Sunday, March 20, 2016

Trump - Ruffling Feathers

As the campaign progresses, Donald Trump continues to ruffle feathers on both sides of the aisle. The liberal protests are being fueled by the endless media coverage while the Republican establishment searches for a way to derail the Trump Express. So far, neither side seems to be having much success.

First, let's take a look at the protests......

I consider these guys more instigators and agitators than actual protesters. Traditional protesters would stand outside of a venue and/or event with signs and chants. Their goal was to be seen and heard. However, the Trump protesters take things to another level. As we've seen in some of the Black Lives Matter protests, they like to poke the proverbial finger-in-the-chest of their opposition. For instance, blocking traffic has become one of the go-to tactics of the left. While they have every right to protest, I'm not sure why they're continuously allowed to shut down public streets. Some people might celebrate this kind of thing, but it's quite abrasive to many others. If the goal is to piss off as many people as possible, I guess they've accomplished their mission.

We've seen some protesters actually enter the venue where Trump rallies are being held. In these cases, the protesters attempted to disrupt things with verbal outbursts and, on at least one occasion, try to storm Trump's stage. 

And yes, things have escalated at times. The old man sucker punching the Trump protester as he's being escorted out the arena has earned double-time on all of the news networks. Since the old man was white and the protester was black, it's inevitable that an racial element will factor in. Did the old man hit the guy because he was black? Or did he hit him because he knowingly came into an emotionally-charged lion's den spewing incendiary remarks?

Whatever the case may be, I think it's unfair to label all Trump supports as racists. I've seen just as many "peaceful" protesters with fists-a-flyin'. With that being said, Trump hasn't helped these matters with some of his comments. And he certainly didn't try to "reach across the aisle" when he offered to pay the old man's legal fees. But in a twisted way, this is precisely what many people like about Trump. He says and does things things without a filter and then refuses to apologize.

This leads us into the Republican disdain for Trump......

For years, many card-carrying Republicans have complained about how complacent the party has become. With a Republican controlled House for the past five years, many voters feel that the GOP did too little to derail Obama's agenda. So, like the goon in a hockey game, Trump comes along and says what many Republicans think but are afraid to say. I don't think anyone really expected Trump to have the success that he's had, so they dismissed him in the early stages. The general feeling was that he would inevitably implode at some point. Now, that it's very possible that he could be the nominee, establishment Republicans are in a frenzy tying to figure out out to stop him.

In a nutshell, the Republicans have created a beast. The big question is how they'll deal with it. If Trump gets the GOP nomination, will they sit out the election (like they did in 2012) and hand over another term to the Democrats. Or will they fall on their sword and line up behind their "fellow" Republican? You can almost cut the drama with knife.

It gets more interesting by the day.....

kw

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