Red Bluff Daily News

GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Here'sthefirstRepublicanpresident,Abra- ham Lincoln: "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds...." Andhere'sthepresumptive 2016 Republican presidential nominee, discoursing on Ted Cruz's dad: "His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Os- wald's being — you know, shot. I mean, the whole thing is ri- diculous... That was reported [in the National Enquirer], and nobody talks about it." See, this is why Republi- can strategist Nicole Wallace sounded so aghast yesterday. In her immortal words, "The whole party belongs in ther- apy." It is truly historic — al- though pathetic might be a better word — that the so- called Party of Lincoln has de- volved to the point where it would actually anoint, as its choice for president, a policy ignoramus and serial liar, a hate peddler who finds truthi- ness in the National Enquirer. But hey, as evidenced with fi- nality Tuesday night in Indi- ana, this is what Republican voters want. Donald Trump has brilliantly channeled their rage and resentments, and fed their fantasies for a white America that will never be. Can this demagogue actually win in November and own our nuclear codes? Seems implau- sible, but nothing is impossi- ble. But for now, let's just assess the Trump phenomenon and try to understand how we've come to this shameful moment in our national life, how we've so swiftly convinced the rest of the civilized world that we've lost our minds. The kindest interpreta- tion of Trumpism is that he has given voice to the work- ing-class voters who have lost ground economically and are freaked about free trade. That's true, as far as it goes. But when I parse the exit polls, I find that Trump is do- ing boffo business with up- scale suburban Republicans. This was true again Tues- day night; the voters with in- comes between $100,000 and $199,000 favored Trump over Cruz, 60 to 33 percent. In fact, Trump did best in that income bracket. And Trump won the Republican college grads, 51- 38, even though college grads are presumably taught to de- lineate the difference between truth and lies. So something besides eco- nomic anxiety is going on here. And you know darn well what it is. Lest we forget, Trump's first popularity surge came last July after he blanket-smeared Mexicans as criminals and rapists. That's what put him in play with likely Republi- can voters. He signaled, right out of the gate, that hate was a great way to tap the racist na- tivist attitude that's endemic among angry whites. No need for code words and dog whis- tles anymore; visceral slander would work just as well. He recognized early on that he could "babble inanities," that he could "peddle bigoted slurs and lies," and score big time with the "angry nativist mob." Those quoted phrases were coined by conservative Repub- lican columnist, Jennifer Ru- bin. She said it better than I can. But now I will quote my- self. Last summer, I argued that Trump had to be taken seriously. The reason I offered then is just as relevant now — perhaps more so: "Trump appeals to the size- able share of voters who hate all politicians. He's thriving precisely because he's not po- litically correct, because he's not focus-grouped, because he doesn't hew to the traditional rules of discourse. Attacking Jeb Bush's Hispanic wife, call- ing John McCain a "dummy" because he finished near the bottom of his class at the Na- val Academy — to some lis- teners, that kind of talk is re- freshing. Yes, he's threatening to make a mockery of the cam- paign process, but a lot of peo- ple already think the process is a joke. They're dining out on his mockery." His next step — if he is al- lowed to do it, if the anger and cynicism and racism has reached critical mass — is to make a mockery of the au- tumn debates, of the general election campaign, of the pres- idency itself. Going forward, the fundamental question is whether we are a people will- ing to be governed by danger- ous passions unmoored from reason. Indeed, way back in 1920, the great American com- mentator H. L. Mencken fore- saw it happening: "On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a down- right moron." DickPolmanisthenational political columnist at NewsWorks/WHYY in Philadelphia (newsworks. org/polman) and a "Writer in Residence" at the University of Pennsylvania. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com. Dick Polman Abe Lincoln must be rolling over in his grave Cartoonist's take To my disappointment, the news arrived: businessman, en- tertainment media figure and newly-minted conservative Re- publican Donald Trump would be the Republican presidential nom- inee. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz seemed the most consis- tent, principled conservative leader to emerge from the 17 Republican candi- dates, with a vast resume in federal and state appointments and elective offices. Governors Rick Perry and Scott Walker, private citizens Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson and others, gave hope for a candi- date that combined a record of public or private sector accom- plishment with sincere conser- vative bonafides. We'll never know how Cruz would have fared in the general election against the Clinton juggernaut; Cruz's sharp intellect and de- bating skills might have pre- vailed. Others, such as New York Gov. George Pataki and South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham, seemed to be on vanity quests for media coverage. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal fell in be- tween, having both a serious re- cord of governing and strong ideological beliefs but little widespread appeal. