Trump won’t win and America will remain great
WASHINGTON—We had no idea this would be so painful, but we’re actually making progress of sorts in finding a Republican for Hillary Clinton to run against next year.
Take heart, fellow citizens. In a few months, we’ll see that polls are just fleeting snapshots and that we will not be electing a narcissist, racist, lying, spewer of hate (Donald Trump) or a science-denying, foreign-affairs-know-nothing (Ben Carson) or the scion of a famous family who hasn’t been able to convince anyone he wants to be president (Jeb Bush).
Of course, we’ll still be left with a loudmouth bully (Chris Christie); a clever but insufferable tea party showoff (Ted Cruz); an unproven, young upstart who has no respect for process (Marco Rubio); a guy who lost his Senate seat and once likened homosexuality to bestiality, which he now regrets (Rick Santorum); a former Fox News host, preacher and ex-governor whose statements have been 41 percent false or mostly false (Mike Huckabee); a sitting governor who alienates the base of his party (John Kasich); a fired CEO who loves attacking but hasn’t enough money (Carly Fiorina); a retired former governor whose name people can’t remember (George, uh, Pataki); a hawkish senator from the South who has no base (Lindsey Graham); a libertarian senator who touts isolationism (Rand Paul); and a former governor who can’t get on the debate stage (John Gilmore).
Trump has shown himself to be cruel (he mocked a reporter with disabilities and then lied about not knowing him.) He lies repeatedly. Currently, he insists thousands of New Jerseyans cheered the fall of the twin towers on 9/11; they did not. He is a shameless braggart who can never admit when he’s wrong. He cannot be elected president in a general election because he is losing women and independent voters by a 2-to-1 margin. In the end, the majority of Republican voters will not nominate an angry white male bigot who has publicly, insistently said awful things about immigrants, women, minorities, and, basically, anyone who isn’t rich and intolerant like he is.
Trump has sucked up all the air because conservative Americans are angry about the country’s problems and don’t trust the media to tell them the truth. They find Trump’s shameless, nonsensical braggadocio—he says whatever pops into his head—to be refreshing. For example, he happily touts torture (and gets great applause from people who don’t realize this means captured Americans also will be tortured) and boasts he’d kill the families of Islamic State members, whether they are guilty of terrorism or not.
America under Trump would be an immoral place with no credibility or true allies abroad, with growing chaos and inequality at home and with reinvigorated and jubilant enemies. It won’t happen.
So, who will it we be? However heated the finale of the election season is, there is no American identity crisis.
America will continue to fight terrorists but will worry about more war and the well-being of our armed forces. New moves to restore the middle class will be made; businesses will start hiring and stop hoarding profits. Americans will not deny climate change and its horrific ramifications for this country and others. New plans will be carried out to improve our decaying infrastructure and rebuild the manufacturing base.
We will continue to have the world’s best universities and we will make a better effort to keep the brilliant foreign students we educate and make college more affordable. We will continue to debate the smartest, fairest ways to treat 11 million undocumented immigrants; eventually, we will agree on a plan.
We will make progress on curing diseases. We will continue to be a charitable and generous people. The announcement by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan that they will give away their $45 billion fortune is quintessentially American.
We will always get giddy over our sports teams and our athletes’ accomplishments. We will go overboard for our holiday celebrations, our patriotic extravaganzas and love for our families and this country.
America has a proud destiny. Relax. Trump will not derail it.