Could Trump be “Da Man” ?

Haven't written in awhile.  Been busy staying out of public life!  Working hard on my business.  The upcoming election is consuming virtually all of the news time available.  Not so much about Hillary…no, it's about Trump.  I'm involved a bit with the local republican party and when people ask me what I think of Trump…well, I'll be honest: if I don't feel like a long discussion I just tell them I don't know.  

I do know that I don't like Hillary.  She does not now nor has she ever seemed very transparent and honest.  A trail of questionable decisions and cover-ups seem to follow her everywhere she goes.  

That brings us back to Trump…..hrm.  The Atlantic had an interesting article on Trump today.  It is entitled "Could Trump Be the 'Man's Man' America Wants?"  In reading that article I think there's more right than wrong.  I agree with the notion that a majority of the American people would love a Man's Man to govern (an important word there) the country.  Ronald Reagan felt like a Man's man…or at least as close to that as you can be and also succeed in Hollywood and politics.  I do feel that Trump could be that man….but he also can't control himself and a Man's man or a President can do that.

The recent kerfuffle surrounding the Gold Star parents is a great example.  People are losing their minds that either a) Trump was attacked or b) that Trump attacked back and Mr. Khan was a secret agent or whateverthehell.  People shout, "what do you expect Trump to do, SIT THERE AND TAKE IT????"  

The answer is simple: yes.  

I expect my President to be disciplined and decent enough to take some abuse and just shut it.  This isn't abstract to me.  I've seen it first hand.  When I was on the council (COUNCIL – a local government idiot, not PRESIDENT) we'd have people come down to speak about our budget and invariably someone, we'll say his name is Fred, would talk about how he was being "taxed out of Manassas while you fat cats line your own pockets" (true story).  

Did I immediately dash off a tweet calling Fred a deadbeat and a loser as he couldn't afford to live in Manassas so we didn't want him?  Did I engage Fred in a weekslong, spiraling duel to the death?  Did third parties have to get involved in order to keep me from going off the ledge?

No.  I sat there and took it.  Sometimes that's harder.  It is what I would expect my President to do.

Mr. & Mrs. Khan are gold star parents.  Their son went to the cemetery with an American flag on his casket.  I've been to a couple of those services.  They're hard.  Shut the hell up Mr. Trump.  

This goes to the heart of my problem with Trump: why fight the Khans?  It only ends poorly.  You have an opponent with 30 years of wreckage to shoot at.  An economy that is sputtering and you have brought a raft of new ideas and issues to the table that a majority of Americans want to see our leaders talk about: getting fair trade deals, America first, education, immigration, paying our "fair share" in NATO – those issues are all Winners.  I don't like the idea that a Republican candidate would campaign solely on fear but it would work.  Those issues, or combinations of them, are winners in this election but Trump is so undisciplined that he can't stick with any of them.  He is consumed with attacking individuals, opponents, just about anything that slips onto his radar.  It's narcissistic, ugly, and from a pure political standpoint, it's a loser.

Could Trump, as The Atlantic says, lead a "post religious right"?  Yes, but he cannot seem to stay focused long enough to do that.  I think it is more likely that the realignment of the GOP continues for awhile yet.  The election will shed some light on this realignment but it will not be some cataclysm that provides all of the answers.