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul never came out from under the quasi-isolation- ist shadow of his father, Ron Paul, but brought a thoughtful, calm approach to his libertari- anism. I truly wish that Donald Trump had never entered the race. Republican Party voters would have weighed the mer- its of commendable and above- average candidates that had proven their right to offer their respective views and records. Prior to Mr. Trump sweeping the northeast primaries, he had only received about one-third of the votes of Republicans, which became around 37 percent with the addition of Democrats and independents in "open" prima- ries; Trump gained about 46 percent of the delegates. That Trump incessantly whined about the "unfairness" of a sys- tem that delivered such an out- sized delegate total reeked of nearly congenital hypocrisy. That vote total approached 42 percent after the Indiana primary; it still stood out as a "huge" fact that the vast ma- jority of Republicans cast their preference for someone not named Trump. Many of that su- per-majority pinned hopes on Ted Cruz's ability to swing dele- gates to support him at the con- vention should Trump fail to get to the 1,237 delegate thresh- old. The proverbial political die is cast; I consider it a "hostile takeover" of the Republican Party by an extremely astute, wildly undisciplined, ideolog- ically unhinged and marginal representative of our party. The problem with predictions, as I think Yogi Berra might have said, is that they take place in the future. Trump will either win or lose in Novem- ber; if he wins, will he have Re- publican majorities in Con- gress? If Hillary wins, likewise. Or will she bring back the odi- ous Democrats: Nancy Pe- losi to the House Speakership and Chuck Schumer to Senate Leadership? I just read that, with some exceptions, the candidate with the highest percentage of voters having a "high dislike" has won the presidential contest going back at least as far as Richard Nixon. Does that leave Trump and Clinton vying for the ti- tle of "most disliked" as a win- ning strategy? They both seem on their way. Come what may, I believe it is premature to pro- nounce either one as the likely Electoral College winner— events, and campaigns, will oc- cur. For the record, I found (and still find) Donald Trump to be repugnant, ill-tempered, ideo- logically unreliable and of such a foul demeanor that I won't support him in any way or manner save checking the box by his name as the "lesser of evils" versus Hillary. She must be considered as Barack Hus- sein Obama's third term. The Supreme Court, as well as lesser federal courts, cannot be trusted to the radical pro- gressive inclinations that, with- out overstating it, Clinton will bring to the office. She is yet another Saul Alinsky acolyte, masking her leftist, even social- ist, beliefs with a veneer of "not as loony as Bernie" legitimacy. However, if Trump can be de- pended on for better court ap- pointments; if he can imple- ment border security with a physical wall, deport criminals and visa overstayers, and elimi- nate "sanctuary" cities, counties and states by withholding fed- eral funds; and if he has a Re- publican Congress, writing leg- islation, with the fortitude to rein in the out-of-control regu- latory bureaucracy and return to a rule-of-law status quo— I'd be satisfied with President Trump. If only. However, I think the odds are even that he loses big and ush- ers in total Democrat rule. If he wins, I only have hope, ab- sent actual actions by Trump, that he will do what he prom- ises. I have talked with Trump- sters, if you will, for whom I have deep respect. Their elation and exuberance ("the Republi- cans finally got their heads out of their…") might be irrational. When told that Trump has no record of advocating or advanc- ing any constitutional or con- servative causes, they respond: "That doesn't really matter." They also seem oblivious to polling that shows twice as many Republicans support Hillary as Democrats support Trump. Told that Democrats start with 242 Electoral College votes, needing only one large state like Florida to win, while Republicans can only count on a little over 100 E.C. votes and must "run the table" to win in November—well, "denial" isn't just a river. Finally, Rush Limbaugh alienated me with his stead- fast defense of Trump, against all criticism, early when many were forming opinions; Sean Hannity was a shameless wa- ter-carrier for Trump; Fox News was observed by many to be a thinly-veiled Trump booster; Mark Levin held true to his conservative base of listeners with steady, often shrill, atten- tion to Trump's failings; Hugh Hewitt was a fair, honest arbi- ter; Glen Beck — ugh. If Trump loses, many will have to answer. Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@ yahoo.com. The way I see it Field cleared for Trump, Clinton Lest we forget, Trump's first popularity surge came last July after he blanket- smeared Mexicans as criminals and rapists. That's what put him in play with likely Republican voters. Don Polson A federal investigation into Democratic presiden- tial frontrunner Hillary Clinton's... unusual email habits while she was Pres- ident Barack Obama's sec- retary of state appeared to be finally reaching its end this week. Cue the trumpets and choirs of angels along the Hutchinson River Parkway leading to the once (and perhaps future) First Cou- ple's compound in subur- ban Chappaqua, N.Y. But that doesn't mean the scandal over Clinton's home-made email server has lost any of its polit- ical potency. For many, the scandal, coupled with Clinton's repeated claims she did nothing wrong, re- mains a symbol of how out-of-touch she is with av- erage voters. Late last week, The Washington Post reported that "prosecutors and FBI agents investigating [Clin- ton's] use of a personal email server have so far found scant evidence," that she intended to break clas- sification rules. The Post also reported that "U.S. officials also dis- missed claims by a Roma- nian hacker now facing fed- eral charges in Virginia that he was able to breach Clin- ton's personal email server." Even so, "they are still probing the case aggres- sively with an eye on inter- viewing Clinton herself," The Post reported, citing "U.S. officials familiar with the matter." CNN reported last Thurs- day that longtime Clin- ton aide Huma Abedin had been interviewed about the email matter. And The Post noted that prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office from Virginia's Eastern Dis- trict had also become in- volved in the probe. John Micek is the Opinion Editor and Political Columnist for PennLive/ The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa. Columnist John Micek: Hillary Clinton's lingering e-mail problem OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, May 10, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6

• Cover