USA: “Dump the Trump!”
The US presidential election is never a simple matter. It is always an elaborate and complicated process that goes on for at least two years, with a large number of candidates from the two major parties, plus several minor ones, stepping up and falling off until only one candidate and one vice-presidential running mate is left in each party. Then follows two to three months of campaigning, and finally the election itself in early November.
In all that time, some other democratic nations change government two or three times. For instance, just a few months ago America’s closest ally, the United Kingdom, organized and conducted a national plebiscite, voted itself out of the European Union (EU), took down one Prime Minister and adopted another—all in a matter of weeks. No wonder the US process excites more boredom than enthusiasm—like: wake me up when it’s over!
Some US presidential elections are beyond complicated, they are extraordinary, each in its own way. This year’s election is extraordinary in that for the first time one major party’s candidate is a woman, and the other major party’s candidate has been called everything but “madman” by responsible members of his own party. Just this past week, 30 senior Republican Party politicians denounced Donald Trump as a “disgraceful” and “unacceptable danger” who is unfit to serve as president and must be rejected at the polls. In an open letter to their party colleagues they warned: “Our party’s nominee this year is a man who makes a mockery of the principles and values we have cherished and which we sought to represent in Congress. . . .
“Given the enormous power of the office, every candidate for president must be judged rigorously in assessing whether he or she has the competence, intelligence, knowledge, understanding, empathy, judgment, and temperament necessary to keep America on a safe and steady course.
“Donald Trump fails on each of those measures, and he has proven himself manifestly unqualified to be president. . . .
“[He] insults women, mocks the handicapped, urges that dissent be met with violence, seeks to impose religious tests for entry into the United States, and applies a de facto ethnicity test to judges. . . .
“He offends our allies and praises dictators. His public statements are peppered with lies. He belittles our heroes and insults the parents of men who have died serving our country.
“Every day brings a fresh revelation that highlights the unacceptable danger in electing him to lead our nation. . . . We urge our fellow Republicans not to vote for this man whose disgraceful candidacy is indefensible. This is no longer about our party; it’s now about America.”
The very next day, an amazing 2005 video surfaced in which Donald Trump, in private conversation with a group of men, and apparently unaware that the microphones were open, describes in boastful and graphic detail his habit of pouncing on women, groping them, kissing them, grabbing their private parts:
“You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. . . . And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. . . . Grab them by the p—-. You can do anything.” Then he bemoaned his failure to seduce one married woman. “I moved on her and I failed, I’ll admit. . . . I did try and f— her. She was married. And I moved on her very heavily. . . . I moved on her like a bitch.”
The airing of this tape hit the US political public like a bombshell. Trump’s smug apology, which came many hours later, didn’t help matters at all. He said: “This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course — not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended.”
If anyone was offended? And what has Bill Clinton got to do with this?
Republican Party heavyweights were devastated. A new phalanx of senators, congressmen and governors denounced Trump and withdrew their support. “Trump is not a good role model for children,” said one lady politician. “No apology can excuse away Donald Trump’s reprehensible comments degrading women,” said former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. “Hitting on married women? Condoning assault? Such vile degradations demean our wives and daughters and corrupt America’s face to the world,” said 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
All this was just two days before the Second Presidential Debate. Trump was being pressured to step down. The Party could not legally remove him; he had to voluntarily withdraw. But Trump dug in and declared he would never step down. On Sunday he came to the Debate, hovered menacingly over Hillary, called her a liar nine times, said if elected he would have her prosecuted and jailed. It was the wild, wild west—without guns.
Meanwhile, Trump sank lower in the polls. The Party leadership, convinced that Trump will fail, announced that they would focus on helping their candidates win and preserve Republican majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives. (That way, of course, they will be sure to give Hillary Clinton as hellish a time as they gave Barack Obama).
Before election day there may yet be a new movement: DUMP THE TRUMP!
Onwuchekwa Jemie