Trump's Acceptance Speech

Last night, I think I may have seen the face of demagoguery, and I’m frightened for the nation and the world. Donald Trump spoke to the GOP conventioneers and worked them up to nearly frothing at the mouth at his words. His acceptance speech was delivered in a way like no other politician I can think of has ever used. It was almost entirely shouted, his face red, his eyes in that characteristic squint, his chin thrust up and his mouth in that characteristic belligerency. The audience reaction was much like that of the crowds at a soccer match, or a Super Bowl, or a rock concert, all noise and unthinking emotion with an audience waving various support signs, their eyes somewhat glazed as they listened to his message. I try to envision Barack Obama using this same coach-at-halftime pep talk. Or Ronald Reagan. Or John F. Kennedy. Or anyone else in national politics now or then. No. Only Donald Trump. He strayed from the teleprompter and the prepared speech only a few times. It wasn’t so much the words as the manner in which they were delivered. The words were mostly as empty as the words in his other speeches—lacking intellectual substance, relying instead on emotional knee jerks. He inserted all the groups whose support he needs—Isreal as our greatest ally in the fight against ISIS, the NRA as an eager endorser, a bow to the evangelicals and even the LGBT movement, legal Latinos and Muslims, Blacks and women (but only as long as they understand they will now be living in a white, patriarchal society). He was the epitome of what we thought we were leaving half a century behind, the Ugly American, the arrogant braggart who gives the rest of the world the middle finger. His credo seems to be isolationism instead of globalism. He will take back all the jobs and manufacturing that have been stolen from us by Mexico and China and other nations. He will force our NATO partners to pay back all the money we’ve spent protecting them. He will make our military so strong that no other nation or terrorist group can survive our might. He will stop the inflow of refugees until they’ve been thoroughly vetted, the flow of rapists and drug dealers from the south by building that gigantic wall along our southern border. He will repeal Obamacare and replace it with something much better. He will appoint Supreme Court Judges who will respect the laws and the Constitution, a statement that seems to suggest that our present justices don’t respect the law nor the Constitution. He shouts that Hillary and her Democratic cronies are trying to do away with the Second Amendment, that Hillary is a liar, a cheat, and a criminal who should be in prison instead of running for the presidency. All through these shouted promises, the crowd chanted, “USA! USA!” It sounded eerily like the “Seig Heil!”s that greeted Hitler in his speeches in the 30’s. He will make America and Americans rich again. He will make America safe again. He will make America proud again. He will make America great again. And the balloons and confetti came raining down. I now no longer see this man as a buffoon, a comical clown. I now see him as a very real threat to our nation and to the world, one who might actually win in November if he can keep enough eyes glazed in the polling booths.