First Reaction to Trump: Really? Who cares?
Second Reaction: He’s polling high, but he won’t win.
Third Reaction: It's almost 2016. This is still a thing?
On deeper thought…I’ve only made one comment referencing Donald Trump on social media and it wasn’t really about him. I just haven’t been able to take him seriously as a presidential contender. Whether he’s really a bigot or “just” a showman cynically using the disaffections of low-information voters for political gain, he can’t (and shouldn’t) be taken seriously.
According to Nicolle Wallace on today’s edition of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”, Trump has “talents” because he stayed on the show after a commercial break to take questions from her and her co-hosts on his campaign and his comments. Joe Scarborough concurred, stating that no politician would have even called into the show after said show blasted him for his comments. Let’s not fool ourselves; just because Donald Trump has “talents” doesn’t mean he has the skills, the vision, or the moral imagination to be President of the United States, someone who people in some countries know more about than their own elected representatives. It’s highly irresponsible for MSNBC and its employees to entertain this man, likely for the hope of continued access. If this is what change at NBC News looks like under Andy Lack - sycophantic and superficially inquisitive - then I should just read the news.
Witnessing the reaction to Trump’s recent comments about Muslims (and Latinos and African Americans), I’ve realized that he’s like the student in a college seminar who hasn’t done the reading and has nothing to contribute to the discussion. To detract from his poor preparation while making an impact on the discussion, the student will make provocative and incendiary comments that will derail the class. Trump is that guy, someone who must say something (he thinks is) important even when he has nothing important to contribute to the conversation. And let’s be clear: proposing a ban, or even discussing it as more than a political science thought experiment, is absurd.
Grouping Indonesian Muslims with Bosnian Muslims with Afghani Muslims is as asinine as grouping any global community that transcends affiliation to one ethnicity, culture, or location. Diverse groups of Muslims, with different backgrounds, challenges, and aspirations, recognize each other as much as a New Yorker would recognize the people who are still clapping at Trump’s rallies. The only use he has is by offering the public some insight, through poll numbers, on who his base is and why they're engaged, but even the most ardent white supremacist doesn’t realistically believe that any sane lawmaker will propose, let alone vote, for a blanket ban on Muslims or that any president would actually sign such a bill into law.
The best Trump could have hoped to achieve is shifting the center of the debates around immigration and radicalization and making us consider consider policies that degrade the larger conversation, but even that’s too much to stomach. Considering the people who still believe everything they see/hear or who still see politics as an enlightened pursuit (no offense) Trump has done enough damage to how this conversation continues. He’s given ISIS enough material for pamphlets and promotional videos for the next few months and he’s caused enough Muslims here and abroad to pause as they consider where they fit in our heated debates between immigration and nativism, integration and assimilation.
Trump can’t just be ignored; he needs to be dismissed. This man needs to recede from public view so the public can get serious about defining the context for the 2016 election and Republicans can get serious about rallying around a credible nominee and de facto opposition leader. At this point, this Facebook post I saw is all that’s left to say about Mr. Trump:
“I am ashamed for having ever watched ‘The Apprentice’”.
Playtime's over. Let's get to work.
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