Mitragyna Speciosa

Donald Trump is on his way to being an authority figure.  Some feel he’s already there.  If (when) nominated, he will have the mantle of authority that comes from being the standard bearer of one of America’s two major political parties.

Ironically, Trump will have captured the Republican nomination by winning only twelve million votes, or about five percent of the voting population’s 225 million registered voters.

The same holds true for Clinton who will have won in excess of 13 million votes, or about 5.7 percent of the total voters.  For all the reforms in politics that wrested deciding nominees from ‘smoke-filled back rooms,’ a tiny minority hands the majority our only choices.

The voting public is none too happy with the selections. The polls all agree that Trump and Clinton are both mining unexplored depths in terms of unfavorable ratings. An ABC poll found Clinton and Trump to be “the most disliked nominees in decades.”  Donald Trump beat Hillary hands-down in the ‘thumbs-down’ category with a 60 percent unfavorable rating to her 53 percent.

But Trump isn’t just setting records for unfavorable ratings and winning with tiny percentages of the total voters. He is winning — almost without resistance from the public, including America’s mothers — the unchallenged authority to wipe away our family and country’s core values.

Back on the campaign trail, Hillary Clinton warned, “I do not want Americans…to start to believe that [Trump’s] is a normal candidacy.”  Her warning may be too late.  Americans already know Mr. Trump has violated almost all national ethics and household beliefs that we have, and concluded he is somehow above the law.

We all know by now that Mr. Trump refuses to debate policy. He deflects every criticism of his proposals with nasty, crude, personal attacks on his opponents — their looks, their height, the way they talk.

Trump has made his political career out of character assassinations, so much so that I’m tempted to call him ‘The Manchurian candidate,” though I won’t do that.  Notice what I just did.

I did the Donald Trump soft-shoe, two-step.  Trump’s slick trick is to say something outrageous, and then soften the blow by saying he didn’t say it.  I’ve never seen a candidate avoid responsibility for what comes out of his mouth the way Trump does.  Maybe it’s because Trump has produced a reality show and voters figure it’s all part of the act.

But, like a lobster who doesn’t realize he’s being boiled alive because the heat is being raised gradually, our sacred American values, which are virtually engraved on the hearthstone of every American home, are being wiped out.

It’s one thing for Trump to dig-up quarter-century old charges on Bill Clinton’s infidelity, and claim Hillary was responsible. Whaaaaat?  (Trump’s doing poorly among white women and he thinks this dusty gossip and slander will win them over).

It’s altogether another thing when Trump starts messing with our national morals—including the belief that we are a nation of equals. Trump is not the first candidate to assault the Declaration of Independence.  Stephen Douglas belittled “All men are created equal” with some voter success when running against Abraham Lincoln.  Trump assaults the Declaration by his constant attacks on all minority groups who are non-white (though he does reserve some ire for women of all colors and for a white reporter who is handicapped.)

We have standards against questioning the loyalty of people just because they vote differently.  But Trump goes after every opponent with an eye to destroy them for daring to stand up to him.  Trump even attacked Pope Francis when His Holiness had the temerity to worry out loud about the “humanitarian crisis” of  Hispanic children refugees.

Trump has proudly quoted his wife about his temperament: “‘You’re too nice too long and then when you go bad, then you’re too bad.’  Then she said, “You get too vicious and you never forgive…You’re too nice, and then you flip, it’s too long, too nasty, too horrible.’”

I should be trembling, I guess, to repeat Trump’s own words.  Megyn Kelly did, as have others, and Trump was ugly in his response, infamously claiming Kelly had blood seeping from her every orifice.  (That’s another thing, we tire of finding ourselves having to quote this potty-mouth in order to stand up for simple decency).

We have values (and laws) against killing women and children even in war, but  Trump wants to do that.  We have morals against stereotyping. Spurring our national character, Trump called Latinos “rapists” and “criminals” even in the face of surveys that find immigrants have a lower incidence of criminal activity than the general public.  So reports the Republican Wall Street Journal.

We still have a free press. While many distrust the media; they also like it when the press reveals things about the candidates they dislike, and keep politicians in check.  But, Trump has put us on notice he will pass laws to allow him, as a president, to sue them into silence.  When Trump says, “Believe me,” he’s really saying, “believe only me.”

Now, he’s an authority figure.   Beware.