In what clearly is not the tone, style, coherence or civility of the Donald Trump we have come to know and disdain, in an op-ed allegedly penned by him in the Wall Street Journal the GOP presidential candidate asks Americans, “How has the ‘system’ been working out for you and your family?”
In it, Trump whines and moans about how unfair the Republican Party, the “rigged delegate-selection process,” Ted Cruz and just about everyone else — party operatives, consultants, pollsters, politicians, pundits, the establishment, the donors, the elites, the special interests, the Washington cartel, etc. — have been to him.
But back to his question, “How has the ‘system’ been working out for you and your family?”
My honest answer would be “very well.” However, I do realize that there are millions of Americans who would like to see improvements, but not the so-called “improvements” Mr. Trump has been touting.
America will not be made great (“again”), when all compassion, civility and respect for so many — women, Mexicans, Muslims, etc. — are thrown out of the window. Not when torture, killing of innocents in battle and other inhumanities are contemplated. Not when proven alliances are to be disbanded and nuclear proliferation will be given a pass. Not when the leader of our nation and commander in chief has no inkling of foreign relations, diplomacy or military affairs. Not when we plan to build walls to keep people out and internment camps to keep millions of people in, before we kick them out.
While the Republican delegate selection process may not be working to Mr. Trump’s liking, let us not confuse or conflate that process with a system of democracy and values that has been working very well for Americans for more than 200 years.
I for one will not confuse a ghostwriter’s elegant call to “take inspiration from patriotic Colorado citizens…[to]make Colorado a rallying cry on behalf of all the forgotten people whose desperate pleas…” with Trump’s history of crudeness, bigotry, hate and misogyny — neither in style nor in substance.
