Bad karma hits the fan for the Republican Party with the rise of Donald Trump

Bad karma hits the fan for the Republican Party with the rise of Donald Trump


Trumpenstein takes down Wisconsin's wimpy governor Scott Walker early in the Republican Primary

"What goes around, comes around" the old saying goes, and the Republican party is getting its comeuppance in spades this year with the emergence of Donald Trump as its leading candidate.
This is the same party who has always put the welcome mat out in subtle ways to white American voters who blame black people and other minorities for all the ills of society. For these people, it is black people who are committing all of the crimes, Hispanics who are taking jobs away from legitimate citizens and receiving unearned subsidies from the government, and other minorities who are also responsible for the decline of the American civilization. These voters view the world with a simplistic and xenophobic tunnel-vision. They remember the "good old days" of white Christian neighborhoods with little crime and good jobs, while having little understanding of the socioeconomic causes of the changes that have occurred since then. I have known many such people in my life, and they are generally not bad people. Most are hard workers and good family people with high moral values who dislike the direction that America is taking, and many of them vote for candidates whom they believe will control the increasing wave of various minorities who are entering the U.S.

Jesse Helms attack ad on "racial quotas"

  Once upon a time these people generally voted for Democrats like George Wallace, politicians from southern states who still promoted segregation of the races in an attempt to "protect the white man". As the southern "Dixiecrats" disappeared from the public platform, the Republican party took up their torch, and through subtle ways such as opposing Affirmative Action and using black people in campaign attack ads to suggest that their opponents were "coddling" such people, the GOP became the party of choice for the "disenfranchised white person". Well-known campaign attack ads used by the Republican Party, including the 1988 Willie Horton attack ad which George Bush used against Michael Dukakis, became the sources of much "race-baiting" which used to attract disgruntled racist white voters.

The infamous Willie Horton attack ad of 1988

Conservative media sources have been responsible for many subtle and not-so-subtle racist comments and election attack ads in recent times, from the "nappy headed hoes" comment made about black female basketball players by radio personality Don Imus to various comments made on the Fox News network with racial overtones. Both a Fox News station and conservative talk show host Geraldo Rivera even mistakenly announced that President Obama was dead after Osama bin Laden was killed.

Don Imus' notorious comments about "Nappy Headed Hoes" and "Jiggaboos" (I used to listen to Imus on the radio on my job years ago and was always amazed by the comments made by his sidekick who would read the latest news with his own personal racist slant

Classic 'Freudian slip" or wishful thinking?: Fox News station and Geraldo Rivera announce that President Obama is dead

Most racist political attack ads look like this

After the Willie Horton ad came out, the Republican party was outed by many in the media for their race-baiting, and since then these kinds of ads have become more infrequent as their intent has become so obvious to voters. The new trend in political attack ads, at least in elections where judges are involved, seems to have headed towards "guilt by association" by portraying your opponent as a person who is soft on crimes by child-molesters.  In the present Supreme Court race in Wisconsin, the following attack ad against JoAnne Kloppenburg by Scott Walker appointee Rebecca Bradley appeared recently.

Kudos to Fox6 News in Milwaukee for their political Reality Check series

As is the norm, mud was eventually slung back at Rebecca Bradley when it was discovered that she wrote articles when she attended Marquette University in which she called gay people "queers" and "degenerates" and said voters who elected Bill Clinton were "either totally stupid or entirely evil." Wisconsin Governor Scott "Wimpy" Walker declined to condemn them, too busy trying to devise schemes to borrow more money to add to Wisconsin's record debt problems caused by his incompetence (see Wisconson's current debt-clock here), but Bradley apologized, saying she was "deeply sorry" and "horribly embarrassed" by the disclosure of the anti-gay opinion pieces.

As Bradley has disavowed the opinions and apologized for them, she should be forgiven, but also advised that she needs to wash her hair more often now that she is appearing in public forums.

How to stop attack ads in elections:
According to pollsters, attack ads work, suggesting that voters generally believe them, even if they
are false, and tend to vote against the subject of the attack ad. If you are tired of seeing this garbage on your television, I suggest that people start voting the opposite way. During the election season, take note of the candidates with the worst attack ads, assume that they must have serious character flaws, and then vote against them. If enough people did this, attack ads would end, and politicians would stick to issues in their ads instead. Even Gov. Scott Walker, whose abysmal approval rating has dropped to 40% (one of the lowest in the country) since being squashed like a bug by Donald Trump on national TV, is being used in attack ads by by Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele in his reelection bid (no, it's no longer the Willie Hortons of the world, but child molesters and inept politicians being used in the guilt by association political name-game).

Democrat Chris Larson is tied to unpopular Scott Walker in Chris Abele attack ad

Chris Larson points out the falsehoods in Chris Abele's attack ad

By the way, it is Chris Abele who is currently holding Scott Walker's old job as County Executive, where Walker first rose to prominence and became the darling of many conservatives until he started increasing the state's debt by leaps and bounds, leaving a total mess for his successor. But back to Trumpenstein, the man who squashed Walker's career.

Did Fox News create the Donald Trump phenomenon, to their own detriment?

