The Eagle Knew

Published by Rick on Tagged Uncategorized

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has been a godsend for comedians around the world, and his latest escapade involved an American bald eagle who wasn’t comfortable in The Donald’s presence. The eagle attempted to nip at Trump’s arm while the man was posing for a Time magazine “Man-Of-The-Year” photograph (Trump was third in Time’s poll, Angela Merkel won it), and the expression on the presidential candidate’s face is one we hadn’t seen before. During his campaign, Trump has shown expressions of arrogance, callousness, anger, sarcasm, hatred, and bigotry (among many things), but through the help of the eagle, we can now add fear to the list. The eagle was surely acting on instinct, and many will say he couldn’t have picked a better target.

I’m not here to gloat about that, or even repeat what’s already been said, either by Trump or his detractors, because until he goes “too far,” which so far no one has set a parameter for, we liberals should just sit back and let him self-destruct. His daily diatribes are great entertainment. It is a bit sad, though, that his supporters parrot the notion of “He’s saying what we’re all thinking.” Sure, it’s horrible that he’s saying these things, but his views aren’t that far removed from those of his Republican opponents, nearly all of whom would be at least as bad a president as Trump, but none have the balls to say anything other than sound bytes.

England has already gotten hundreds of thousands of signatures on a petition banning him from entering the UK, after he made a statement of how London police fear for their lives. Given that he’s been traipsing across America for the last few months, how would he know this? England certainly isn’t crime-free or terror-free, as a man just a few days ago assaulted an innocent middle-aged man at a tube station, crying out “That’s for Syria,” but police were able to subdue him without firing a shot, and those few witnesses who weren’t just voyeurs with mobiles hoping to go viral with shocking video were also able to save the victim’s life.

Trump’s statement about England wasn’t even that original, or outrageous. No, for sheer idiocy, Trump has to take a distant second to the Fox News reporter Steven Emmerson, who in January, after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, chose to comment on how Islam has taken over most of Europe, England especially, and that the city of Birmingham is dangerous for any non-Muslims. As Emmerson made these comments, the on-screen graphic identified him as “Terrorism Expert.” Is that an actual profession? However, the Expert wasn’t running for president and wasn’t a billionaire, so over the next few days, he was forced to issue retractions and apologies, was briefly taken off the air, and voluntary donated a financial gift to the city of Birmingham. Trump wouldn’t do that, and that’s why we kinda like him.

The 1964 Republican candidate for President Barry Goldwater, also known for making blanket condemnations of various ethnic groups, once said, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.” Yeah, can’t accuse him of sugar coating it. I wish Trump would say something to that effect, for while I wouldn’t like him for being a horrible human being, there would at least be some reason to appreciate his honesty. I’ve always felt that if you have to utter the words, “I’m not a racist,” you probably are, and totally in denial.

It’s ironic that Trump only switched from Democrat to Republican in the past few years, and that Bill and Hillary Clinton were close enough friends of his that they were guests at his last wedding. Now they face the possibility of being his opponent. I wonder if they’re still on each other’s Christmas card lists. The next 11 months should be entertaining, though if the words “President Trump” actually become a reality, well, it’ll be hard for UK to uphold that ban. Won’t matter, because England will probably have an American immigration problem that will dwarf the worry about the influx of Syrians. A Trump Presidency would pretty well guarantee me staying here another 4-8 years, no matter how crowded it gets here.

December 11th, 2015



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