Before Maine Republicans made their presidential choices known at Saturday’s caucuses, Maine had the chance to get its fill, firsthand, of Donald Trump and his vision for the country — how to make it great again.
Or, more accurately, Maine had the chance to hear directly from a narcissistic egomaniac — redundancy intended — who makes lofty and exceedingly vague promises but primarily speaks about himself in order to put down others. In terms of policy, Trump’s speech on Thursday at his Portland rally amounted to, trust me (did I mention I’m rich and successful?) and trust my wall (which I might name after myself).
To think that one of this country’s two major political parties is on track to make this man its nominee for president should make any reasonable person cringe.
And yet, the crowd at Trump’s Portland rally cheered him on, laughed at his jokes, helped him further inflate his ego and erupted in applause when he put down others — whether it was Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio, Hillary Clinton, the news media or the protesters ejected from the rally.
“We have a movement going on, folks,” Trump asserted. Indeed, it’s a movement built on incivility, insults, anti-intellectualism, resentment and division. Hopefully, it’s a movement that doesn’t live past Trump’s candidacy.
The New York billionaire — who pointed out that he could have been at a golf tournament hobnobbing with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy instead of delivering a speech in Maine — made some overtures to the concerns of the place in which he was speaking. He acknowledged that heroin has ravaged Maine and New Hampshire.
“But we’re going to have a real wall, and it’s going to be a great wall, and it’s going to work,” he said. “And we’re going to stop drugs from pouring into Maine and New Hampshire and all these places. It’s going to work. Believe me, it’s going to work. Walls work. Properly done, walls work.”
Really? When it comes to addressing a real, pressing problem that’s killing people, all Trump has to offer is a joke — a simple and unserious “solution” to one of the most serious public health issues of our time.
Trump also seems to think that he can unilaterally scrap trade deals negotiated and signed by previous presidents and approved by past Congresses. And he seems to think that he can unilaterally levy tariffs on imports as a way to stem manufacturing job losses in this country.
When a business proposes to move jobs overseas, apparently all it will take to stop it is intervention from a President Trump — a phone call to the CEO and a promise to charge a 35 percent tax on all imported goods.
“Here’s what happens,” Trump said. “They’re going to call me up within 24 hours. They say, ‘Sir, we’re going to stay within the United States.’ Very simple. There is no formula. That’s the formula.”
We don’t expect detailed policy discussions at campaign rallies. That’s what debates are for — but the Republican side also has failed miserably on that front. What we do expect from a campaign rally is at least some realism.
The U.S. isn’t built on the idea of the mythical leader who can magically solve all problems. At a minimum, we’d expect an acknowledgement of reality, something resembling a policy agenda, an acknowledgement that Congress exists and an acknowledgment that, in order to build support for an agenda, there will have to be a uniting vision about improving people’s lives and some compromise.
From Trump, Maine was treated to a rambling speech of putdowns, vagaries and self-promotion.
Maine and the nation deserve better.
