Please let it be November 8

This week the contest was an argument about who was the bigot. This was probably the low point since the early days of the republican primary debates. Oddly enough, given Donald Trump's analysis it was not clear that he understood the meaning of the word bigot. As usual, the surrogates and spokes persons and strategists took center stage. It is amazing what  preposterous statements they make in defense of their candidate. I suppose I am not completely objective but it seems to me the republican surrogates are by far the worst. There is one young woman that when watching her one might suspect she had been given severe Pavlovian conditioning coupled with an overdose of amphetamines. Of course, this did not happen but that was the appearance created.

The other hot topic this week was Donald Trump's various positions on immigration policy. At this point, it is nearly impossible to know what his position is or will be. His most talented surrogate, Kellyann Conway described it as TBD, to be determined. One of the possibilities it seemed was to put revolving doors in the wall. The one thing that became quite clear was that Trump had been told by Kellyanne and Roger Ailes that he was going to lose if he did not make changes in his positions and style. Republicans from the RNC chairmen rhinoceros proboscis on down were outraged by Hillary Clinton's attack on their boy Donald. Apparently they have not listened to his attacks. Meanwhile, those of us who are centerleft or center right wonder what country we are living in.

Latest display of reckless ignorance

Donald Trump is now claiming that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are the founders of Isis. Let's review a little history. The modern resurgence of the Salafist or Wahhabi movement is largely attributed to the work of an Egyptian named Qutb. After years of imprisonment, he was executed by the injection Government around 1966. Al Qaeda, Isis, Isil and the other Salafist organizations are simply franchises of the greater Salafist movement. Thus, Clinton and Obama are being given credit or founding hey movement that has existed for more than 50 years in its current rebirth. The notion that the answer to the worldwide terrorism problem is simply to defeat Isis Falls woefully short of the mark. It is also laughable to think that the movement requires a geographic base in this era of encrypted Internet. It does not take much training to teach someone to walk into a crowded public place and start shooting people. To defeat this movement requires a long and extensive cooperation between Western states and the Nation of Islam. It cannot be done quickly or easily.

The problem is made more difficult by the Contest between Shia and Sunni muslems. It is further complicated by the contest at the nation State level for dominance in the middle east between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The United States in particular has to play a balancing roll between these nations and factions. It is further complicated by the need to provide a backstop to Israel. It is highly likely that if the United States does it's job well, it will be serially criticized by all the nations and factions in the middle east. We certainly don't need this thoughtless political dialogue in the United States. We do not have now nor will we have any miracle workers.

Realism is an unpleasant thing. But, we are sorely in need of it now and certainly do not need some buffoon like Donald Trump as president.

Intervention

Prompted by recent events, including trumps refusal to endorse Paul Ryan, there is talk of an intervention by the graybeards of the Republican Party with Donald Trump. Now, as a practical matter there really cannot be an intervention. Intervention requires a stick for noncompliance with advice. The only stick available is for the republican party to actively oppose Trump and they are not going to do that. Nonetheless, rumor has it that a group of senior Republicans–Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich, And Chris Christie–or as they are sometimes known Larry Moe and Curly, will meet with Trump.

Their mission ostensibly is to convince someone with profound  narcissistic tendencies who has had a successful business career and rampaged through the republican primaries to change his ways. You have got to be kidding.

One of trumps recent proposals, which I grudgingly  approve, is to double up on Hillary Clinton's infrastructure spending program. This puts him completely at odds with Paul Ryan. Were trump to be elected president–and this certainly must be expressed in the subjunctive–we might have a spectacle of the president at odds with his own party over domestic issues. That would provide some interesting theater.

This time he has gone too far?

In the last few days Donald Trump has created new controversies involving a Goldstar mother, sexual harassment, and the unwillingness to support other republican candidates. Or, as it's known in his campaign, business as usual.

Once again his surrogates, spokespersons, strategists and I suppose marketers are working overtime.
More and more 24 hours news programs create the need for these people. They are there to defend the indefensible and attack the unassailable. Who really cares what these people say? Many of them appear to be 15 years old and hardly any will really answer a question. Instead, they talk about something else. At least the questioners will press them in ways they seem unable to do to an actual candidate. Given the amount of airtime that Donald Trump and his surrogates etc. have been given, do we really need to hear any more from them? At this point we should be ready to vote.