You know, try as I might, I can’t get worked up about Donald Trump. I’m against him, or maybe I should say, “against him.” But I can’t summon up hatred. I can’t even summon up dislike. Nor can I summon up fear.
The truth is, I get kind of a kick out of Trump (as I’ve written before). The accent, the hair, the braggadocio. The broads, the dough, the buildings (and the golf courses).
Trump is a character. He’s an American original. A vulgarian, a celebrity, a self-promoter. A self-inventor and -reinventor. Yes, this is very American. And I grin at him, much of the time.
Trump is part of the passing parade. He “adds to the gaiety of life,” as Paul Johnson would say.
I don’t take him seriously as a political figure, which is maybe an error. I think the field should treat him with benign neglect, or amused neglect. Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill. Don’t turn a sideshow into the Main Event.
This is the silly season in the presidential cycle, or the phony war, if you like — the phony war before the real war. Trump is a big story in the summer of 2015. By the time people start to vote? This may be a distant, somewhat trippy memory.
There are those who think Trump can do real damage to the Republican party. I doubt it. But “time will tell” (to borrow the most boring phrase in English).
Democrats are certainly enjoying the participation and prominence of Trump. It’s Christmas morning for them. The other day, I overheard a couple at a table, talking about how great it was that Trump was in the Republican field. At last, the GOP was showing its true colors. Trump was the face of the Republicans. The other candidates were “stooges” in his shadow.
Etc.
But you know? People such as that couple will never say a kind word about the Republicans anyway. Or vote for them. As little as they think of Trump, they thought no better of Reagan, Bush 41, Dole, Bush 43, McCain, or Romney. (All of those men are bêtes noires for a certain segment of the Right, too, except for Reagan, who, however, in his day, had trouble on his right.)
(Howard Phillips, the chairman of the Conservative Caucus, called Reagan “a useful idiot for Soviet propaganda.” The old joke went, “None of this would be happening if Ronald Reagan were still alive!” The tax hikes, the deficit spending, the amnesty!)
Maybe I’m taking Trump too lightly, or am blind to his importance. Maybe I’m a chump about Trump. But my counsel — not that anyone asked — is, Relax about him. Let him have his campaign show, or reality show. He’ll be gone ere long, and then we’ll begin. In other words: Lighten up.
But you know the prerogative of a pundit: If Trump goes third-party, and threatens Republican victory à la Perot, I’ll be saying, “Why the &%$! didn’t you recognize the threat of Trump earlier on and do something about it!!!”