Fear and loathing, ’16
After Tuesday’s primaries, we face the likelihood of a mean, ugly campaign between two of the most polarizing people in American politics today.
Where is Hunter Thompson when we need him? Only the good doctor, who wrote Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, could do justice to what’s coming.
Donald Trump’s negatives trump anyone’s ever in political history. He is roundly hated by women, minorities and wide swaths of America, including other business people. No one since George Wallace has generated so much meanness, bigotry and pent-up violence. No wonder the pro-gun GOP wants no guns on the floor of its national convention.
And Hillary Clinton. Even Democrats who believe she is extraordinarily well qualified to be President see the depth of the distrust and sheer hatred she generates.
Hillary can’t catch a break. In the 80s and 90s, they said she was too liberal. Today, they say she’s too conservative. She carries the scars of many years and many battles, and she bears the Clintonian mantle of too many scandals, too much what-the-definition-of-is-is and too much eagerness to grab the money.
And it could get worse. Trump’s forces and the Never-Trump forces could rip the GOP apart. Bernie and the Sandinistas could cripple Clinton. Either party could spawn an independent candidacy.
Only then do we get to the fall campaign. Advantage then to Clinton. She’s pretty much offended everybody she’s going to. But The Donald has unlimited potential to offend even more.
Fear and loathing, ’16
After Tuesday’s primaries, we face the likelihood of a mean, ugly campaign between two of the most polarizing people in American politics today.
Where is Hunter Thompson when we need him? Only the good doctor, who wrote Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, could do justice to what’s coming.
Donald Trump’s negatives trump anyone’s ever in political history. He is roundly hated by women, minorities and wide swaths of America, including other business people. No one since George Wallace has generated so much meanness, bigotry and pent-up violence. No wonder the pro-gun GOP wants no guns on the floor of its national convention.
And Hillary Clinton. Even Democrats who believe she is extraordinarily well qualified to be President see the depth of the distrust and sheer hatred she generates.
Hillary can’t catch a break. In the 80s and 90s, they said she was too liberal. Today, they say she’s too conservative. She carries the scars of many years and many battles, and she bears the Clintonian mantle of too many scandals, too much what-the-definition-of-is-is and too much eagerness to grab the money.
And it could get worse. Trump’s forces and the Never-Trump forces could rip the GOP apart. Bernie and the Sandinistas could cripple Clinton. Either party could spawn an independent candidacy.
Only then do we get to the fall campaign. Advantage then to Clinton. She’s pretty much offended everybody she’s going to. But The Donald has unlimited potential to offend even more.