It's not so much him, but it's their way of expressing their frustration. I get that now. And I agree with many of the reasons behind the frustration. I think their response -- supporting Trump -- is misplaced, horribly misplaced, and the wrong answer, the horribly dangerously wrong answer, but it's a powerful message.
Maybe liberals like me should focus less on what a wing nut Donald Trump is, because deep in my heart I believe that's what he is, and more on why people are exasperated. Maybe all of us -- especially legislators -- need to focus less on blaming and blocking, and more on what can be done.
My response is pick the candidate for President whose head isn't a bag of cats, then focus on your congressman, senator, governor, state and local reps. Speak out as passionately about issues as you do the presidential candidates. Do something, no matter how small, with your time, your money, your livelihood, your voice, that makes things better.
Still, for anyone who opposes Trump and whose left eyebrow is permanently cocked in the upright position, like mine, here is how Chris Matthews put it this morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe.
"A lot of this support for Trump, despite all his flaws, which he displays regularly, is about the country. Patriotic feelings people have. They feel the country has been let down. That our elite leaders, on issues like immigration. They don't regulate any immigration it seems. They don't regulate trade to our advantage, the working man's and the working woman's advantage. They take us into stupid wars. 'Their kids don't fight but our kids do.' It's patriotic. They believe in our country."
And by elite leaders, that includes Republicans, Democrats, Conservatives, Liberals. My conclusion: Trump is a great message, but a terrible candidate. So let's put our energy on the future and not on canonizing one person and demonizing the other and calling each other idiots. [Stage Direction: Wipe a tear, queue the patriotic music, unfurl the flag . . . wait, is that guy taking a knee!? Oh. No, he dropped his iPhone.]
http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe
