The World According to Trump

Donald Trump’s candidacy should have imploded long ago. However, against all reason, most polls continue to place him as favorite among militant Republicans. This shows how far along the road to perdition the Grand Old Party has traveled and the depths of obscurantism to which a significant number of its supporters have sunk. One of the billionaire’s latest enormities was his mocking, from his high-horse, of a New York Times reporter with a physical disability at a rally in South Carolina.

If only he were merely a vulgar person.

But Mr. Trump’s political vision is that of a police state. “We’re going to have to do things that we never did before” to guarantee national security, he declared the day after the Paris attacks. We must expel Syrian refugees – who are mainly women and children – close the mosques, track every U.S. citizen of the Islamic faith – a community of around 2.5 million. Without forgetting that he will create an immense “deportation force” to go into homes, businesses and schools and lay hands on the 11 million illegal immigrants. “They will be out so fast your head will spin,” he has announced.

The excellent PolitiFact website has established that 75 percent of the alleged facts on which he bases his loquacious assertions are “mainly or entirely false.” That he is an inveterate liar has had absolutely no effect on his popularity. It may even feed it. The man lies as easily as he breathes, but still they continue to lap up his words.

So, two months ahead of the launch of the selection process for the candidates for the November 2016 presidential race at the Iowa caucuses, a climate of panic seems to have seized the GOP establishment which is busy breaking Ronald Reagan’s famous “11th commandment” – a Republican shalt not speak ill of another Republican.

Desperate times call for desperate means. Republican circles have been seized with dread, aware that without a major coup, Trump will win the party nomination, leaving the way clear for Hillary Clinton to win the race for the White House. According to a memo obtained by the Wall Street Journal, they have organized an anti-Trump “guerrilla campaign,” bringing together the interests of at least four of his rivals, including Jeb Bush, heir to the political dynasty, whose campaign has sunk like a stone. But whether this guerrilla war works or not, the Republican Party will clearly only get what it deserves; it has been sliding even further to the right for a long time.