What makes Trump frightening is not his consistent repetition of easily disproven claims as well as his complete disregard — nay, outright disdain — for any or all decorum.
It is his stunning and complete absence of all empathy, also known as the ability to consider someone else's perspective and reflect before mindlessly spouting prejudiced rhetoric.
The leader of any peoples, let alone the most powerful nation on earth, should be capable of expressing at least a modicum of empathy for fellow human beings. A hint of humility is also an important aspect of leading by example, yet the concept must be completely foreign to the type of individual who deems it necessary to plaster his own name in giant, often gold letters on just about everything he owns.
Trump does not exhibit these traits in the slightest. He even seems to have recently gone out of his way to formally announce to the world that he is completely devoid of any and all empathy, humility and humanity.
When confronted by a moving speech of a Muslim American father whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004 during a conflict initiated by a previous Republican administration, Trump not only passed on the opportunity to show a shred of humanity but instead chose to spit on the very notion of sacrifice.
In the mind of this megalomaniacal man with a clear superiority complex — don't you know only “he” can save the U.S. — paying workers their wages is a “sacrifice.”
Trump probably fantasizes in his dreams about being a titan of industry during the 19th century when he would not have had to “sacrifice” his profits to pay the pesky worker peons who actually make the company function.
Trump cares about nothing but himself.
He is not a billionaire philanthropist such as Warren Buffett, who has actually called for government to stop coddling the super wealthy while Trump wants to give billionaires (like himself) more tax breaks and won't even show his tax returns.
Trump is experienced all right — he's mastered running businesses into the ground, weaseling his way out through bankruptcy laws, building false equity on enormous loads of debt financing, and then laughing all the way to the bank. The most recent feather in his hat is becoming an expert at exploiting people's fears.
And sure, Hillary Clinton was grossly negligent in handling classified information, but no other Democrat — nor Republican even for that matter — has called for a foreign superpower like Russia to hack the U.S. to manipulate the election's outcome. Isn't that the type of thing that Republicans would usually get frothing at the mouth over, clamouring about claims of treason had such an egregious statement been made by anyone else?
Unfortunately, with Clinton being little more than a corporate bought-and-paid-for puppet who will not likely take meaningful steps to address the historic levels of economic inequality, the choice is basically between a wolf and a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Although in defence of Clinton — and it's not much of a defence — she essentially represents more of the same. Not very complimentary, right?
But more of the same, while not as preferable as progressive steps to address serious problems, is surely better than taking massive regressive steps backwards.
— Simon Ducatel, editor
