On the implosion of Donald Trump...

I haven't written on my journal for a while. Spring/summer travel, the works. There have been so much going on that I wish I have more time to jog down my thoughts on each of them. There were the refugee crisis in Europe, the on-going destruction in Middle East (flavor-of-the-month being Syria, of course), bomb and terrorist attacks in various European countries, Brexit, and to cap it all, the presidential election. Boy, that's quite a mouthful just to enumerate them.

Let's take the presidential election in US.

Surely it hasn't been this "entertaining" for the longest time, with plots thickened by the day, that it's becoming like the reality version of House Of Cards. But of course, there's nothing funny or amusing about it since the stake is so high. Whoever gets to the White House is going to almost dictate the direction of where the country (and by proxy, the rest of the world) goes for the next four years, and with the appointment of Supreme Court appointments at stake, the larger impact of the presidency would be felt in at least the next three to four decades to come.

I generally don't vote for anyone just because a candidate share the same gender as I do, although one can hardly deny the very powerful symbolic notion of the first female president, holding court in the most powerful office in the world. It's about damn time, one could say. But no, Hillary Clinton (HRC) has not had my votes by default. I have to admit, she has earned it, fair and square, through decades of dedication that work toward the largely same goals through public service, sans the time she's private practice, I suppose. Although I don't agree totally with the liberal agenda, the general directions that she has laid out are ok (or at least better than what Donald Trump has propositioned). Yet, I would not have wanted to see the near amnesty of illegals in the country, nor take-your-pick-in-gender fights where one can essentially choose whatever gender one wants, or the push of trade deals that imperils the working class in US (case in point being NAFTA).

When one looks at the other alternatives to HRC, she instantly looks more electable. I won't take Jill Stein (Green Party) or Gary Johnson (Libertarian) seriously. I was particularly unimpressed by one interview I heard Stein on the radio where she was asked whether she would admit she's wrong in supporting the anti-vaccination movement back then, even after the myth was totally debunked without any scientific proof. Without much of an admission of guilt, all she could muster in response was, trust me, I'm a doctor. I'm, like, really? So what if she's a medical doctor when she couldn't even look at scientific data in the eyes and face the facts.

As to Gary Johnson, there's nothing more to be said. The guy self-implodes the moment he half-admitted that he didn't even know what Aleppo is when it's all over the news about Syria. That says so much about his narrow worldview as a libertarian, no doubt.

And then, there is Donald Trump. Watching the love-hate relationship between Trump and GOP establishment during the primary season was priceless. We know now, that the ostrich approach didn't work out so well. Without so much of any effective rebuttal from GOP establishment and leaders, Trump goud each candidates, devours them one after another. All the while, GOP grassroots and core supporters egg him on. And why not? Trump is the ultimately protest choice of the GOP grassroot supporters, the largely white working class, particularly men, who have been left behind in economy. They were the ones who were fed the red meat rhetoric about liberal conspiracy whenever things don't go right, so that they would not have time to look closely at what their own party has done for them. After more than two decades of wool over eyes, they look to have finally wise up and opt for someone like Trump who is totally outside of the system, totally unconventional, and who also totally turns off the GOP establishment. So much the better. It doesn't matter if he's crass, or bigotry, or petty, or ignorant. In Trump, these voters see themselves in him, only with more money.

I won't even bother with all those stupid back-and-forthing about email server issue of HRC (extremely careless but no crime) or even Bill Clinton's infidelity issue (as if a husband's philandering is the fault of the wife, ah!), or how HRC might have acted dismissive toward those other women. I'm pretty sure no one in GOP, or in Trump's campaign, cares to ask opinion of any woman of how they might feel if they were in the shoes of HRC during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. If they have asked me, I would have told them I would probably have reacted the same way as HRC. Before the proof, no wife would want to believe in the betrayal. Afterall, Lewinsky did do her best in seducing a very married man. Him philandering, no question about it. But it takes two to tango, and Lewinsky was just as sinful as Bill Clinton did. Was that something that can be blame on the wife (HRC)? No.

But, we all knew of those incidents years ago now. The public, and GOP, has had more than thirty years of continuous vetting of the Clintons. GOP and Trump are just wasting their breath, and every voter's time, in diverting the attention from the real issues that this election really should have focused on.

Trump, on the other hand, is an entirely different matter. He's an unknown entity. Bit by bit, things came out. Trump cast himself as the successful billionaire who can use his business experience to run the country. And then, news came out that he really isn't as successful as he claims to be, with reports that he didn't pay his bills or his workers, and even evaded taxes for years using huge losses accumulated on papers. No matter, he's shameless enough to grab the megaphone to claim him to be smarter than thou, that if he can game the system (or you) and you don't, it's your fault, not his. Just one month from election day, the revelation came, in the form of lewd conversations of Trump talking casually about groping women, all recorded on tape for the world to see. More women came forth with accusations against Trump, even though most were from years ago. Trump campaign tried desperately to duck, deflate and counter-attack HRC, dismissing the talks (as "locker room banter"), dismissing the women and their credibility, even threatening libel lawsuit. Perhaps this is the final straw for those like Paul Ryan who reluctantly walked with Trump, but finally had ammo to proudly claim he's breaking from him for good.

It sure is highly entertaining. All that HRC has to do, is to tread lightly, and watch Trump implodes. That said, I highly doubt that HRC would win with as big a margin as one would have claimed to be a mandate for her ultimate presidency. It's highly likely that she would end up follow Obama's footsteps, having to prove his worth with a two-term presidency, a re-election, turning around the economy, tackling intractable issues like pushing for climate change, and even introducing a flawed health bill that we now know it as ObamaCare. Still, a good half of the nation's voters would not go with Obama. I'd bet, it'll be the same pattern for HRC, even if she wins.

No matter, we can never please everyone, so we might as well push ahead whatever way we see fit. I hope HRC takes that path.

I won't even contemplate Trump winning.  :)