If you are not already afraid of the future, certainly Donald Trump’s nomination acceptance speech has to give us pause.
His dark recital of all the things that, in his view, are wrong with our society and the whole world, is evidence of what we can fear if he becomes our president.
It took him 76 minutes to exaggerate, distort, misrepresent, invent our problems and declare that he alone can fix them all.
No other candidate for the office has ever made such a long speech.
If his delusional grandiosity alone is not evidence that he is unfit to hold office, examination in detail of what he claimed must be done proves it.
He drew a picture of American society as a nightmare, in total collapse, denigrated and disrespected, full of violence and hatred, led by inexperienced, naive, callous liars who have driven us to the brink of collapse from our ranking as one of the most respected, influential and powerful nations.
Detailed analysis of the speech and the day by day performance in Cleveland began as soon as the 150,000 balloons fell and will surely provide ample evidence of what voters will have to consider before they go to the polls to reject this totally dangerous, inexperienced, inconsistent and unsuited candidate.
From the beginning, the unplanned missteps were embarrassing.
Republican colleagues mounted a sincere and deeply felt demonstration of their dissatisfaction with the candidate and the rules.
Over 500, an unprecedented number of delegates, wanted nothing to do with him.
As further evidence were the absence of former presidents, Republican congressmen, respected Republican thinkers. Instead there was a variety show of athletes, TV personalities, and the parade of Trump family members.
To their credit, his family are well mannered and well spoken and he took all the credit.
But Isn’t it possible that mothers could have been part of the influence, and that somewhat limited exposure is not all there is?
Some further evidence of a badly disorganized campaign, beyond his heavy reliance on family members and very few experts on many issues, is his sudden dismissal of Corey Lewandowski, a strong advisor, when Paul Manafort was hired as campaign manager.
Manafort, a former lobbyist, some of whose clients were foreign dictators, has had some campaign missteps to explain away.
His evident failure to reduce the bluster of his boss, his embarrassing three day effort to explain away poor Melania Trump’s unwittingly plagiaristic speech, a drastic reduction in the campaign war chest, scanty headquarters staff and locations, may portend a disastrous loss.
Trump’s choice of the ultraconservative Mike Pence, was an expected choice.
Trump’s thin skin could not have endured the challenge of a more outspoken VP.
Pence fervently calls him a “good man.” (Ha!) His unlimited braggadocio and lying must be exposed.
We fervently can hope that the Donald, challenged by demanding debates with an experienced and knowledgeable Hillary, and wide-ranging progressive advocacy from Bernie, will succeed.
Esther Confino
New Hyde Park
