Some of you may remember the NBC situation comedy from the 1980s called "Cheers." The show centered around a bar owned by a former Major League pitcher name Same Malone, who also was a recovering alcoholic. Sam held court nightly and engendered the respect and idol worship of the losers who drank at his bar for as many hours as they worked or spent time with their families, and sometimes more. One of the regular patrons of Cheers was a talkative mailman named Cliff Clavin. Cliff was never one to be at a loss for words on any subject, unfortunately he usually knew less about the subjects on which he claimed to be an expert than the poor victims of his bloviating.
Presidential candidate Donald Trump reminds me of Cliff Clavin. Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Clavin are so starved for attention they are willing to make complete fools of themselves just to be noticed. And just like Cliff Clavin, Donald Trump sometimes allows his mouth to get a generous head start over his brain when he speaks publicly. And just like Mr. Clavin, Mr. Trump's lack of self awareness prevents him from understanding that most people view him as a circus clown rather than a serious intellectual.
Cliff Clavin did have a certain quality to him that sometimes made one almost feel sorry for him when acid-tongued waitress Carla would zing him with one of her toxic insults. Donald Trump also has a quality that almost makes serious people feel sorry for him when he embarrasses himself in public and draws the ire of friend and foe alike. Of course Cliff Clavin did not have the money that Donald Trump has, so he was unable to buy friends and the support of people who would laugh and walk on by him if he was poor and said the same things.
Donald Trump is similar to Cliff Clavin in one more way, you never quite knew what Cliff actually thought about a subject or where he stood, just like Trump. For all of Cliff's bluster and bloviating, his listener never really came away with any more of a deeper understanding of who Cliff was or what he really thought, just like Donald Trump. But then Donald Trump does not look at running for president as an educative process but a entertaining one, just as Cliff's role in the bar, even if he did not see it that way.
So I would implore my fellow conservatives to enjoy the Trump show for its entertainment value, but do not expect that he will be around very long after the primaries start the beginning of next year. Sooner or later the Republican primary voters and common sense will cancel the Trump show and he will only be available in reruns.
No comments:
Post a Comment