"People are saying, 'It's so dangerous, Mr. Trump!' But I have to do it." His hat says "Make America Great Again." pic.twitter.com/hYivElDNN6
— Molly Ball (@mollyesque) July 23, 2015Donald Trump arrived in Laredo, Texas, on Thursday, telling a swarm of reporters after stepping off his private plane that he’s putting himself in “great danger” by touring the Mexican border without the protection of U.S. border patrol agents, “but I have to do it.”…. The agents had planned to accompany the real estate mogul and Republican presidential candidate on his tour of the border but backed out after consulting with union officials at the National Border Patrol Council. Trump — who vowed to build a wall between Mexico and the United States to keep Mexican criminals and “rapists” from crossing the border — said the union was “petrified of saying” what is really happening on the ground.
Like many Americans, I’m rendered something close to physically ill when exposed to the sound of Donald Trump’s ego-driven voice. The self-serving arrogance and distressingly over-inflated ego make listening to him almost painful. That the media still continues to treat his “It’s all about MEMEMEME!!! LOOKIT ME!!!” vanity campaign with gravitas is almost incomprehensible. Yet there he was in Laredo, TX, surrounded by cameras and boom mikes, proclaiming his bravery to a slavishly obeisant press corps: “People are saying, ‘It’s so dangerous, Mr. Trump!’ But I have to do it.” (That he’s statistically safer in Laredo than Manhattan is a fact only losers and Liberals need concern themselves with.)
It’s a line fairly dripping with arrogance and self-importance, so much so that it triggers the aural equivalent of a gag reflex. It’s almost Pavlovian in nature: Trump’s lips begin to move…and I have to suppress the intense desire to vomit. Why can’t the media (and the general public) simply ignore the walking, talking monument to his own massive ego?
Perhaps the answer to that question lies in the realization that Donald Trump has managed (rather skillfully) to find the sweet spot in our collective consciousness equidistant between fascination and disgust. In the same way Americans are fascinated by train wrecks, we’re also drawn like moths to a flame to personalities that claim possession of easy solutions to complex problems. Calling Trump an idiot would be simplistic and not altogether accurate, though a reasonable person would have to wonder how someone so thoroughly self-absorbed could find room in his brain pan for a functional intellect. He’s managed to skillfully walk the line between absurdity and madness…and perhaps that’s the source of our collective fascination. The guy’s fabulously wealthy, so he must have done a few things right somewhere along the way…and yet he’s undeniably a @#$%)& moron who’s set the bar about as low as humanly possible. Even better (or worse, depending on your perspective) is that he’s beating Republican message makers at their own game.
We ignore Donald Trump at our own peril…because he’s just the sort of anti-democratic demagogue who’d attempt to run the country like one of his many business ventures. Yet watching the media fawn over The Donald makes my skin crawl. Feeding the flames of his hyperactive self-aggrandizement seems irresponsible; yet ignoring him given his current status in the front seat of the GOP Clown Car appears equally irresponsible. Thankfully, it’s July 2015, and the start of GOP primary season is a good six months away. A lot can (and very likely will) change between now and then.
It’s just too bad that Jon Stewart is leaving The Daily Show next month. He’s walking away from a potential comedy gold mine.
