So Donald Trump has announced his candidacy for president, which reminded me of a story.
A guy has a flat tire and, as it happened, it was right outside the grounds of a mental hospital. He was changing the tire, and enough things went wrong in the course of the operation that a small crowd gathered inside the fence in order to watch him and listen to him cuss. The crowning problem was that after he had the tire off he accidentally kicked the hubcap that had the loose lugnuts in it, and they all fell down the grate of a nearby culvert. Another round of cussing happened, and the motorist began to stomp off angrily toward town for some help. His cell phone had died, which was one of the earlier problems. One of the inmates yelled out after him, “Hey! Why don’t you just take one lug nut off each of the other tires, and drive it into town with three on each tire?” The motorist stopped, thought about it, and said, “That’s a good idea.” So he proceeded to do just that, and everything began to run smoothly after that point. When the tire was changed, he was about to get in the car, and so he looked around to thank the inmate. Finding him, he said, “Look, thanks a lot.” “No problem,” the man said. Hesitating, the motorist then said, “I don’t get it. That was pretty sharp. Why are you . . . no offense . . . but” “Oh,” the inmate said. “I’m in here for being crazy, not for being stupid.”
Which brings us to the moral of the story. Trump is enough of a conceited blowhard to be risible to lots of sharp people. The late night comedians will have a field day with jokes about the VP prospects of his hair piece. But he has billions of dollars, almost three million Twitter followers, time on his hands, and an ego to feed. He didn’t get where he is by being stupid. Neither did he get where he is by being strong in the self-awareness department, as I also grant. But as Instapundit noted, Ross Perot was an egotistical blowhard also, and that didn’t prevent him from putting Bill Clinton in the White House. Dismissing him as a clown candidate will be an easy mistake to make, and opportunities to do so will present themselves every day. Donald Trump will be the gift that keeps on giving.
He is not a serious candidate, but should be treated as one. Hard punches are called for, but we don’t want this to descend to the level of a junior high slap fight. Because it could.
I do not doubt Trump’s competency but this is not the first time he has announced he is running for president. So I guess I would be more surprised if he actually did run than if he backs out and then announces a new season of Celebrity Apprentice.
“He is not a serious candidate, but should be treated as one.” I was with you on the first half of that couplet.
If being good at making money is such a great qualifier for presidential success, then I guess we can sign up Ted Turner as well (sort of Trumps slightly less obnoxious alter ego). You can be great at one thing (making money) and incompetent at many other valuable skills. Liberals would absolutely love for Trump to be considered a serious Republican candidate because it would support their assertion that the Right is full of clowns. And while we are at it, being a good doctor, businessman/woman, soldier, writer, professor, or mathematical genius doesn’t necessarily make a for a good/viable presidential… Read more »
You’re right. He’s not stupid. He’s crazy.
I think Trump could eventually go the third party route as Doug implied. I’m not exactly sure what he means by treating him as a serious candidate. If Trump has that many supporters that he runs third party, that’s not good for the Republican candidate. The idea should be to make clear to him he has no chance and to not pull a Nader if he really wants someone other than Hillary in the White House come Jan. 2017.