Trump and Clinton battle it out last night in Vegas.
"Surely, he's not about to stage a coup. But he threatens the very foundations of what this nation is about" - Bob Schieffer, commenting on Trump's unwillingness to say he would accept the election results in last night's third presidential debate.
Does one need to watch an entire two hour verbal 'cage match' to know at this point whom he or she will be voting for? Let me put it this way: (having already completed my Colorado mail ballot barely minutes ago), if I'd instead been in Vegas yesterday evening I'd have opted to play the slots at the Bellagio rather than attend the circus at UNLV. To put it in concise perspective, it was nearly as big a farce as the last debate. Oh, it was also more a snark fest than a "debate".
So, I've already voted, unlike the knuckle heads who still profess to be "undecided" - like one Univ. of Southern Nevada dope quoted this morning: "I dunno. I guess I should have been reading more and researching but I just wasn't up to it". Then, do you admit you are a moron who shouldn't be casting a ballot, period? Probably not.
In my case, I knew what my votes would be across the Colo. ballot (including amendments) and so had no problem filling it out then sending it off. After which I could finish watching the Cubbies take out LA in the NLCS then go to the "debate" on the DVR list - only to see critical segments that defined it. All I could say in the aftermath of even those select views, is that anyone still undecided is a halfwit.
Not surprisingly, there was no handshake between the combatants before or after the contest, but this was to have been expected given the lingering bad blood between both candidates. This has not been helped by some of their followers transgressing the boundaries of propriety. For the Dems, there was the disreputable fire bombing of a Trump campaign HQ in NC mere days ago, clearly done by mentally deranged "despicables" . For the Republicans and Trump, it was the death threats and hate messages sent to the editor and publisher of The Arizona Republic for endorsing Hillary Clinton.
C'mon people, we have to grow up and get beyond this infantile, peevish behavior. This was also made worse, much worse, when Trump asserted last night his refusal to be willing to endorse the results of the election. This is unheard of in American history, and as CBS commentator Bob Schieffer observed in the aftermath it "threatened the foundations of our democracy". The implication being, ok you don't accept the voters' will, so what are you going to do about it?
But maybe this ought to have been expected. When Fox-based moderator Chris Wallace pressed Trump on that position he barked: “I will look at it at the time,” Adding, "I will keep you in suspense.” Trying to be coy, Trump ended up sounding crazy and like his brain had been infested by parasites.
John Dickerson (moderator of 'Face the Nation') made the most percipient observation on Trump's remarks this morning:
"There are irregularities in elections, sure. But Donald Trump is overstating the case to undermine the legitimacy of the election, either to get himself out of what might be a bad result or to whip up his supporters, saying: 'This election is being stolen from you, watch out!'
Can anyone say sore loser?
If we eliminate worm parasites in Trump's febrile brain then one can only conclude the guy has the EQ (emotional quotient) of a 3-year old. He delivered the petulant response of a child who prefigures his displeasure if he might not like the outcome of a game. It's telegraphing also that he has no business in the competitive political arena if he refuses to even accept the outcome. As Steve Schmidt put it, Trump "disqualified himself as a serious candidate" right there and then, given he "attacked the very foundation of our Constitution and democracy". (Clinton described her rival’s refusal to accept the outcome of the election, which takes place in less than three weeks, as “horrifying")
Another commentator on MSNBC referenced "weaponizing the presidential election" which Trump already did by his incessant references to it being "rigged", or "stolen" as through "voter fraud". But how is that happening if states control the electoral process and 31 of the 50 states are run by Republican governors. Is Trump saying that even the governors of his own party are rigging the election? John Kasich, of Ohio, dismissed that notion yesterday morning on CBS as total idiotic nonsense. (Though one must question what transpired in 2004 with all the Diebold voting machines evidently switching votes electronically from Kerry to Bush, as demonstrated in the documentary: 'As Ohio Goes So Goes the Nation'.)
Be that as it may, there are many millions of dumb clucks around this country who will believe Trump's specious charges, simply because Trump has repeated it so often. Well, he's following Hitler's old playbook as when the Fuhrer once said:
"If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed."
And the rigging of a general election in all the states is certainly an enormous lie. Also, Trump has certainly repeated it frequently enough in the past 10 days.
But perhaps we ought to have anticipated Trump's remarks given they capped a contentious, uncivil altercation in which he clashed with Clinton over abortion, gun rights, immigration and foreign policy.
Trump did manage to keep his composure for maybe 40 minutes, but as former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt put it, "the wheels came off" once Hillary began landing her blows - which actually more got under Trump's skin than bruising it. As for the actual bruising, Trump accomplished most of that himself.
Some commentators asserted the debate was "shockingly substantive" but I didn't find that at all. For example, in the interlude on abortion, Trump - who previously was for abortion rights - parroted objections that came right from the anti-abortion manual. I.e. "willing to rip a child out of the womb after nine months". Bob Schieffer also picked up on that, noting "No woman carries a fetus for eight and a half months then decides she wants to have an abortion."
On other issues like the economy, Trump's responses were equally daft, rehearsed and impractical, i.e. saving "entitlements" using gigantic tax cuts. All of this was recycled piffle not worth any intelligent person's investment of too much time or credence.
The best line of the night went to Hillary: “Every time Donald thinks things are not going in his direction, he claims whatever it is, is rigged against him.” Adding that he has, at various times in this election cycle, accused the FBI, Republican primary process and judicial system of being corrupt and cooperating to undermine him.
She followed that with another zinger:
“There was even a time when he didn’t get an Emmy for his TV program three years in a row and he started tweeting that the Emmys were rigged.”
“Should have gotten it!” Trump interjected, whereupon the audience erupted in laughter, most clearly thinking "Jeezus, this dope just proved her point!" Trump confirmed that take earlier today when he bloviated: "I will accept the results of the election....if I win." Sorry, bozo, the whole premise of the democratic election process is to accept the results even if you don't win. The alternative is to embrace the "banana republic" model.
Clearly, the very concept of losing gracefully is beyond this carny barker's capacity. But given he has no moral capacity, it makes sense he'd never acknowledge losing - whether an Emmy or a presidential election.
The sooner we are done with 'the Donald' and his three ring freak show the better. We can only hope his voters acknowledge when they have lost and don't go batshit crazy when the results come in after two more weeks. If they do riot, start trouble, there are always those RF radiation "vomit" weapons to put them back in their places:
The best thing the Trumpies can do if the election doesn't go their way, is to suck it up, take it like adults and move on. And don't even think of trying to delegitimize HRC via "impeachment"
Maybe they can even show their clown prince how to take a defeat when the people - the majority - have spoken!
See also:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/richard-eskow/69459/our-long-national-debate-nightmare-is-over
No comments:
Post a Comment