to say, the part I think I got wrongest — is that Trump won the nomination despite having all types of deviations from conservative orthodoxy. "
Why is that? I think because no one is supporting him for his politics. They are too busy running away from their real and perceived struggles with accepting and dealing with society today. This points to the desperation level of society today, across all groups. On the party politics itself, I would agree with Friedman (Trump and the Lord’s Work - The New York Times) that the Republicans have been driving political disengagement with their uncooperative approach under Obama, after many years of the Democrats doing much the same thing with Bush. As Friedman says, we children our just sick and tired of our divorcing parents and we're going to rebel.
So, Trump may just be the drugged up, dropped out, rebel boyfriend that is needed to realize the perils of the extremes and come to our senses. Otherwise, he's dragging us into the abyss. He is running his campaign as the reality TV star he is (Inside the Unorthodox Donald Trump Campaign -- NYMag), running on a business reputation which is at best highly debatable (Business the Donald Trump Way - Fortune). The scary thing is, he actually might think people agree with his views.
The good news is, Clinton's got this. For all her faults, more groups dislike Trump more, and have enough passion about it to come out and vote, even for Hillary.
But that's not good news for America longer term. Good news would be burning up most of the legislation passed since the constitution and starting again (i.e. not the civil rights stuff etc; more thinking of the ridiculous amount of laws on tax etc.), and so letting people get passionate about the greater good again. I am sure there are many areas we could simplify and reset more suitably for today's age. It may also be time for more than two political parties.
At the starting gate: Clinton leads Trump by double-digits - CNNPolitics.com:
"The new CNN/ORC Poll...found Clinton leads 54% to 41%, a 13-point edge over the New York businessman, her largest lead since last July.
Clinton is also more trusted than Trump on many issues voters rank as critically important, with one big exception. By a 50% to 45% margin, voters say Trump would do a better job handling the economy than Clinton would.
Overall, voters are evenly split on their opinion of Clinton -- 49% see her favorably and the same share unfavorably. But a decidedly larger group (56%) see Trump unfavorably than see him favorably (41%). Trump and Clinton would be the most disliked major party nominees in CNN's polling dating back to 1992, with only two other candidates meriting less than 50% favorability heading into the election -- Mitt Romney was 44% in April 2012 and Bill Clinton was viewed positively by 42% of voters in April 1992."
Inside the Unorthodox Donald Trump Campaign -- NYMag: "If Ronald Reagan showed us that Hollywood was good training for politics, Trump is proving that the performance skills one learns in the more modern entertainment arenas are even more useful. Talk and reality shows are improvised operations, mastered by larger-than-life personalities expert at distorting and provoking, shifting and commandeering attention."
Trump and the Lord’s Work - The New York Times: "The nonstop fighting between our two political parties has left many Americans feeling like the children of two permanently divorcing parents....I think what’s propelling Donald Trump’s success more than anything is the feeling of many Americans that our politics are totally stuck."
Why Republican Voters Decided On Trump | FiveThirtyEight: "To me, the most surprising part of Trump’s nomination — which is to say, the part I think I got wrongest — is that Trump won the nomination despite having all types of deviations from conservative orthodoxy. He seemed wobbly on all parts of Reagan’s three-legged stool: economic policy (he largely opposes free trade and once advocated for a wealth tax and single-payer health care), social policy (consider his constant flip-flopping over abortion), and foreign policy (he openly mocked the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq War, which is still fairly popular among Republicans)."
Business the Donald Trump Way - Fortune: "He’s a billionaire (though maybe not as rich as he says). He claims he hates debt (but his casino companies went bust because of it). He craves press attention (but sues at the drop of a hat). What does Trump’s record tell us about how he’ll lead?"
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