(Sorry, it’s politics again, but that’s the most interesting race going.)
It was just a throwaway line from a throwaway candidate. But for what seemed the umpteenth time in this 2016 presidential campaign Republican Party nominee Donald Trump allowed his undisciplined mouth to run his candidacy into the ditch of controversy just when his opponent was opening another diamond-lane opportunity for him to zoom ahead in this critical, post-convention run up to the November election.
Mr. Trump’s cryptic suggestion at a North Carolina rally yesterday concerning Mrs. Clinton’s desire to “essentially abolish the second amendment” – “By the way, if she gets to pick her (Supreme Court) judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the second amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.” – is not only the latest, but the greatest example why the man should never be allowed near 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue come January 2017.
Trump supporters and surrogates were quick to hook their in-the-ditch candidate onto a damage control tow truck and pull him back to political safety. Dismissing the assassination interpretation as ludicrous, they spun it as him talking about second amendment people unifying to vote against Clinton ever getting the chance to nominate leftee justices in the first place.
But try as they might, there was no way to clean up the wreckage. Words and their order of utterance matter, and Trump’s suggestion that the second amendment people might have a solution to Clinton’s Supreme Court mominations was spoken ex post facto, AFTER she had won the election and began nominating justices, not before.
Even giving the New York billionaire builder the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t seriously mean what he said – again, the throwaway line excuse, or the inarticulate, he’s-not-a-politician excuse – the fact that his mind is so undisciplined, so lacking in self awareness as to not understand how his words would or could be interpreted by crazies on the fringe in this time when any mention of the second amendment is an incitement against tyrannical government, is enough in itself to disqualify him from a position that requires the utmost in just that kind of tempering trait. This isn’t a matter of being PC, telling it like it is, it’s a matter of having a fundamental capacity for critical political judgement.
Presidential? Rather than growing into the position after a successful run through the Republican primaries, Trump continues to be a walking carnival barker, just trying to coax people into his gold-fringed freak show tent. And for responsible Republicans to kid themselves into thinking this blustering editorial cartoon is worthy of the office he seeks because of some sense of party loyalty, is a testament to how far off-track the party of Lincoln has gone. Any other person in the nation who made such an inflammatory statement would be facing a criminal investigation.
That much the same could be said about the Democratic candidate in regard to her private email server while serving as Secretary of State, and in the overly fluid dynamic between her State Department and the Clinton Foundation just makes all those along the mainstream Repub-Dem axis complicit in the state of our national disrepair.
Remember, it was writer Joseph de Maistre who said, “In a democracy people get the leaders they deserve.” So good luck America, you’ve got quite a future coming your way with no one left to blame but all the rubberneckers passing just the latest political accident sitting off the side of the road.
END
WANDERING IN A RUNNING WORLD 
Toni: Clinton must thank her lucky stars every day that she’s running against Trump. If she were running against Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan or even Marco Rubio, she’d be behind by double digits. They are both deeply flawed candidates, and like you and so many other people, I am torn as to what to do. I actually may end up voting for the Libertarian ticket. Both Johnson and Weld were very popular Republican governors in blue states. What I like about them is that both believe in a woman’s right to choose, they believe that gays should have the right to marry and Johnson is all in favor of legalizing pot(!) They’re not isolationists, but they’re not interventionists, either. I hope they’re able to make it to the debates. Of course, the way things are going with Trump, he may not be debating anyway. He’s setting the stage for his refusal to debate, there’s no way someone with the attention span of a gnat could sit through debate prep. Jeez…even Sarah Palin took on that challenge.
Well said, Claudia. It’s the Dems and Repubs together who have rigged the system to keep all other viable candidates out.
Toni:
I actually fear for our country if Donald Trump is allowed anywhere close to the proximity of the White House… even as a guest! I really don’t understand how a guy who has gotten as far as he has over the last year….just can’t harness that reckless mouth of his. In today’s fragile world of geopolitics….words really do matter…. especially from certain people… in important positions! Unfortunately, Donald Trump is just “out of control” and any notion that he might be brought back “under control” by the right V-P or advisor or staff…. is pure silliness and dangerously delusional. If his candidacy doesn’t kill the GOP party… it could set them back decades!
However, your last two paragraphs point out that the other major party nominee, Hillary Clinton, is also fraught with millstones around her neck from past “errors in judgement” in several positions of responsibility… and “business deals going back 26 years”…. or “Clinton Foundation work” that she just can’t pull away from “the Donald” and leave his candidacy in the dust. With all the mistakes and problems that Trump creates on an almost weekly basis, Clinton should be 20 points ahead of him in the polls right now… but she isn’t. Geez, this is almost making me long for a return of Ross Perot! Most Texans will tell you that he was a narcissist as well…. but in a much more lovable way!
Add my name to the long list of people who espouse the “none of the above” position… but, sadly, where does that truly leave us? The Libertarian Party candidate? Unless something totally unexpected happens over the next 60 days or so… this will be the most difficult election of my lifetime… and a sad, low watermark for the USA.
Sad is the operative word.
Toni, as I posted on FB:
“To any of my remaining Republican friends I have on here: You loved Reagan, and I actually voted for him in 1980, but I didn’t like him in hindsight. BUT HE WASN’T A MADMAN. I’m sure you voted for George H. W. Bush, I didn’t, BUT HE WASN’T A MADMAN. I have no doubt you voted for Bob Dole, I didn’t. BUT HE WASN’T A MADMAN. You voted twice for George W. Bush, I despise the man. BUT HE WASN’T A MADMAN. You likely voted for John McCain, I didn’t but actually thought he would have been ok. BUT HE WASN’T A MADMAN. You likely voted for Romney, I didn’t. BUT HE WASN’T A MADMAN.
Do you get what I’m saying? Compared to ANY Republican you ever voted for, Trump is a MADMAN.”
👍
Toni, I don’t understand what your gripe is with this guy. He’s a “terrific” candidate. Just ask him.
(Lest you take me seriously, I’m just kidding!)