Trump finally tripped up by his own words

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/04/2016 (3448 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Has Donald Trump’s march to the Republican nomination finally come to a crashing halt? Based on Tuesday’s defeat in Wisconsin to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and Trump’s increasingly negative popularity polls, it appears as though the public’s interest in his shtick may have reached its zenith.

Trump’s popularity can be explained as a combination of factors — his embrace of white working-class anger; the pushback against political correctness; his own repudiation of the media; his outrageousness; the simplicity of his answers; and last but not least, a culture that worships wealth and celebrity.

He has, of course, always been a relentless self-promoter to the degree that a gullible public either laughs at his pratfalls or disregards his shortcomings.

His rhetoric is empty — dangerously so. His response to literally every question is the same: “The United States doesn’t win anymore. We make bad deals. I will make good deals.”

Disregarding the vacuousness of this response, it is shocking to me that people have been accepting of Trump’s silliness.

Making comments about his hands as a reference to his virility — does this have a place in a serious debate about the future of the United States?

Commenting on the attractiveness of a fellow candidate’s spouse? Is this what qualifies as appropriate subject matter in a presidential race?

Interestingly, what appears to be tripping up Trump right now might be among the least exaggerated of his outrageous comments — “punishing” women who have had abortions.

On the surface, his comments are, indeed, outrageous.

However, the background of the situation is that Trump was expertly led through a rhetorical minefield by MSNBC’s political commentator Chris Matthews.

The combative and persistent Matthews prefaced the question about whether Trump would punish women if they had an abortion — if abortion were illegal and banned, then would you punish the woman who has one?

Trump repeatedly, unsuccessfully, attempted to dodge the question.

He should have said that he doesn’t respond to hypothetical questions. Perhaps he should have said that, as the president of the United States, his role is to uphold and defend the Constitution and the nation’s laws, as unfair and unpopular as they may be.

My personal sense (and that’s all it is) of Trump is that he doesn’t care about most so-called morality issues, including abortion. I don’t believe he would advocate the punishment of women who have had abortions. He simply didn’t have the intellectual tools to defend his position when a skilled interlocutor wouldn’t back down from his usual bullying.

Rather, I believe Trump answered the question as simply suggesting he would be required to enforce laws. It was as though Trump viewed the hypothetical ban on abortions to be no different than enforcing laws about driving while intoxicated or using marijuana.

In all candour, I am pleased to see this controversy entrap The Donald. He has shown a remarkable ability to ensnare his opponents in a panoply of other ways, including bullying and name-calling.

I am personally saddened to see the state of Republican politics fall to this level, but Trump should possess sufficient self-awareness to understand that he is very much a creature of this poisoned atmosphere.

Trump’s electoral chances drop with every day and each inopportune comment. The lack of message discipline he has displayed has cost him the support of women, black and Hispanic voters.

Trump has always chosen to live by the sword. Now, it appears, he may be dying by the same sword.