Send in the clowns
Send in the Clowns
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What’s this world coming to?
All I did was write a column that essentially said Donald Trump is becoming the Ronald McDonald Trump of American politics – and I’ve found agreement in the unlikeliest of places – among Republicans.
Yep! I can openly say I’ve found a number of rightwing Republicans whom, like me, consider Donald Trump a buffoon who’s carelessly elevating President Obama’s chances for re-election.
If this keeps up, I just might change party affiliation. (I can say that, because I know I won’t)
Fox News’ Glenn Beck was first to sound the alarm. He appeared on the O’Reilly Factor, and he announced, “I have respect for Donald Trump, but, that’s the last thing the country needs is a show boat.”
The basis for Beck’s Trump Dump? The Donald’s repeated “Birther” antics.
He told O’Reilly that Trump’s “show us the birth certificate” nonsense made him “a little uncomfortable.”
That was before Trump’s presidential poll numbers skyrocketed.
He’s at, or near the top of a number Republican presidential candidate’s polls – and that’s made a lot of serious-minded Republicans even more “uncomfortable” than Beck.
I’d like to feel their pain. I can’t. I understand it. I just don’t feel it. I’m not yet a Republican.
If some Republicans think somebody who’s better suited for the big top than the White House is picking up a lot of support – they know that could spell d-a-n-g-e-r.
That’s why conservative columnist George Will isn’t laughing at Trump’s hijinks.
Will calls him a “blatherskite.” Will’s definition of that word? “That is a word my grandmother was fond of as someone who blathers promiscuously,” he said.
I wonder if his grandmother referred to Will as a “blatherskite” a few times. But that’s for another column.
So you think I’m laying on this “clown” stuff too heavily?
I’m not the only one.
Aside from the recent New York Daily News front page with Donald Trump in clown face, and the bold headline “SIDESHOW DON,” at least one highly respected Republican has used the term “clown” to describe him.
Charles Krauthammer, another Fox News regular, called Trump a “provocateur and clown (and) unserious.”
It’s obvious, Krauthammer would much rather go on the attack against anything Obama does, than to spend his time discussing America’s most visible “Birther.” But when asked if he takes Trump seriously, he’ll respond.
“The vulgarity of him is offensive,” he added. “Issues like Obama’s birth are irrelevant,” says Krauthammer, who must have awakened at 3 a.m.听 with night sweats – having the knowledge that he’d actually defended Obama.
He also had a few choice words regarding the potential presidential aspirations of Sarah Palin, and her mini-me, Michele Bachmann.
He doesn’t take either of them seriously.
He’s my new hero.
So is Karl Rove. He told Fox News’ Greta Van Sustern that, “The American people are not going to be hiring him and certainly the Republicans are not going to be hiring him in the Republican primary,” while making a reference to Trump and his NBC show, “Celebrity Apprentice.”
He called Trump “a joke candidate,” for focusing on the president’s birth certificate.
A joke candidate? Those are some mighty ironic words from a man who’s been known as “Bush’s Brain.”
In fact, when “The Donald” heard Rove had referred to him using the word “joke,” his typically Trump-like response offered further proof that Rove might be onto something.
“You could have brought back Abraham Lincoln, he couldn’t have beaten Obama at that time, because of what Karl and Bush had done, Trump opined.
Well, if Trump believes Abe Lincoln couldn’t have won in 2008, it’ll sure take more than “a joke candidate” to beat him in 2012.
Don’t tell Republican voters that. Not the one’s who’ve been polled so far, and who curiously believe Trump and his fellow provocateurs Palin, Bachmann and Gingrich really stand a chance of defeating a sitting president.
To them, this country really needs a president who’s really good at asking questions that have been sufficiently answered years ago.
Let’s all watch them vote for a “clown.”
Edward A. Owens is a three-time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net
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