Don't fear the Trump

Everyone is ranting about how awful Trump is.  A former CIA director spoke out against his plans, claiming that they are unlawful and that the military would refuse his orders.  Trump's plan to make Mexico pay for a wall across the border is ludicrous; Mexico would say something along the lines of 'HELL NO'.  Trump's plan to let people sue news outlets for saying mean things about them and his idea for a travel ban on Muslims would run into the Supreme Court and stop dead.  Which is to say that everyone is freaking out about Trump even though most of his most silly crap is completely impossible and would amount to nothing.

Which is a big part of the reason why Trump winning doesn't scare me.  You know what actually terrifies me?  Cruz or Rubio winning instead.  Those two are scary because they might actually get people to do the stupid and awful crap they want.

Cruz and Rubio are sexist, racist asshats just like Trump.  The real difference is that Trump just says stuff that makes his position clear, while the other two (much like a lot of the Republican establishment) push for policies that are terrible for women or people of colour and pretend that it is all about doing the right thing.  Trump just says outright that he thinks that the reason Megyn Kelly was giving him tough questions during a debate was because she was menstruating.  He doesn't even pretend, doesn't sugar coat his sexism, doesn't beat around the bush.  People love that!  They want to support someone who owns their bigotry.

Which is a pretty sad indictment of the American electorate, but I can't be too high on my horse when Toronto elected Rob Ford who is, by most measures, the exact same thing, albeit on a smaller scale.  People all over seem to love their honest bigots and support them for important jobs.

Trump's particular brand of clownishness is awful, no doubt.  But the hidden agendas of the Rubios and Cruzes of the world terrifies me far more.  Trump is going to be a blustering idiot in power, much like Rob Ford was here in Toronto.  Ford got sidelined by council and had a lot of his power stripped away because nobody would work with him.  Trump would be in a similar boat - while no one could reasonably remove his podium it is clear that the establishment of both parties wants nothing to do with him.  If Rubio or Cruz gets a mandate and the support of Congress and the House they will nuke Planned Parenthood from orbit, try to institute laws that will make abortion nearly impossible (though not strictly banned because of SCOTUS) and do all kinds of other terrible things, and they will have full cooperation in trying to get their projects implemented.

The wall across the Mexican border with the US will never happen.

Erosion of women's rights in the US could absolutely happen.

It is simple:  Trump, while he is the biggest show on earth right now, is by far not the scariest threat.  I think the media would do far better to showcase just how scary the alternatives are rather than try to tell people about how bad Trump is.  He is no worse than the others, he is just honest about it.  That isn't a virtue, but it is how it is.