No Harm Spilt

What if Donald Trump the con artist has actually conned the Republican right wing and ultimately the whole country? What if all his right-wing rhetoric has been a gigantic scam and in terms of actual policy he will turn out to be the savior of the liberal vision— a sort of “Nixon to China” for liberals writ large?

In his meeting with the New York Times, Trump indicated that he would not pursue an investigation of Hillary Clinton despite vowing that he would “lock her up” at his rallies; that he was willing to listen to scientists on climate change, which he called a hoax at his rallies; that he would listen to the generals and experts who oppose water boarding, which he vowed to revive at his rallies. He praised president Obama, whom he repeatedly called a disaster and founder of ISIS at his rallies. He also called the New York Times the crown jewel of the nation and the world, despite calling it the “failing nytimes” in numerous tweets. The great wall? It never came up.

What if the racist questioning of Barack Obama’s place of birth that launched Trump’s political career was just a ploy to gain a foothold in the Republican base, and Trump really isn’t a racist at all? What if the narcissism and the continual exaggeration and lying are an act? Could it be that Trump has shrewdly exploited the celebrity culture in order to transcend it? Having gained the trust of the wingnuts by speaking their language, can Trump now convince them that climate change is real, tax cuts for the rich don’t work, and only a massive government stimulus program to repair the country’s crumbling infrastructure will create jobs for the working class to replace the manufacturing jobs that are never coming back?

Maybe the combination of pledging to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and using anti-Semitic tropes in his campaign ads has gained him enough credibility on the extremes of both sides to broker a peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Trump turned out to be a dream instead of a nightmare?