Donald Trump has the Republican Party by the balls:

Enter Donald Trump, the new darling of the "disgruntled white guy". He is now leading all Republican candidates in delegates for the nomination for President, and Fox News and the Republican National Committee hate him. From my viewpoint, it's another good example of a karmic "getting what you wish for". In their racist baiting of voters, the Republicans have created their own Frankenstein monster who has now come back to haunt, torment, and perhaps destroy them.

Racist episodes have already reared their ugly heads at recent Donald Trump rallies, including the well-known sucker punch thrown by a white man at a black protester in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Black protester is punched by a white man at a Donald Trump Rally

The big problem for the RNC and Republican strategists is that Donald is holding a very dangerous "trump card" when it comes to the election: namely the possibility that he could run as a third party candidate and destroy any chance the Republicans have of winning the 2016 presidential election, and perhaps also destroy any chance that they have of holding onto a senate majority. Should the RNC try to sabotage Trump's chances of winning the Republican nomination for president, the results could be disastrous. Even though Trump had earlier promised not to run as a third party candidate, he has recently been making comments that this promise was made with the assumption that he would be treated fairly by the RNC during the presidential campaign. This is obviously an overt threat that he might change his mind and run as a third party candidate should the Republican establishment continue to try to sabotage his candidacy, and this presents the RNC with an ultimate nightmare scenario where Trump's loyal followers might feel even more disenfranchised than ever and decide to bolt and turn on the Republican Party in a mass revolt.

Trumpenstein and one of his creators, Doctor Quackenstein

After many years of race baiting, the RNC and Fox News have created "Trumpenstein", a dangerous monster created in their own self-image who, due to his popularity among their fans, will probably haunt them for many years to come, and perhaps even become an autocratic Ras-Putin who will hypnotically dominate their existence until a future political revolution of common sense takes place.

Birds of a feather?

Speaking of Putin, he and Trump seemed to have been engaged in a mutual admiration relationship until Trump's recent humorous attack ad on Hillary Clinton, and there are similarities between the two men.

Before this ad came out (Putin did not like it very much), Trump and Putin seemed to be pals

With all their faults, both Trump and Putin appear very patriotic in their own ways. Putin is popular with Russian nationalists, even though he has turned their economy into a disaster during his autocratic reign (111 people control 19% of the personal wealth in Russia and the rest of the population averages $10,000 of personal wealth, a wealth inequality that is the worst in the world, even worse than that of the U.S.). Otherwise, Putin consistently puts Russia first, and his political moves, especially on Russia's borders, are made to reinforce his county's security. 

Trump promises to do the same by greatly increasing the military strength of the U.S. He has pledged an "America-first" economic policy that will punish companies which move jobs out of the country, and he has also promised to be tough with China and other countries so that the U.S. gets better deals in trade negotiations, These promises sit well with many middle-class voters who have seen their wages erode over the years. Republicans fear that Trump will not be a "free trader" and will return America to the days when we put tariffs on many countries' goods (protectionism)  to create better-paying American jobs. It remains to be seen if Trump will actually do this, but many working-class people are probably hoping so.

The Trumpenstein Monster created by the RNC and Fox News

Personally, I think that Trump will probably abandon some of the ideas which are meant to appease conservative voters, such as the "Mexican wall", if and when he wins the Republican nomination. He'll probably do more to strengthen security at the border, but walls don't stop people when they can just dig tunnels under them. From his previous comments, Trump appears to be what I call a "Republicrat", someone whose political views do not conform to either party's rules. His wealth gives him the freedom to ignore lobbyists and political donors and do what he wants to do.

The "Great Negotiator" and/or the "Great Divider":

On his "Celebrity Apprentice" reality television program,  Trump was an expert at pitting people against each other in his boardroom when he was about to fire one of them. He would goad them into "defending themselves" if they were criticized by a competitor and did not fight back. People he considered too soft to defend themselves or unwilling to stoop to the level of their attacker would be fired by Trump right away (probably seeing that their refusal to mud-sling would hurt his show's ratings).

Donald Trump goads  Kenya Moore and Viveca Fox into an embarrassing  cat-fight with yes-man Geraldo Rivera assisting him

It's no stretch of the imagination to believe that Trump might resort to this same "divide and conquer", or "divide and get favorable ratings" strategy of he should become president.  If elected, he will probably give new meaning to the term "bully pulpit", using press conferences to disparage "idiots" who hinder him and praise "good guys" who agree with him. Here is a headline I can foresee during a future Trump Administration:
April 1st, 2017: President Trump requests legislation allowing him to "fire" congressmen whom he considers incompetent or "losers"

In some ways, Trump might be the perfect president for the next four years, when the national debt passes the $20 trillion level. After all, he is an expert in corporate bankruptcy and barely avoided personal bankruptcy through skillful negotiating and cost-cutting. Anyone who has ever had debt problems, such as credit card debt, knows that there is a tipping-point that is reached when your interest payments become so large that you will never be able pay off the debt. I don't know if we've reached that point yet as a country, but American politicians have definitely created the "perfect storm" for an economic disaster, with the Democrats continually spending money they don't have on social programs, and the Republicans refusing to increase revenue through higher taxes on those who can afford to pay them. Perhaps Trump can successfully preside over the Bankruptcy of the United States of America.

If nothing else, the current presidential election cycle has provided more controversy, entertainment value, and fodder for late night comedians than any in recent memory.

Donald Trump comments about a protester: "I'd like to punch him in the face!"