Trump, the Impossible

Could the Republicans finally be waking up to the threat posed by “The Donald’s” candidacy to the presidency of the United States? The ego-maniacal compulsive liar is losing support from the core of his own party’s establishment, and it’s about time.

On the same day Donald Trump announced his plan to get the American economy back on track, the most experienced Republican senator, Susan Collins, of Maine, and 50 other former national security officials, all Republicans, announced their intentions not to vote for him.

According to these seasoned advisors, including Michael Hayden, former head of the CIA and the National Security Agency, and Michael Chertoff, former secretary of homeland security, Donald Trump does not have the character, the values or the experience necessary to become the president of the United States and assume the role of commander-in-chief. In a letter to The New York Times, they write that a hypothetical President Trump would weaken the national security of the United States and its moral authority as the leader of the free world. The reader is to understand from this that it is dangerous to entrust the American nuclear arsenal to this impulsive loose cannon, who is incapable of taking criticism, controlling himself or telling truth from lies.

Despite the scope of the disaster they describe, none of these Homeland Security monks dare to officially support Hillary Clinton’s candidacy. If the danger is as great as they believe – and it is! – why settle for half-measures?

Sen. Susan Collins is also refraining from rallying behind Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy. Her analysis of Donald Trump’s moral and intellectual bankruptcy, however, is no less devastating. She claims Mr. Trump’s tendency to insult and intimidate his opponents will make the world even more dangerous than it already is.

Since he put himself in the running for the presidency, Donald Trump has made fun of a journalist’s handicap, cast doubt on the integrity of an Indiana judge of Mexican descent, denigrated women, referred to Mexican immigrants as rapists, proposed a ban on Muslims entering the United States, minimized John McCain’s heroism because he was captured during the Vietnam War, made fun of Ted Cruz’s wife’s appearance …

As if that wasn’t enough, on Aug. 9, he played with the idea that citizens could rely on the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which legalizes the bearing of arms, to stop Hillary Clinton if, once elected, she were to nominate Supreme Court judges who favor gun control. The ambiguity of his statement forced his public relations strategists to specify that he was not calling for violence against his adversary. Color us reassured of his judgement and oratory skill.

This is the egotistical clown that the Republican base envisions as the president of the United States. Not since the 1968 candidacy of segregationist George Wallace has any presidential hopeful stirred up this much racial prejudice and hate.

Jumping from one controversy to the next, Mr. Trump has demonstrated a stunning capacity for the unexpected, even going as far as to insult Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of a Muslim-American soldier who was killed in Iraq. The billionaire’s total lack of compassion toward the Khan family could be said to mark the beginning of his descent into hell.

The most recent polls predict consequences that should prove disappointing for Mr. Trump. Some Republican candidates are seriously considering a modification to their campaign strategy: Give the victory to Mrs. Clinton and call upon the voters to send a strong Republican delegation to the Senate and House to keep “Crooked Hillary” in check.

Whatever happens on Nov. 8 will be a loss for the Republican Party. Donald Trump is a Republican in name only. He’s a dangerous demagogue with fascist inclinations, for whom the presidential race is nothing more than a dream-like opportunity to satisfy his narcissistic streak. He will have succeeded at the grim feat of allowing a warlike, vengeful subset of America to come forth from the margins and shout out their hatred of the Other, their rejection of difference loud and clear.

The party, totally disfigured, has renounced the heritage of Abraham Lincoln. Taken over by an agitator, undermined by its toxic base, and made up of an establishment that’s always pushing the political conversation further to the right, the party is lost at sea. And for the Republicans, the founding ideals of America are growing ever more distant.