Backing Trump is risky

By Ann McFeatters

Tribune News Service

WASHINGTON

For the next six months we must watch the mortifying process of Republicans girding their loins to support Donald Trump’s bid for the White House.

This is not just someone who has made inartful, irrational statements.

This is a man who has spouted nonsense, insulted three-fourths of the population, embarrassed himself by his lack of knowledge of foreign policy and economics, has quoted the National Enquirer, boasted unbearably, dissembled about almost everything and alarmed the world.

This is an arrogant, ill-mannered, graceless blowhard who has come to define words most of us know only from high school English: Misogynist, xenophobe, chauvinist.

There’s a 50-50 chance Trump could become the 45th president even though the wily New York real- estate mogul is exceedingly unpopular among independents, women, Latinos and minorities.

A Hillary Clinton victory is not inevitable, and here’s why:

It costs about a billion dollars to get elected president. Even Trump does not have that kind of cash. (He’s loaned himself about $36 million so far and expects to get it back from donations.) So he needs money to pursue this once-fantastical venture that could, heaven help us, become a sure thing in November.

The drumbeat has begun for Republicans to hold their noses and donate millions to Trump because the GOP faithful want to block a Clinton presidency more than they are afraid of what Trump will do to their fractured party.

House/Senate control

There is also the matter of Republicans maintaining control of the House and the Senate. Because fewer American voters split their tickets, GOP leaders think that encouraging a Trump victory translates to millions of votes for Republicans down ticket. If conservatives stay home, chances for a Democratic takeover of the Senate (less likely for the House) improve.

Some Republicans will rationalize that even if they can’t stand Trump, they’d rather he, not Clinton, nominate the next Supreme Court justice.

Many independents think Trump could not keep his promises – to make Mexico pay billions for a wall, deny entry to America to Muslims (including legal U.S. citizens who go abroad), put women who have abortions in jail, tear up multination trade agreements, deploy nuclear weapons in Europe, start a war with China. So they will choose simply to ignore his most ridiculous assertions and hope he gets some sense.

Republicans who want to retake the White House simply will forget that Trump accused President Barack Obama of not being a legal citizen, said Ted Cruz’s father helped assassinate President John F. Kennedy, said Clinton would not get more than 5 percent of the vote if she were a man, said “it doesn’t really matter what (the media) write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.”

Ha. Trump being Trump.

Some Americans are so frightened about their finances and the future that they figure a businessman must know how to fix the economy. But Trump buys and sells stuff with his name on it – he doesn’t create wealth. He is against a higher minimum wage. Stopping trade to punish rivals won’t create high-paying American jobs.

It’s painful to watch rational people rationalize jumping on the Trump bandwagon. They’re certain to take a serious bruising when they inevitably fall off.

Ann McFeatters is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service.