Presidential Musings

Of course yesterday's post was an April Fools.  In fact, "a floor display" is an anagram of "April Fools' Day."  I don't begrudge the Donald for running or his supporters for voting for him.  I personally consider his policies to be wrong, his behavior to be repellent, and his tactics to be deplorable.

But, as a moderate Republican, what has infuriated me the most about the GOP primary is not the Donald's antics but rather the inability of anybody - a competitor, a debate moderator, a political pundit - to draw him out on any issue for more than 90 seconds.  As the consummate salesman, braggart, and alpha male, the Donald can talk a good game for about a minute and a half on just about any topic you throw his way.  Supporters and the undecided alike are impressed by this.  But, no matter how much they might be swayed by such shallow rhetoric, surely their comfort level in voting him into the highest office in the land would plummet if he had to carry on on a topic for longer than that, at which point he will either (a) repeat his boasts (b) start talking nonsense (c) contradict himself within the span of a few short sentences. 

As an East Coast intellectual who consumes a lot of East Coast intellectual content, I see a lot of "how come so many people can't see right through the Donald," but it's always related to his policy positions, his hateful speech, and his dubious campaign tactics.  Rarely is it plainly posited that, quite frankly, the Donald simply cannot speak on anything for more than 90 seconds without imploding.  I'm astounded that we are this deep into the election cycle and no one has done this yet.