It was exactly one year ago that I authored a post on this blog to which I have since made frequent reference: At the time there were some sixteen other candidates in the running for the GOP nomination. One year later Mr. Donald J. Trump is the GOP nominee. Most reasonable third party observers would likely agree that Trump’s candidacy says a great deal more about the Republican Party in 2016 than it does about the product of their primary process. The display of discomforting rhetoric and bush league showboating the RNC leadership has allowed and is continuing to allow to play out is the manifestation of a political organization devoid of any new or innovative ideas. To say USS Republican is taking on water and going down quickly is an understatement.
It is almost comforting to see that a large contingent of GOP members in government and in the RNC who have not abandoned all sense of reason have come out against Mr. Trump. Many Congressional Republicans and other prominent figures in the GOP are not intent on riding the Trump candidacy to the bottom. Several have gone on the record explaining their reason for not supporting the GOP ticket. Who can blame them? Coming up on a month post-convention, the GOP ticket is trailing significantly in every credible poll.
I have been told by true believing conservatives to not discount the evangelical vote. Okay, fine, but allow me to point out that the evangelical vote may be a wash given the Latino vote in which Clinton holds a 46-point lead. Furthermore, given Trump only garners around 1% of the African American vote, this looks to be a steepening uphill campaign for him and his base of followers. It would not be out of line to describe the entire 2016 GOP campaign to date as a train wreck in slow motion.
One thing I wish to take issue with is how politics and politicians have been demonized over the years by the media, particularly right wing talk media. I have not been able to wrap my head around how any candidate can malign government, make a virtue out of inexperience and then get elected and prove how bad government is by intentionally doing a poor job. I have seen much of this very thing along this, the most conservative segment of Old Route 66 and the core of my message going forward is that results matter! Step back and take a good long look at the 2016 Presidential campaign in the post-convention phase. The contrast between a candidate who is a seasoned politician with a professionally organized and operated campaign behind her and a political novice with hack bloggers and political amateurs blundering about aimlessly is glaring. The latter candidate has yet to make the transition from a grueling primary where his personality and populism made a shambles of some sixteen opponents. Sadly for him the sprint to the general election finish does not usually work the same way as it did in primary season. A candidate must win the support of a plurality of voters which means they must appeal to a broad spectrum of the electorate. Mr. Trump simply has not yet internalized any intangibles necessary to make that sale to enough voters and complete the race at all let alone with a modicum of anything resembling respect. If he could make the case he is the better candidate by building himself up and rationally articulating policy specifics instead of constantly tearing down his opponent and giving her ammunition in the form of gaffes and blunders then this would be a much closer race, but that does not look to be happening anytime soon as it simply is not who or what he is.
So it has been a year since my explanation of how and why a narcissist appeals to enough disaffected conservative voters to matter. The one thing about the nominating process is it provides a period for the public to see how a candidate grows and evolves on the issues and on appearing Presidential. Sadly for candidate Trump, he has grown and evolved very little if any in a year’s time. I stand by the analysis I posted a year ago. The Republican Party has nominated a person with many earmarks of a narcissistic personality disorder. Whether or not their candidate can overcome the obstacles inherent in managing such a problem remains to be seen. I do not blame any Republican or conservative for taking a pass on supporting their party’s Presidential ticket this year. I invite any critic to say what they will about any Democratic presidential candidate who ran this year or any other but I doubt any of them had anything close to the number and variety of negatives as Mr. Donald J. Trump.