Last week The Donald spoke, more's the pity. This time he responded to an American family's sacrifice of their son in combat not by identifying with them but by insulting them. Some have raised questions about Donald Trump's fitness to become president of the United States and commander-in-chief of its armed forces for a variety of reasons/tweets.
His latest only fits a sad pattern.
All of which raises a more basic question about The Donald's character: What character? He may be one. But has he any? The man continues to demonstrate, in tweets and speeches and general demeanor, that he's just a big creep. Which was the term of less than endearment that Monica Lewinsky used to sum up a president named Bill Clinton, who also managed to avoid military service in his younger years. Bill Clinton may be lurking around the White House once again if his spouse is elected president of the United States. If she wins, which is looking more and more likely, she won't deserve all or even most of the credit for defeating Donald Trump. He's busy defeating himself.
Thank goodness there are still leaders in this state and country who can display grace under pressure, which is the very definition of courage. Take, once again, for great example, the junior senator from Arkansas. Tom Cotton, who served in the military and overseas in this nation's wars, denounced The Donald's unseemly conduct. In all the hubbub over The Donald's latest shtick, Sen. Cotton noted that the Democratic nominee is getting a free ride as other issues are neglected, including Hillary Clinton's character deficit:
"In the last four or five days over the weekend in the middle of this controversy, we got an economic growth report that shows we have the weakest economy since World War II, and Hillary Clinton yet again lied to the American people about her (email) server. She lied about the lie she told previously."
That's what Donald Trump should be focused on, said Sen. Boozman, instead of smearing Gold Star families:
"(A)s the son of a career Air Force veteran, my family understood that our father's service put him in harm's way and that those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and their families have earned our highest respect and unwavering gratitude."
Don't leave the House types out. French Hill took the high road, as always. Steve Womack sided with Gold Star families, too. Democrats in the coming congressional races in this state also got it right. Conner Eldridge (running against Sen. Boozman) said Donald Trump's statement was appalling -- and had to be specific lest people get confused as to which statement of The Donald's was at issue today. And Dianne Curry (running against French Hill) may have said it best: "Regardless of political party affiliation, we certainly all agree that attacking a Gold Star mother is utterly disgraceful conduct."
Yes, ma'am, we do. As all can see from statements from the governor on down.
There's going to be a lot of cleaning up needed if Hillary Clinton is elected even for a single term, which again, gets likelier every time The Donald opens his mouth:
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, will still need to be repealed and replaced one day. For it certainly doesn't protect patients as their insurance premiums continue to mount. And it could get even worse, with insurance companies like Aetna, which reported a $300 million loss on participating in the insurance exchanges, may well pull out of Obamacare. Insurance exchanges are an attempt at a government substitute for a free market that isn't free or efficient.
The notorious Department of Veterans Affairs will still need to be cleaned up, for sentencing our veterans to its care has proven cruel and all too usual punishment. Medicare will still need to be saved instead of being turned into another Medicaid, which is already having trouble being accepted by doctors and clinics across the country -- for its history of slow pay has become no pay at all.
The to-do list after another President Clinton leaves the White House will have grown even longer after another four years of Clintonesque dissembling and overreach. Donald Trump, our own caudillo, isn't the only presidential candidate who should alarm the American electorate. For this contest between Mr. Trump and Ms. Clinton is one between the devil we don't know and the one we know all too well.
Somebody please wake me when this presidential campaign is over and America can start being America again, land of the free and home of the brave -- like Capt. Humayun Khan, U.S. Army.
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