YOUR AD HERE »

Vail Daily letter: Trump explained

For those who remain simultaneously mystified and disgusted by Donald Trump, here is an offering to consider, as written by a self-proclaimed cynic and non-affiliated regular Joe.

The Donald is horrible, granted. He’s a caricature of the reality-TV social media society we ourselves created. Trump didn’t come up with our modern life; we did by lavishing billions of dollars upon reality TV, gotcha “news” outlets and instant social media consisting of a limited number of keystrokes and the corresponding lack of thoughtfulness.

But Trump’s appeal is only partly due to his manipulation of this modern world, of which he does well. The other appeal, the appeal which continues to leave us scratching our head after polls show no ill effect from debate losses, absurd loony-crazy comments, etc., is found in the fear some of us have in losing faith in our most fundamental beliefs and systems. Bear with me …



Over the last several years, and accelerating the last several months, we have seen some of our most powerful democratic institutions appear to be used for the benefit of those few connected to the power structure disproportionally held in Washington.

For example, the IRS targets right-wing political enemies while becoming an economic enforcement agency of the administration using tax penalties to benefit the highly politicized Affordable Care Act.

Support Local Journalism



Access to the State Department becomes a conduit for hundreds of millions of dollars for the family “foundation” of the secretary of state — their very own boss, no less.

Way outside the norm, the FBI declares no prosecution is necessary for the same secretary yet signs off on immunity deals for five targets of their probe. It would seem no criminal activity would suppose no immunity required, right? Weird.

The Justice Department grants those immunity deals while its boss, the attorney general, chats about “grandkids and golf” with the husband of same secretary while aboard the “foundation” private plane before declaring Justice would defer to the FBI on prosecution. Beyond weird. Kinda spooky.

This is not a critique of Secretary Clinton so relax your hackles, Hillary people. As the polls indicate, she’s slightly less horrible than Trump.

But the next time you’re pulling your hair out wondering why the Trump phenomenon marches on, remember this: There are many of us non-deplorables out here who don’t appreciate seeing our democratic institutions (and the appointed few who lead them) manipulated for the politically powerful, regardless of party affiliation.

And the big insult is the elected officials, appointed cronies and media surrogates trying to make us believe this is harmless, or, even worse, done for our own good. That disconnected arrogance is what gives Trump his power and Clinton her kryptonite.

Jim Turnipseed


Support Local Journalism