Sunday, August 21, 2016

The Great Forfeit of 2016

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

While some expected the Trump campaign to have folded by now, or to have been abandoned by its parent organization - the National Republican Party - it has survived, more or less intact, and blows ever onward.  True, the campaign has had about as many managers as the candidate has had wives, and has less sense of direction that a drunken cat tied to a Sit and Spin, but yet it lives, and with each passing day continues to give hope to legions of morons that Trump will miraculously prevail in November and return America to a time when yards were protected with picket fences and white men reigned supreme and unquestioned - the days when the "others" in society knew their place and stayed there.

Angry old white people know what's best for America - just ask them.   

But the reality is that Trump's base, and indeed the base of the Republican Party, is too small to provide enough votes to win the election.  Trump's strength lies in non-college educated, older white voters, and, in particular, those in that grouping who happen to be male, as well as substantial numbers of evangelical Christians.  He also has a strong appeal with the Confederate flag-waving segment of the public who though vehemently "not racist," do express sympathy and sensitivity to the cultural history of the Old South.

The latest iteration of the campaign seems focused on expanding the base with a specific outreach to racial minorities.  Trump, who is currently polling at about one percent with black Americans, has hit on a theme that they should support him because their lives are already in the toilet and so what have they got to lose?  The message is less than inspiring and being delivered to predominantly white audiences - which raises a question about whether it is outreach at all, or just further solidification of his lily-white base.

Trump is now boasting that he will be such a great President for blacks that when he runs for re-election in 2020 he will receive 95% of the black vote - a nugget of nonsense designed solely to bait the press into repeating it.

The candidate is also making tentative noises about possibly moving to legalize the status of some undocumented immigrants who currently reside in this country, but it will take more than just hints and whispers to undo the substantive damage that has already been done by his racist, wall-building braggadocio.  

If Donald Trump could concoct a formula of falsehoods that would increase his share of the votes among minorities, it would be at the expense of losing an equal or greater portion of his racist base.  

The reality is that Trump has no formula for winning because he is already far too well known to effect any change that would be believable.  People know Trump for who he is, and that person does not appeal to enough voters to win the election this November.

The speeches will continue, as will the finger-pointing and accusations, and perhaps even some debates.    Barring a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions, however, Donald Trump is headed for a resounding defeat this fall.  He has never had a path to victory.   The Republican Party bosses are focused on the down-ballot candidates and the presidential prospects for 2020.

Donald Trump is on his own - and he is hopelessly floundering.

This election is, at its very essence, a forfeit.

No comments: