The Disruptive Candidate
By Richard C. Gross
“To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not be false to any man.”
—William Shakespeare, “Hamlet,” Polonius to his son Laertes, Act I, Scene 3
There’s a scene in Ridley Scott’s movie “Gladiator” in which Maximus, the Roman general who becomes a slave, slays an opponent in the bloodied Colosseum, turns to the cheering crowd with raised arms and twice shouts in disgust, “Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained?”
I would ask this of the millions of Donald J. Trump’s fans. And would add: Why?
What did you do, getting this insincere sham of a politician nominated to run for president of the United States of America? Many of his former employees and rioting supporters are in jail. That’s his kind of folks. He may be next. How could you?
Did he woo you with his cruel jokes at his rallies while in the same breath disparaging our country, painting a false picture of a people reeling in despair, the nation wallowing in neglect because of what he wrongly branded as a bad Democratic president? All lies on top of lies.
Do you believe we’re struggling in a Trump-created world in which he makes it sound as if we’re reliving the disastrous 1930s, when at one point in the Great Depression 25 percent of Americans were unemployed? Unemployment now is 3.6 percent, a figure that reflects normal times.
Are you so entertained by this heartless comedian who mocks the president’s stutter and calls him “Sleepy Joe,” which he’s anything but. The laughter when he mimics Biden is despicable, like the speaker up on the stage. It’s a shocker to think that so many people believe such a damning handicap is funny. Why?
Were you so entertained and not paying attention, not realizing that beneath making fun of others, even recently cursing Facebook founder as Mark “Zuckerschmuck,” Trump is running for president because he wants to change the basics on which this country was founded and become a dictator?
Isn’t that clear it’s all about him, not you? Or do you accept it, thinking he’s just joking. He’s not. He told us so. And one of his strongest backers, the Heritage Foundation, has spent millions to lay out a blueprint of a second Trump term in which so many freedoms will be taken away from us.
And you want to go along with that? Like the way he and people like Tucker Carlson so admire the ruthless Russian strongman Vladimir Putin. Or how your hero cozies up to Viktor Orbán, the ruler of Hungary, a nation of 10 million he slowly converted from a democracy to a country with a muzzled media and restricted judiciary.
Members of your political party, if you can call it that anymore since Trump took it over lock, stock and barrel and purged the committee that runs the outfit, just gave him the 1,215 votes that officially makes him the Republican choice to run against President Joe Biden Nov. 5.
If you’re happy about that, you should know that tens of millions of your countrymen despise him, making him the most hated man in America. Remember, he lost the popular vote in the 2016 election and was 7 million behind Biden in 2020. How’s that for popularity?
Trump plays a fictional character, a onetime president who couldn’t stand it when he lost a bid for reelection in 2020. He persuaded millions of people the election was “rigged” and “stolen” from him by Biden and the “deep state,” which he wants to eliminate (Civil Service workers). Do you believe all of this? Or is he lying?
If he wins reelection, do you think he would try to change the rules to stay in power beyond the two-term limit? Orbán, who just visited Trump in Florida, did just that.
You probably know that Trump faces four criminal trials totaling 91 felonies. Not only has he pleaded innocent to those indictments, but he has cried out repeatedly that he is being persecuted because he is so popular as a presidential candidate that those in power want to get rid of him.
Well, lots of people feel that way, of course. But these federal court indictments, including two by a special prosecutor, seem to be really serious and not something dreamed up by a non-existent “deep state.” Don’t you think so?
Despite his protests, he was found guilty of monkeying with the value of his properties so he could get more favorable loan agreements, costing him about $500 million, with interest, in fines. He also was convicted of sexual abuse – a polite way of saying rape – and defamation, forcing him to post a $92 million bond while he appeals.
There’s more to come. That’s why he wants to postpone those trials until after the election, so he can dismiss the charges against him if he’s president again. Why would he seek postponement if he’s innocent, as claimed, and just fight it out in court? Too much evidence against him?
Frankly, this shameful, hollow would-be tin pot dictator has been driving millions of people nuts during his eight years on the world stage, both here and abroad. I hope his supporters eventually will understand that he is a major danger to our country and its position in the world. As Americans, how could you not think so?
Richard C. Gross, who covered war and peace in the Middle East and the Pentagon, was foreign editor of United Press International and the opinion page editor of The Baltimore Sun.