2016 May 5^th

Here we are on day one of Donald Trump’s “victory dance.” You might have supposed that Trump would have shown a little modesty as he basked in his triumph, but then, on second thought, you would suppose no such thing…and you would be right. It seems that Trump is Trump; he is not playing a part (or if he is he might not be able to remove the mask for one character to put on the mask of another).

The question for Trump now is how will he manage to turn from irritating every minority in the country, and some not in the minority, I think specifically of women, to positions which will let him win the general election? His earlier comments about Latino rapists and drug dealers are now being played to motivate Latin American soccer teams to play their best against the Americans. The Clinton campaign has put together a series of Trump’s Republican competitors commenting on Trump. They are uniformly very negative about their new party leader.

Trump’s nastiness toward nearly every minority is out there for the Clinton campaign to use as they like…and they surely like. These comments are also a problem for Donald in the general election. If he tries to soften any of the stands that have made him so attractive to his many followers; building the wall, excluding Moslems, etc., in order  to appeal to a broader electorate, will he start to lose the fans who have brought him to his present peak? These fans were mightily attracted to the positions Trump has taken, positions that has alienated him from most Republicans. It is worth noting that of the over 25 million votes cast in the Republican primaries, Trump got just about 10.5 million and the other 15 million votes went to somebody else. Trump is simply not the first choice of most Republicans who voted…and remember that a minority of registered Republicans bothered to vote.

What of the party leaders, how are they breaking on the Trump issue? Mitt Romney and the two former Bush Presidents will not be attending the convention nor will they be endorsing Donald Trump. That information plays right into Trump’s claim to be hated by the Republican establishment; you can’t get any more establishment than the immediate past party standard bearer and the two previous Republican Presidents. Trump might not care, nor will his fans, but what about broadening his appeal to others in the party? Trump might not care but Hillary Clinton is a happy camper. At a considerably lower level, among those officials still active in the party we have that party stalwart and former party standard-bearer Senator John McCain. The Senator is endorsing the party’s nominee because, after all, the Senator is a good Republican. It does seem that McCain’s loyalty to the Republican Party is more important to him than concern for his country. No one who would choose Sarah Palin to be his Vice Presidential nominee can have much interest in the welfare of his country. McCain’s support of Trump simply continues that tradition. This is in spite of McCain’s recognition that Trump at the head of the ticket makes McCain’s re-election in heavily Latino Arizona very difficult.

That’s not all, even Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House, joins the Bushes and claims he isn’t ready yet to endorse his party’s standard bearer either; poor Donald.