The Donald
on economic and labor issues. But after passage of the 1968 Civil Rights Act they defected to the GOP. Working class southerners were thereby seduced into cutting their own economic throats by thinly-disguised hints of turning back the clock to times of states’ rights and Jim Crow rule.
Although there’s no consensus, many historians agree that Andrew Johnson, the vice president who succeeded Lincoln, primarily due to his lack of experience, was our worst president. But by having at least some political experience he was better prepared than Donald Trump.
What shocks me most is the extent of Trump’s support outside the lunatic fringe, a segment social scientists estimate to comprise about 20 percent of our population. Trump’s total following is nearly double that figure. But when I reflect on the abysmal scores of many Americans when tested on their own history and politics, things begin to come into focus. When people know little about a subject they tend to believe most anything they hear, especially if it is delivered repeatedly, emphatically and with authority.
Even Trump’s self-proclaimed business acumen is dubious. He has been through multiple bankruptcies in which business people were fleeced and Trump University was an exercise in chicanery and deception. He is not the business wizard he professes to be. Some estimate that if Trump had taken the $200 million inherited from his father and simply invested it in the broad market index stocks he would be better off financially today.
According to a recent Tampa Bay Times PolitiFact study, 78 percent of Trump’s statements were found to be largely false. Ted Cruz, incidentally, scored 66 percent, Marco Rubio 47 percent, Bernie Sanders 32 percent and Hillary actually scored best with 27 percent.
The Trump revolution is the most exciting thing that has happened recently to political punditry and journalism. They seldom have such material to help them sell soap and insurance. It’s been a laugh a minute. And let’s face it. Hillary has her good points, but she is not the most exciting candidate ever to grace the editorial pages. The Donald has been a Godsend to the media.
There is only one thing the GOP faithful should fear worse than a Trump loss in November, a Trump victory.
George B. Reed Jr., who lives in Rossville, can be reached by email at reed1600@bellsouth.net.