I think anyone who seriously believes Trump is going to tone it down and suddenly start acting Presidential is dreaming. No way. That is not him. He doesn't think of himself that way. His whole shtick is to hog the limelight, to be a flamboyant showman playing to an audience of adoring fans--and to no one else. Being a serious leader, responsible to and for all citizens of the U.S., will never suit him. He might fake it for a short while, but it will wear off in short order, I guarantee it.
This week we learned that Ted Cruz and John Kasich apparently have just decided to double-team Trump, Kasich agreeing to step out of the way in Indiana and allow Cruz to prevail...and Cruz returning the favor in Oregon and New Mexico. It's the old divide and conquer strategy--one Trump calls "collusion".
I guess if you're a Trump fan, it does stink of a rigged, corrupt system--and a last ditch effort by a couple of losers to finagle a win. But if you're of the opinion (as I am) that Donald Trump in the Oval Office could possibly be the most dangerous thing that could ever befall our nation, then you probably salute that collaboration as heroic and patriotic--a move by Cruz and Kasich to momentarily put aside their own political hopes to focus instead on what is in the best interest of the country. My observation is that the polls more or less show that about 20% of us are in the former group, 40% are in the latter group, and the rest have no idea what's going on and couldn't care less.
My view of Trump as President is well-known. And, yes, I am predictably dismayed by tonight's election results in the New England states where he ran away with things as was expected. But so did Hillary Clinton. So what about her? Let me share my take on Hillary as President.
First, I will never ever vote for Trump, that is a given; so if she ends up being his opponent next fall she will likely get my vote---PROVIDED she and her running mate keep it toward the center. If, on the other hand, she picks someone like Elizabeth Warren and I see them go slipping off to the left, I will be forced to stay home on election day. While I don't exactly care for her demeanor, and I have questions about her judgment and integrity, I do get a sense that she just might be a fairly strong and decisive leader on the economy and foreign policy. I have to say, though, that I do not agree with her on social issues--or at least on what she is saying about them on the campaign trail. I'm not sure that her stump speech is really what she believes.
I have a suspicion that she is merely trying to appeal to the liberal base of the party (i.e. Bernie's people) and that, once she wins a bunch of them over and gets in office, most of her rhetoric about the plight of blacks, women, gays and such will immediately cease. In other words, I think Hillary is really a left-of-center moderate pretending for now to be a lefty. And, since I am a right-of-center moderate, there is a clear possibility I might vote for her in the fall...but with a caveat: I have to be comfortable that I won't be helping to open the door to liberal Supreme Court justices and further expansion of the progressive agenda which I feel is damaging our country severely.
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