Trump is not inevitable

As of this week, with Trump 7 points behind,  it is likely that he will lose the election to Hillary. I hardly know what to think. I am torn between my liking for Trump as a goad to the opinion-shaping classes, and for his policies towards Islam, political correctness and trade deals, on the one hand, and my concern that the man is not up to the job.

[I am not going to discuss Hillary here, beyond noting she ought to be on trial for various crimes and malfeasances. Corrupt only gets to the edges of her nullity].

In the past few weeks I have seen otherwise sensible conservatives become enraged at the thought of Trump. I do not mean Republicans in Name Only; I mean sensible church-going conservatives, people whose opinions are usually reliable. People have been outraged at the idiocy of the American working classes and lower orders for supporting Trump, and have been nearly able to contemplate denying them the vote.

I have read social science bloviation that Trump supporters are authoritarians, which I dismiss out of hand. This is the usual leftist prattling that anyone who dares disagree with their Narrative must have something wrong with their souls.  Outside the 1%, American incomes have stagnated for several decades. There is no reason to believe that free trade will induce technological progress in advanced economies. Free trade has meant that your clothing and consumer goods have been made more cheaply, over time, and roughly in order, in the following countries: Japan, Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and now Cambodia, as the great uplift of human wealth proceeds to work its magic. But the redistribution of wealth from the first world to the third has brought with it stagnation of incomes and closing opportunities for the working classes here and for the children of people who are inclined to read this blog.

I am not sure if a high tariff policy can fix this, but at least Trump is talking about the world we are experiencing.

What bothers me about Trump is the gracelessness, the inability to strike a conciliatory note, the inability to court the undecided. Trump has already got the 45% of people who are pissed off. He needs another 5, 6, or 7% to ensure his victory.

He will not achieve this victory unless unless he maintains decorum, and minds his manners. Americans are ready for a policy change, and a personnel change, but they need to be wooed, not bludgeoned.

He frightens a lot of people, some of whom need to be frightened, but others of whom need a little reassurance that he can act like an adult, like a President of the United States. Unless he can do this, I am concerned that the tired old Democratic/1%/bankers’ regime, with its anti-white, anti-Christian and anti-male bias,  will continue under  Hillary Clinton.

I  await a storm of protest from those who think I have gone soft. I have not. There is far too much truth is Donald and Hobbes, a sample of which is below.

donald and hobbes

I wan Trump to win, but I am concerned that the Trump I want is a figment of my imagination.