I have been utterly stupefied lately by voters expressing remorse after getting exactly what they voted for. Not least because it was plain to see in each case what the fallout would be.
Cases in point:
Greek voters buying the Syriza promise that they could have their euro and spend it too with respect to their country’s unsustainable debts; whereas they are now living under even more onerous debt-servicing conditions than ever before.
I warned it would be thus in “Greece a Tumor Growing in Europe,” May 15, 2012, and “EU Calling Greece’s Bluff … Finally,” June 29, 2015.
British voters buying the Leave promise that they can leave the EU and retain all of the benefits but none of the burdens of membership; whereas they are now finding that their “special status” with the EU will be no more special than that of Turkey and India.
I warned it would be thus in “Brexit: Forget Leaving, Britain a Greater EU Contagion If It Remains,” June 22, 2016, and “Brexit: Britain Exits, the Die is Cast,” June 24, 2016.
Ohio voters buying the NRA promise of an open-carry law guaranteeing peace and security; whereas they are now being terrorized by so many gun-toting wackos that the police chief has asked the governor to suspend the law.
I warned it would be thus in “The Second Amendment and Gun Control,” December 19, 2012, and “’Under the Gun’ Appeals to Common Sense of NRA Members. Good Luck With That,” May 16, 2016.
American voters buying the Trump promise to “Make America Great Again;” whereas they are now finding that he has triggered a virtual civil war within the Republican Party and will likely trigger the same in the country at large … if elected president.
I warned it would be thus in “Trump for President? Don’t Be a Sucker,” April 8, 2011, and “Republicans Bewailing Trump as Their Nominee…,” June 8, 2016.
This last and most important case warrants a little more venting….
Foremost, I urge American voters to bear this contagion of voters’ remorse in mind, especially as you watch that Trump-brand infomercial masquerading as the 2016 Republican National Convention play out in Cleveland this week.
American voters would do well to appreciate the difference between Hillary’s populist policies and Trump’s demagogic blandishments. After all, her policies are aimed at governing in the best interest of all Americans; whereas his blandishments are aimed at nothing more than getting him elected president – period!
But, frankly, it’s a toss up whether Trump will get Americans to emulate the Greeks and Brits by voting their insecurities, prejudices, and fears; or whether Hillary will get them to defy this year of the demagogue by voting their common sense.
What is certain is that, if they gamble on Trump, he will be the only winner. But any voter with half a brain must consider it a big tell that Trump is having family members headline every night of this convention.
Granted, this reflects his unbounded narcissism, which will be on display as he breaks convention protocol to appear on stage every night himself. But it also reflects the fact that no distinguished or self-respecting leader in the Republican Party wants anything to do with his nomination.
It speaks volumes in this respect that Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the former presidential candidate, has declared his intent to use Trump’s nominating convention not to endorse Trump, but to remind voters why he (Cruz) would have been a better nominee.
Mind you, this is the same Cruz who, just months ago, was taking cheap shots at Trump by calling him a “serial philanderer.” Not to mention truly damning him as follows:
This man is a pathological liar. He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth.
(NBC News, May 3, 2016)
Perhaps most telling, though, is the writer’s remorse Tony Schwartz is suffering today. He just happens to be the ghostwriting brains behind The Art of the Deal – the book Trump claims contains the blueprint for his business success and will serve as the same to “Make America Great Again.”
Yet here is what Schwartz is saying about having “created Trump,” making this ghostwriter, according to his colleagues, the “Dr. Frankenstein” of American politics:
I put lipstick on a pig. I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is. I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization.
(The New Yorker, July 25, 2016 Issue)
Frankly, I have given up wondering what it’s going to take for Trump’s supporters to come to their senses. Not least because they actually think he’s more honest and trustworthy than Hillary. This, despite reports by organizations like Pulitzer Prize-winning Politifact, which show that Trump is the biggest liar in the history of presidential campaigns.
Indeed, nothing betrays the surreality of this campaign quite like the media narrative casting Hillary as a pandering liar and Trump as a politically incorrect truth teller. After all, Politifact (June 29) rates 78 percent of the claims Trump makes as either false, mostly false, or pants-on-fire false; whereas it rates only 28 percent of those Hillary makes as such.
This is why I cannot overstate that the Trump phenomenon says far more about his supporters than the man himself. Not to mention the long-term danger inherent in his supporters aping and thereby “normalizing” his self-aggrandizing, mendacious, boorish, ignorant, sexist, misogynistic, xenophobic, racist (etc.) behavior.
In any case, I am all too mindful that the purportedly smart people of Britain were stupid enough to vote for Brexit without fully understanding the consequences. Hell, despite the disastrous precedent the purportedly dumb President Bush set by invading Iraq without preparing for the fallout, the purportedly smart President Obama was stupid enough to do the same in Libya.
Therefore, nobody should be surprised if the purportedly dumb people of the United States are stupid enough to vote for Trump without fully understanding the consequences.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Related commentaries:
Syriza…
Brexit…
NRA …
Trump…
* This commentary was originally published yesterday, Monday, at 7:01 p.m.