Columnist: Is Donald Trump what America needs? You be the judge

Published 12:00 am Saturday, February 27, 2016

By Glenn Dowell

Contributing columnist

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Is Donald Trump really what America needs? Called “potty-mouth” by the Associated Press, his supporters are treated to profanity laced messages denigrating his opponents, never before witnessed in the history of candidates campaigning for office in America.

Yet Trump, the gadfly candidate, had the unmitigated gall recently to object to an alleged expletive uttered by former Mexican president Vicente Fox over Trump’s proposal to build a fortress-like wall over his country and make Mexico pay for it. The Associated Press quoted Trump as saying, “I saw him use the word that he used. I can only tell you, if I would’ve used even half of that word, it would’ve been a national scandal.” (Associated Press, Calvin Woodard and Josh Boak, Feb. 25, 2016)

The Associated Press states that Trump’s campaign has been laced with profanity and he has used the S-word on multiple occasions.

His supporters appear to love his antics. Political observers, however, believe that Trump’s supporters are for the most part uneducated. Unfortunately, this opinion doesn’t hold water. Trump’s supporters in the most recent primaries have provided him with double digit wins that in the case of South Carolina, essentially eviscerated former governor of Florida and presidential candidate Jeb Bush. Bush, a Republican Party favorite, also found himself on the receiving end of Donald Trump’s venom.

The Republican Party in crisis

It is safe to say that the Republican Party’s leadership never truly imagined that Trump, whom they underestimated, would hypnotize its conservative base of voters. The party is in crisis and is faced with the possibility that Trump could become its nominee for the office of president.

In fact, in a poll reported on CNN news it was discovered that of the three major Republican candidates seeking the presidential nomination, Donald Trump would be the winner. The poll revealed, in fact, that Trump had a 70 percent chance of becoming the Republican Party’s nominee for the office of president as opposed to Rubio’s 28 percent, followed by Cruz, who only had a 2 percent chance of becoming the party’s nominee. (Source-PIVIT, reported by CNN news)

Taking into consideration the Florida and Texas primaries, Trump has an 80 percent chance of winning the primary by a landslide in Florida, followed by Rubio, with only an 18 percent chance of winning the state’s primary. The results for Cruz were abysmal.

In Texas, home of the Bush Dynasty, Trump, who belittled former presidential candidate, Jeb Bush at every debate is expected to lose that state’s primary, with only a 32 percent chance at receiving the majority of votes. Cruz, in fact, is predicted to be the winner in Texas and has a 62 percent chance of winning that state’s primary.

The Republican Party is flabbergasted. How can a foul mouth presidential candidate who appears to have absolutely no solutions to the major problems facing this country be positioned to become the voice and face of its party?

It is apparent that voters do not appear to hold Donald Trump accountable as a presidential candidate. Since announcing his candidacy, observers have seen him behave like a spoiled brat, always talking in the third person, persuading conservative voters that his name and brand alone will make America better.

Political observers have witnessed him disparaging women, yet women are a major source of his supporters. Some of his antics can even be perceived as being racist and insensitive to other cultures.

It is without a doubt that Trump has alienated many Hispanics with his talk of building a wall between Mexico and the United States, but he probably has gone too far in his subliminal and sometimes direct verbal assaults on Muslims, whose numbers exceed more than 1 billion the world over.

Trump has even embraced waterboarding as a form of torture for prisoners and terrorists institutionalized at Gitmo. Even worse, speaking to supporters in North Carolina, he took pleasure in telling a story that has never been verified about a former American general killing terrorists with bullets dipped in pigs’ blood.

It was believed by some in attendance that by his referencing this story, that as president, he would not be disturbed with this happening to Muslim terrorists today. Muslims in the United Stated were incensed and believed his comments actually incited violence.

Trump actually reminds me of another charismatic character who pimped the public’s trust and brought terror to the world. It was a tramp by the name of Adolf Hitler, who appealed to the prejudices of the masses in his country, experiencing the effects of a horrible economy, that he was their savior and could restore Germany as a leader in the world.

Donald Trump as a billionaire, so far, has captured the attention of many in America who believe that we have a horrible economy, that Mexicans are taking jobs from Americans, and that we are weak militarily. You know what? He believes that he alone has a plan to restore the United States as a leader of the free world.

Is he? You be the judge.

Glenn Dowell is an author and LaGrange native who currently lives in Jonesboro. He may be reached at glenn.dowell@gmail.com.