Hope

Throughout every election year there seems to be a recurring outcry: "Is this the best we can do?" Now that both party conventions have been completed, that plea takes on a more official, albeit more ominous sheen for this election year of 2016. Except that this year, I'm confident in my answer of "NO – it's NOT the best we can do." 

Let me take you back to June 22^nd of this year – just a few weeks ago – to the Democrat party's sit-in/protest over gun control legislation (of the lack thereof) that took place in the U.S. House of Representatives. Agree with the maneuver or not, agree with the politics or not, we saw and heard a series of 5-minute spiels from one seemingly smart, honest, passionate, capable politician after another. And I'd be willing to bet that on the Republican side of the house, there are also plenty of smart, honest, passionate, capable politicians – with no name recognition and no money – certainly not for the kind of high-powered financial run that a presidential bid requires.

Which is why I give Bernie Sanders a lot of credit, despite my general disdain of him. Sanders didn't have the name or the money, but he had the balls. One might instinctively say the same thing about Trump, but the fact is that Trump HAD the money and the name – which makes it pretty easy to have the balls.

Maybe there's a chance we'll wake up from the current nightmare to find Martin O'Malley and Paul Ryan at the top of their respective ballots – a couple of decent guys who, despite their own requisite faults, represent the mainstream interest of their parties with sincerity and passion. But they – or some heretofore unknown – will have to wait until next time. For now, we're stuck – with Hillary and Trump.

The Real Donald Trump

Belieeeeeve me, as Donald Trump likes to say, when I tell you that I'm still struggling with getting my head around the idea of Trump as the Republican nominee. Not because he actually made it this far – in a nation of morons consumed by Reality TV, this was bound to happen eventually. But more so out of fear for the future – the ultimate threat that a Trump presidency brings to the world – that on any given day, in his turret-syndrome like state of mind, he could blurt out something that might piss off some nuke-abled foreign dictator enough to cause said dictator to commence to firing, as it were. Sure, it probably won't be Russia's Putin, given the love that has sprung up between the two, but in the realm of national security, nothing is a sure thing.

So who, in truth, is this Trump guy?  The crowning affirmation of Fox News' 20-year mantra of "hate, hate, hate?"

He's a guy who flits about in his own 757 who claims the problems of America seem to stem from the elite. Really. He said this. And he's probably right. And he's one of them.

He's a guy who fancies himself a rebel, yet, with his first political decision, did the most politically expedient thing of all in naming Mike Pence as his VP candidate.

He's a guy who, I believe, has come to think that, thanks to his psychotic delusions, he is truly indestructible as a human being as well as being untouchable politically.

He's a guy whose juvenile, blustery behavior was, I'd long thought, that of a simple buffoon. But over this summer of our discontent, I've come to realize he's truly a psychopath who has no business being near that Red Button, despite any perceived business acumen.

Oh, yeah … his business acumen …

Fact: He's lost more money than he's made in his life.

Fact: 90% of his businesses have failed.

Fact: His father gave him $1 million to play with when he turned 18. Currently he's worth just under $5 billion, putting his net gain to date at around 5,000%. Sounds pretty good, right? However, I started at 18 with about $1 (like most people, probably), and I can tell you that my total assets, while not in the seven-figure range, are worth more than $5,000. (Many others, too, I bet.) Which makes many of us better business people than Trump.

And, by the way, rumor has it that early on, his father set him up with a lawyer who knew how to manipulate the tax code and bankruptcy laws to favor Trump. (Yes, Donald, you're right – the system IS rigged – and you're the biggest benefactor.)

That's the real Donald Trump. And now the Republicans are stuck with him.