By Sal Bommarito
I admit it. I never thought Donald Trump would win the Republican nomination for president. I was wrong and now must pay up on lost wagers.
Actually, this is the third worst political thing that could happen. The second worst is Trump wins the general election. And, of course the worst is Hillary defeats Trump. I guess this leaves me in lurch.
What the hell am I going to do when I enter the voting booth in November? I really don’t know. Trump is without a doubt the most ill suited individual ever to win a presidential nomination. How could Americans vote for him in the primaries? He brings nothing to the table but a lot of bluster. I’ve written on numerous occasions that the man is not well read about the economy or foreign affairs. Really, have you heard him say anything substantive about these important areas other than he’s going to make America great and the Chinese and Mexicans are cheating us in business?
In foreign affairs, I haven’t heard Trump discuss how he is going to defeat ISIS. The only thing he repeats over and over is that he’s going to bomb the hell out of the terrorists. What about Israel? What about the Sunni/Shiite eternal conflict? What about the refugees? What about the spread of radical Islam? Nothing. No information.
Hillary Clinton represents an even greater threat to America. Bernie Sanders has accomplished many things during his amazing campaign as a socialist. The most important one is that he has forced Hillary to move even further left. At this time in the election cycle, the candidates are usually starting to move towards middle ground on the controversial issues. Bill Clinton was the grand master of acting like a flaming liberal during the primaries and then pivoting to accommodate moderate voters during the general election.
Hillary is not going to be able to do this, if she wants any peace during her first term and to be elected a second time. Her hawkish attitude towards terrorists will be tempered along with her moderate stance on economic issues. Before long, she’s going to offer every college student free tuition to public universities just like Sanders. And what kind of person is she going to nominate to fill the open Supreme Court seat? Not Obama’s guy. No, she’s going to pick a real lefty who’ll make the Republican senators go insane.
The current betting is that Hillary will win in November. To reiterate, the victory of either candidate makes me cringe. Most polls have Trump behind. What do you think Trump is going to do to change public opinion? I think we need to prepare for the dirtiest mudslinging election in history. Trump is going to do exactly what he successfully did during the Republican primaries. He’s going to viciously attack Clinton. He’s going to subject all of us to a review of her husband’s dalliances and underhanded politics. He’s going to ram down our throats all of the missteps Hillary has made over the years, from her killing in cattle futures to Benghazi to illegal emails to her predilection to lie and distort the facts about her life and her opponents’ lives.
How will Hillary respond? My guess, if Trump talks about Bill’s exploits in the office next to the Oval Office and related adventures, she’s going to discuss Trump’s marital affairs and abuse of the opposite sex. And, even more interesting, we’re going to hear a lot about Trump’s business ethics, or lack thereof. You gotta believe there are people standing in line ready to tell sordid stories about the Donald’s exploits during his business career.
Generally, this stuff makes for good entertainment. The problem is that we’re trying to elect a president. You may think this is a joke, but what are other world leaders going to do in response to what they hear. I can’t even imagine.
We’re all in the same boat. It’s our country, and we want to be happy and prosperous. I’m very concerned that the opportunity to achieve these things will be greatly and negatively impacted by the two candidates for president.