Donald Trump and his Brownshirts

The disagreement between Pope Francis and Donald Trump has again aroused Trump's many venomous followers to heights of fury and (sadly) anti-Catholic bigotry.  Those Americans who wonder at how an Adolph Hitler raised an army of brown-shirted thugs need only look at Trump and his brutal followers today.  Not every Trump supporter is a thug; far from it.  But it seems that all of the thuggish behavior in this campaign has been provided by the Trumpzis.

When Donald Trump declared he was running for President, many of us thought "Well, I guess every circus needs a clown."  It never occurred to us that this perpetual braggart, sleazy businessman, and reality-TV "star" could possibly be taken seriously by the Republican voters.  We failed to understand how many Republicans were willing to let their anger with the leadership of the Republican Party short-circuit their brains.

Harsh, you may say?  How else can you explain the support for a man as personally disreputable as Bill Clinton, as vain as Barack Obama, and as dishonest as Hillary Clinton?  A man who has in the past and perhaps in the present supported single-payer health care, which would end liberty in America, because if the government controls your health care, they control you?  A man who viciously and falsely slanders the last GOP President, the thoroughly honorable George W. Bush?  A man who is only wealthy today because he was born that way?  Didn't we detest that about Ted Kennedy?

The man is a juvenile and a lout, who reacts to every criticism with vile insults and cringe-worthy name-calling.  From Megyn Kelly to the publisher of the Manchester Union Leader, from Hugh Hewitt to the National Review, anyone who dares to point out the flaws in Trump's character or his statements will be met not with refutation, but with simple abuse.

Consider this - perhaps the reason Trump never refutes the actual statements of his critics and opponents is because he can't.

When Megyn Kelly asked Trump if his knuckle-dragging troglodyte past treatment of women would make a too-easy target for Democrats in the fall campaign (an entirely reasonable question), Trump stayed up until 4:00 AM sending out loutish, filthy tweets about Kelly.  Is this an action of an adult?

What about his followers?

Many are decent people, but the Trump for President movement has a disproportionate number of vicious, nasty venom-spewers.  They see every attack on their idol the way Mohammedans see criticisms of their prophet.  The critics must be vilified, ostracized, destroyed!  Not by logic, mind you, but by means of foul epithets, falsehoods, and Internet abuse.

Do you not believe me?  Go to any political site that permits comments on their articles, find an article critical of Trump on any issue, and then scroll down to the comments.  Read the pro-Trump comments.  You will find very few well-reasoned arguments. You will find nasty, often obscenity-laced posts demeaning the author, their character, their intelligence, and other characteristics not germane to the article or the discussion thereof.  Supporters of the other Republican candidates will carry on a reasonable discussion with you.  Trump's followers would rather throw verbal bricks at you.  (They're verbal at the moment, anyway.)

My sister in Florida saw a man on a news broadcast say that he's supporting Trump because he's "voting with his middle finger."

There are no brains in middle fingers.

Quick thoughts on the Progressive leading the GOP Presidential nomination race

David Brooks of the New York, Same Old Agenda Times has threatened (offered?) to leave the country if Donald Trump is elected President.  It's a tempting offer, David, but I still must oppose the American Sukarno.



The Republicans have long had specific reasons for opposing and in some cases loathing our liberal Democrat opponents.  Some examples:

We despised Ted Kennedy not only because of his politics, but also because of his supreme selfishness and his having been an inherited wealth brat.

We detested both Clintons not only for their politics, but for their rampant greed and dishonesty.  (Yes, that includes Chelsea.)

We loathe Barack Insane Obama for many of his beliefs and actions, his betrayals and his Constitution-defiance, but also largely because of his Jupiter-sized ego.

All of these loathsome traits are also perfect descriptors of Donald Trump.



Matt Walsh makes a good point.  (Actually, a great many of them.)  Donald Trump is a man who is willing to slander Megyn Kelly on Twitter until 4:00 AM after she dares to not genuflect in his presence, but is unable to face her again in a debate setting.  We're supposed to believe he could face down Vlad the Impaler Putin and his ilk?  Really?



When precisely did Ted Cruz become "the establishment"?  Also, who could be more establishment than a politically connected multi-millionaire who cheerfully admits his history of buying off politicians of both parties and his penchant for abusing the eminent domain power to steal the homes of widows and other "ordinary people" in order to enrich himself?



For my entire life I have bristled at hearing my Republican Party derided as "the Stupid Party".  If we really nominate this foul-mouthed petulant demagogue who has spent a lifetime opposing everything we believe in, we will deserve the epithet.