Donald Trump recently did an interview with the editorial board of The Washington Post. It really is a marvel of incoherent rambling and non-answers and a recurring theme is that Donald Trump can get something done because he's Donald Trump, no further explanation necessary. I keep expecting some interview with him any day now to include an exchange like this…
TRUMP: I will make it so World War II never happened because I will have a time machine so we can go back and kill Hitler.
INTERVIEWER: But no one has ever figured out how to go back in time. How will you be able to do it?
TRUMP: I will do it because I am Donald Trump.
Part of my distaste for the guy is his lack of seriousness about anything he says. He doesn't answer questions. He bullies his way through with questionable "facts" and superego. Things will be great because he'll do them. We will win because he's tougher. Long before I'd ever heard of Trump, I had a visceral dislike of people who talk tough…which as I've learned over the years is an entirely different thing from actually being tough. In fact, the folks I've encountered who talked the toughest were almost all bluffing because they didn't want to have to follow through and prove they could deliver. "Don't mess with me" is usually uttered by someone who's afraid you'll create a situation where he has to mess with you.
But I also really don't like people who blather on over serious matters without relating them to reality. I wrote this before here but every time the Writers Guild is on strike, we have members who are dissatisfied with the WGA leadership and who insist the impossible is possible if only we're tougher…
HIM: Our committee should get in there and negotiate!
ME: The producers refuse to negotiate.
HIM: Then we should insist they negotiate.
ME: The producers refuse to negotiate.
HIM: Then we should get in there and be real tough and demand they negotiate.
ME: The only weapon we have against them is to strike.
HIM: Don't strike! Negotiate! Demand they negotiate! If I were on that committee, I could force them to negotiate!
ME: How would you do that?
HIM: By being tougher than they are!
It is, of course, easy to say stuff like that when you're never going to have to actually do it. You know, I'd be a much better James Bond than Daniel Craig and if I got in the ring with Lucas Browne (I think he's the current Heavweight Champ), I could knock him on his ass in three minutes.
Hey, you can't prove that isn't true. Just as you can't prove that Trump's or even Ted Cruz's economic plan would grow the economy by 5% every year. Personally, I'd bet on me versus Browne before I'd bet on anyone promising 5% growth, especially if the way they're going to achieve it is by slashing taxes for the rich and social services for the poor. But read the interview with Trump. It'll make you feel Sarah Palin wasn't so bad…