Name:   copperline - Subject:   The Weak in Trump Date:   6/27/2016 12:22:14 PM

New poll data describes that the shine is wearing off of Donald Trump.   1/3 of Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents believe he is “unqualified for office”.     Only 69% of Republicans who backed other GOP candidates during primary season are willing to vote for Trump, with 13% of them saying they will vote for Clinton and 11% saying they will vote for neither.

Among Republicans and  Republican-leaning Independents, 39% believe his comments about Judge Curiel were racist, and 36% believe he is unfairly biased against certain groups.

Overall, Clinton now polls at 51% and Trump at 39% if the election was held today.

So much for the numbers.  

Last week, Great Britain cast a historic vote that disrupted their relationship with the EU and is widely predicted to cause a huge down-turn in Britain’s economic future…  it is worth noting that the same Populist Trumpian notions of overly-simple solutions & shallow proposals gained enough traction to win the “Leave” vote… but as we are seeing now the Leave camp has no plan for dealing with the harsh fallout of their actions.   The vote is likely to cause the break up of Great Britain itself, with both Scotland and perhaps Ireland moving toward separation from their union.   In the end, this could knock Great Britain off the world stage as a major power and as a key player in global security.  

It seems to me that we should watch this example of political sentiments gone wild and take a lesson from it.   We should pay close attention to what is about to happen as a result of England’s fear of immigration and racist sentiment.    As with Trump, leaders of the Leave Movement ramped up voters with vague & unfounded allegations that the fabric of their culture was under threat, moved them to vote to exit the EU and now leave those voters to face the dire economic consequences of their vote as best they can.   As with Trump, their leaders made bold pronouncements about what they should do… but have no idea how to handle the fallout from such a momentous change in policy.      After ginning up enough voter fear to pass the ‘Leave’ proposal, the leading Google search item (in Great Britain) on the following day showed how little thought had been put into the ramifications….It was “What is the EU?”.

This may go down in history as a time when voters followed an overly emotional impulse without concerning themselves with the implications of their actions,  only to find out too late that you need to really listen to and objectively examine the complex issues involved.     The Brits may find that they are just like us…. We also like to believe there are simple & quick solutions to complex problems.

For his part, Donald Trump was happy to say that he expected to make money from England’s actions, completely dismissing the hardships to come and risks that truly exist.   It’s yet another example of Trump’s worldview…. Completely unconcerned with the impact his statements would have on real people, happy to announce that he is going to be just fine (and even richer!) when the smoke clears.   We should all be so lucky.

It is worth noting that Donald Trump was not alone in hoping that England would exit the EU.     So was Valdimir Putin.  Trump likes the idea because he can use it to ramp up his voter base, Putin likes it because it greatly weakens the prospects of a strong & secure Europe.   They make a great team, don’t you think?