Why, even to the very bitter end, do we dose out criticism in equal measure? Can't we, in this our moment of grave discontent and even greater danger, finally place the threat that Donald Trump represents in its own unique category?
This is not the end but the beginning of a national nightmare if this small handed, small minded caricature of a candidate wakes up Wednesday with a mandate to tear down this country by building walls, to ignore the reality of climate change, to indiscriminately dismantle old alliances and forge bonds with those who would seek our destruction, to threaten, to prevaricate, to stumble into disaster, to tax our country to the limit by trickling down long discredited economic theory, to stoke the fears and hatreds of those who believe control of the country and their destiny is slipping away, to remove safety nets and health care coverage for those most in need, to pack the Supreme Court with Scalia-lites, to condone torture and run roughshod over the foundational precepts of our democracy, to turn 401Ks into 201Ks, to close our minds and shut our hearts, to find darkness and danger everywhere we look, to do lasting and maybe irreparable damage to our stature in the eyes of the world.
In stark contrast, Hillary Clinton is as ready, willing and able to take on the rigors of the hardest job in the world as any person who has ever sought this office. Her email problem, her reflexive secrecy after she has been poked and prodded for 25 years are not her most laudable traits. But Donald Trump is not worthy of comparison to Ms. Clinton in any measure, as his faults are staggering, omnipresent and belong solely in their own dismal universe.
"The end is nigh" should not be a review by Ms. Dowd of the relative faults of the Democratic and Republican nominees but rather the title of a book contemplating an America under siege, under Trump. For a Donald Trump presidency promises nothing so much as the end of the world as we know it.
4 comments:
Great, great piece/argument that I've already passed on to a few of my friends.
G
What we ought to fear is that the soon-to-be preferred method of governance will be authoritarianism ala Vladimir Putin--anti-immigrant, nationalistic, anti-global trade, aggressive bullying all with a large dose of anti-Semitism masquerading as the fight against international bankers and media controllers. Clinton's election will not stop this trend which began with Obama in 2008. It will be up to the languid millenials to wake up and demand the continuation of a democratic future.
So true. So well written.
R
Your brother should get a job at the Times. His response is much better than Maureen Dowd’s piece. (a comment forwarded to my sister regarding this post)
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