There was a moment in 2008 when Sarah Palin was revealed. It was during an interview by Katie Couric when Couric idly asked her what newspapers Palin read. The then-Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate gave an answer that told us everything we had suspected about her.
“All of ‘em,” she said, which, when Couric mildly pressed her on that nonsensical answer, was quickly revealed to mean, “none of them.” Now the crazy claim that she was somehow an expert on Russia because, “when Putin flies to the United States,” he flew right over her state, and, anyway, she could see Russia from Alaska, made sense. Oh, and the Bush Doctrine, and her lack of knowledge about it? Well, yeah, of course she didn’t know what it was, since she didn’t read any newspapers, and clearly didn’t know anything otherwise.
As time went on, we saw more of Palin’s emptiness until she became a laughing stock, not just on “Saturday Night Live,” but in person. Her most recent endorsement of Donald Trump was the latest episode as she prattled on without having a clue about him or anything he purportedly stands for. Trump was almost as clueless in seeking her endorsement, as if she would swing any votes his way. Instead, she became the first evidence that he is as vacuous as she, at least when it comes to political acumen. His subsequent endorsements by Chris Christie and Ben Carson have been similarly unimpressive, yet revealing. The latest endorsement Trump is bragging about is by Senator Jeff Sessions of Oklahoma, who has achieved his own level of infamy by being one of the most outspoken climate-change deniers in the U.S. Senate.
But Trump’s empty-headed endorsements only hint at the man’s lack of substantive expertise. As interviews conducted last week (especially in the “town hall” on MSNBC, hosted by Chris Matthews) revealed, Donald Trump is not only unqualified to be president, he hasn’t even studied the issues sufficiently to avoid embarrassing himself (Palin-style) when questioned even casually.
The first of Trump’s revealing answers on the Matthews’ town hall followed a question by a young woman in the audience. She asked him, essentially, what his views were on abortion. Trump answered candidly that he opposed it, that he favored the pro-life position.
Matthews then picked up on the subject by asking Trump what he thought should happen to the woman who had an abortion if it were made illegal. Trump responded that the woman would have to be punished somehow. Matthews followed up, and Trump, attempting to sidestep the question, made it even worse by saying that some women would then have to revert to back alley solutions and the like.
Matthews could have followed that line, which may have even been more embarrassing for Trump, but instead he hammered away on the criminal sanctions side of it, and Trump, clearly never having given the matter any real thought, said that there would have to be a punishment. At one point, he said the states would have to decide, but Mathews wasn’t letting him off the hook. Finally, the candidate said that even though he always has an answer for everything, he didn’t have one for this issue, other than that the woman would have to be punished.
The reaction to Trump’s gaffe was swift and it came from all sides. Even the pro-life movement was mortified (although in fact, the criminalization of abortion would have to place the woman who consented to an abortion in the position of at least aiding and abetting in the crime). The Trump campaign quickly tried to pull back on the candidate’s statements, but by then, they were all over the social media.
And so were Trump’s comments about using nuclear weapons – another area he obviously hadn’t given any thought to. When Matthews asked him about his willingness to use nuclear weapons, Trump boldly (and stupidly) replied that he would never take them off of the table (that’s the negotiating table, which in Trump’s world is where everything gets resolved).
He wouldn’t even acknowledge that he’d never use them in Europe, which is bound to make our European allies feel just great. He had previously stated that Japan and South Korea should probably get their own nuclear arsenal rather than have the U.S. provide protection for those countries against North Korea’s nuclear capability. On that point, President Obama was quick to respond to The Donald’s remarks, and if there was ever a time for going partisan, this was the time.
“The person who made the statements,” the President said (not bothering to mention Trump by name), “doesn’t know much about foreign policy, or nuclear policy, or the Korean peninsula, or the world generally.” Yeah, that about sums it up.
So, in light of these revelations about his seeming ignorance on matters of considerable consequence, what are we to make of this man who claims to want to be president?
And the answer is that he is a fool’s candidate, not unlike the emperor in Hans Christian Anderson’s story about the emperor’s new clothes, which, of course, weren’t clothes at all. The emperor in the story was a vainly egotistical man who believed he was clothed in a great new suit by his tailors. In truth, of course, he was butt naked, so full of himself that he couldn’t see how ill-suited he was for his position.
Donald Trump is cut of the same cloth, if you will. He is so massively egotistical that he actually believes he has answers to questions he really hasn’t even thought about. Much like the emperor in the story, he doesn’t realize how vapid and naked he appears when he speaks on subjects he knows nothing about. And much like the emperor’s subjects, the voters who are enamored of Trump are blind to the bare truth that he is an empty suit.
In the story, the emperor and his new clothes were finally revealed for what they were by a young child. Donald Trump should soon be similarly viewed by the Republican electorate, now that he has finally been revealed for what he is. Despite his large lead to date in the delegate race, he should now be seen as wearing no clothes and having no clue.
If he isn’t, then he will lead the Republican Party to a massive defeat in the fall, thence, much like Ms. Palin, never to be taken seriously again.
Ed, I’m interested in you thoughts on this:
Inflation-adjusted federal tax revenues hit a record $1.48 trillion for the first half of fiscal year 2016, but the federal government still ran a $461 billion deficit during that time, according to the latest monthly Treasury Department statement.
Treasury receipts include tax revenue from individual income taxes, corporate income taxes, social insurance and retirement taxes, unemployment insurance taxes, excise taxes, estate and gift taxes, customs duties, and other miscellaneous items.
In the first half of fiscal 2016, which included the months of October, November, December, January, February, and March, the amount of taxes collected by the federal government outpaced the first half of all previous fiscal years, even after adjusting for inflation. The 2016 fiscal year begins on Oct. 1, 2015, and runs through Sept. 30, 2016.