The Mental Illness of the "Trump Phenomenon"

     The recent comments by Republican presidential nomination front-runner Donald Trump about Muslims in New Jersey celebrating when the World Trade Center buildings were destroyed by terrorists on September 11, 2001, were as per usual for Mr. Trump, a grain of truth converted to an entire beach by exaggeration. This recent comment is exemplary of the unworthiness of Mr. Trump for the presidency. Not because it was completely false, but because it was not entirely true. This exaggerated truth for political expediency is not part of the conservatism that I practice.
     I have been displeased at the ease with which many Trump supporters who call themselves conservative accept the advance of half-truths and fact-manipulations that are a hallmark of the Left. Lately it seems that politics have been defined by Republicans deliberately exaggerating the truth for the purpose of advancing a false narrative, as Democrats exaggerate lies for the purpose of advancing a false narrative. While the former is invested in the truth more than the latter, both are engaged in deception.
    But back to Donald Trump. I fail to understand, for instance, how Evangelicals can support a man who has build an empire based in large part on gambling. It seems that faith, and the principles that comprise it, have been subjugated to the political elixir known as Donald Trump. And even those conservatives who are not religious have sold their political souls to an idea and a man who makes them "feel good," but that does not pay tribute to what actually "does good."
     So the fact that Donald Trump makes outrageous statements about Muslims in America celebrating the attacks of 911, and the glee with which his devotees soak up his gravy of inaccuracy, is worrisome, not only for the Republican Party and conservative movement, but for the nation as a whole. For if even conservatives abandon conservatism, there is little hope for this great nation.
     Additionally, I seem to remember a recent mosque collapse that killed over a hundred worshipping Muslims that brought cheers from some on the extreme Right. But Mr. Trump would never mention that because it is more politically advantageous to convince his emotional votaries that thousands of Muslims in this country, and by extension therefore all Muslims in this country, celebrated the tragic events of 911, than it is to engage in a rigorous pursuit of accuracy and truth.