What to make of Donald Trump and his lightning rush through the field to lead the polls in the Republican presidential race?
It suggests that the GOP has utterly lost the plot if they think a man like Trump can win a presidential race.
How many times more do we need this fantasy that many on the right have of the leader on a white horse, plain spoken, direct, unafraid to stand up to bullies and bestriding the world.
The last, and perhaps only one of those, was Teddy Roosevelt, the original Rough Rider who actually lived up to that billing.
Oh yes, George W. Bush was allegedly one of those, and he got us involved in Iraq and Afghanistan to this very day.
But the fantasy persists, especially on the GOP side.
Trump is the latest beneficiary of it: slam immigrants, throw aspersions on the loyalty of Democrats, and toss enough red meat rhetoric to get the grass roots rumbling.
But then they always make mistakes.
Politics ain't beanbag, but by any standards Trump’s attack last weekend on Senator John McCain’s status as a war hero should disqualify him from the presidency.
“He's becoming a jackass at a time when we need to have a serious debate about the future of the party and the country," fellow GOP contender Senator Lindsey Graham said on Monday. "This is a line he's crossed, and this is the beginning of the end of Donald Trump ... I am really pissed."
Is America really ready for a President Donald Trump? After his incredible assault on McCain he plain refused to apologize which was rich given his own draft dodge on the basis of a spur on his foot.
The people laughing all the way to the polling booth of course are Democrats, especially Hillary Clinton. She could not ask for a better scenario.
On her left is Bernie Sanders who is no ultimate threat, while the two other Democratic candidates, Martin O’Malley and Jim Webb, will struggle for oxygen until the debates.
Meanwhile, Republican voters are currently favoring a man who defines greed for tens of millions of Americans and who is utterly unelectable.
Trump will take center stage in the first GOP debate on August 8. He will be the major focus no matter what serious policies are put forward by others.
Is this any way to elect the most important leader in the world?
As long as the contestants are funneled through the cattle run in Iowa, and then on to the goose chase in New Hampshire, both states unrepresentative of America, then generally little will change.
Take Trump seriously. With $10 billion and an open mike everywhere he goes he will draw a crowd the way a clown performer attracts a peanut gallery.
But president of the United States? We are a better nation than that. Aren't we?
We hope.
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