As I watched the first presidential campaign debate between Trump and Clinton, I could not help but find myself wondering by the end of the spectacle whether The Donald is trying to convince the public, or just simply himself.
While the real estate mogul made some good points about the U.S. pursuing an unsustainable path as the nation's debt has soared to $20 trillion and growing, it's interesting that he actually thinks a way to remedy the situation and stop the hemorrhaging of money is to allow even more to bleed out through massive tax cuts to the wealthy, who are more likely to pool that capital in offshore tax havens than to actually reinvest or expand their businesses.
“Trumped up trickle-down economics” Clinton called it in perhaps her most clever moment of the exchange.
Trump actually said he was proud of his proposed tax cuts that would amount to a bigger break for the wealthy than even Reagan's disastrous introduction of the type of policy that directly led to both the Great Depression of the '30s and the Great Recession of 2008-09. Taking advantage of people's devastating misfortunes and gobbling up their foreclosed homes for a quick profit is just good business, in Trump's twisted mind.
We're talking about a businessman who not only considers himself brilliant, but also actually proudly brags about taking advantage of every opportunity to skip paying his share of taxes back to the country he supposedly wants to make “great” again.
Then, in the next breath, he complains about the country going bankrupt with roads, bridges and critical infrastructure crumbling apart. Perhaps if for decades he and his ilk had, you know, been paying their share of taxes, the government might have had quite a few extra billion dollars available to fix a couple of roads and bridges.
But he brings in a kernel of truth — it's the federal politicians of the past decades who have allowed that situation not only to continue but also to fester and deteriorate. At the same time, The Donald conveniently ignores the fact Reagan — a man Trump seems to revere for giving the wealthiest Americans lavish tax breaks resulting in the leakage of countless billions of dollars from the U.S. economy and a major rise in homelessness — actually laid the foundation for the situation America finds itself in today.
Trump is actually blaming economic policy enacted by the likes of Reagan while at the same time pretending even more tax breaks will somehow be the solution.
Industrialists who have no interest in contributing back to a system that made their success possible seem completely oblivious to the fact their buildings, offices, stores and so on all depend on public services like, for example, roads, water, sewage as well as power in many instances.
While many of his positions might contain an oversimplified grain of truth, they largely don't reconcile with reality. Sometimes he just contradicts himself right on the spot. For example, he accused Clinton of lacking the necessary temperament for leadership, while himself remaining petulantly unable to remain quiet and not interrupt when it was the Democratic candidate's turn to speak. Yet millions of Americans — and even some Canadians — cheer for him.
During a time when altogether too many people are more likely than not to unquestionably accept just about everything they see posted on the Internet and social media — including Trump's active Twitter feed — without bothering to fact check, perhaps voters could not care any less about the truth.
After decades of seeing the billionaire class make huge gains while the middle class sputters along like the little engine that could, people in the U.S. are fed up. That makes the American electorate highly unpredictable in a presidential race with the least popular candidates ever to run for either party at the same time. This farce of an election is far from a sure thing.
Although it can probably be safely assumed that bookies will make a killing on the bets.
