{"id":20537,"date":"2016-09-18T15:42:20","date_gmt":"2016-09-18T19:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=20537"},"modified":"2016-09-18T18:30:11","modified_gmt":"2016-09-18T22:30:11","slug":"1listen-up-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/1listen-up-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Listen Up! Anger is surpassing common sense in Trump’s popularity – Opinion"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hugh

Hugh Mackenzie
Huntsville Doppler<\/p><\/div>\n

The cure may be worse than the disease<\/strong><\/p>\n

In recent days it has been disclosed that private e-mails sent by Colin Powell, who has served the United States as Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as Secretary of State, have been hacked, quite possibly by Russians. An embarrassment to him, no doubt, but also an unintended revelation of the terrible divide in the U.S. leading up to the presidential election in November. Among other things, the Powell e-mails revealed that he considers Donald Trump a \u201cnational disgrace\u201d and Hilary Clinton \u201cgreedy\u201d. He has been harsher with Trump than he has been with Clinton, but never the less it is pretty clear that he does not think either one of them will make a great President.<\/p>\n

That is the problem facing the electorate in the United States. They are left with two flawed candidates, one of which, not withstanding the also rans, will become President. It becomes more complicated because Americans are generally fed up with government and the status quo. They are not alone as we have witnessed in Brexit and indeed, in our own Canadian election a year ago. However, in the States, the dysfunctional nature of governance, the lack of trust in those who govern and the perpetual stalemate in any meaningful legislation, has risen to a level where frustration and anger is surpassing common sense. As a result of this, it is now entirely possible that Donald Trump will win the presidential election in November.<\/p>\n

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Many of those who support Donald Trump are willing to cast a blind eye at Trump\u2019s obvious flaws because they believe that he will shake up and clean up Washington, solve immigration issues, defeat terrorism, destroy ISIS, fix the economy, appoint right-wing judges to the Supreme Court and send Democrats into purgatory for decades to come. After all, that is what Trump is promising to do all by himself! It is a pipe dream of course, but one to which many Americans cling in their quest for change. I know of some folks who believe that Trump\u2019s irrational behaviour on the campaign trail is simply a brilliant election strategy and does not reflect the manner in which he would operate as President. I say, if it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it\u2019s a duck!<\/p>\n

As President, Donald Trump may well be able to shatter the status quo in Washington, but the real question is, at what price? Maureen Dowd, a highly respected journalist in the U.S., has said that \u201cDonald Trump\u2019s platform is his ego.\u201d And therein lies the problem. A person who believes solely in themselves, who believes they know more than the Generals, or for that matter anyone else; a person who believes that bullying, character assassination and out right lying is the best way to climb to the top, is truly dangerous.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump has made no secret about who he is or what he believes to be appropriate. Let\u2019s look at a very few of the things he has said.<\/p>\n