I’ve changed my mind about Donald Trump. Early on I really believed that the best way to deal with Herr Donald was to ignore him. I even refused to type his name. For an egomaniac, any attention is just another log on his rally bonfires and I wanted to withhold his fuel. One lonely columnist in a remote, conservative county isn’t going to hurt his campaign one bit but not giving him what he craved made me feel better. Now I am willing to forego my earlier feelings; I think all the people in the county who have voiced a passion for this apolitical businessperson should vote for him.

So, what was my epiphany? The start of this year’s endless presidential race offered something new. It appeared as if Trump was the only one running. And every time I heard Trump speak something was missing. Then it dawned on me. If Donald was sitting in an easy chair chomping on a cigar, he would be the reincarnation of Archie Bunker. From 1971 right up to its finale in 1979, Archie, patriarch of the All In The Family brood, insulted just about everything and everyone. Sure, society’s roof seemed to be falling on poor Archie‘s but is it much different today? Archie’s only defense was to rail against all change, to curse anything that upset his own myopic view of what was normal, meaning the average white man and his status quo.

Of course, Archie’s liberal creators were using him as a foil. His bigotry serve a couple of purposes; it focused attention on real social problems and it also brought to light those fans who actually agreed with Archie’s diatribes.

The only difference today is Trump treating politics like another reality show. And why not? Caricature is his stock in trade. What bothers me is that many people who say they are fed up with our government truly feel that he is the real deal. They think of him as a potential major player in world politics, one whose finger would be poised over the big Red (nuclear weapons) Button. For them his entertainment value more than offsets his many gaffes and blunders. In the end Donald, jike Archie Bunker, is great television.

Archie Bunker Nuclear was frightened of many things; nuclear proliferation, student unrest, ghetto riots, a useless war in Indochina. The very fabric of his so-called normal America was unraveling. Still, we got through those hard times without making Archie a serious candidate for the White House. The person to hold communism at bay, or even defeat it, would not do it from a recliner. Mega-dittoes on the current fight against radical Islam, Rush Limbaugh. The cigar chomping worked for Churchill but he was an active diplomat on the leading edge of freedom’s fight for survival.

Yes, Trump is entertaining, in a perverse sort of way. And he is popular, just like Ultimate Fighting or MMA. The only way I’d pay to see either would be if Trump, in red, white and blue shorts, of course, took on someone like Rhonda Rousey. She’d mess up his coiffure a bit, I daresay. But he picks his female opponents more carefully than that. He likes to bully the weak and the disenfranchised, the poor masses to whom Miss Liberty holds out her outstretched arms to welcome to our shores.

“Trump tells like it is.“ I hear that a lot. Does he? I also hear how wealthy he is and how a hugely successful businessman like him could make our country great again. The country is already great, folks. What I want is a politician that wants to make it a “good” country. Trump has already made us a laughing stock around the world. What must our allies think? Is ISIS licking their chops or what?

All this has nothing to do with Calaveras County. It also has everything to do with our county. Campaigning has become the primary job of politicians. Super PACs are backing up dump trucks full of money to the steps of Congress and many locals think that is fine, their primary political concerns being, “When’s The Archie Trump Circus coming to their town or station?” We’re not talking about the Emmy’s or Oscars, we’re talking about the so-called leader of the Free World. It won’t take long for the world to look behind the curtain and see Trump as he really is, The Wizard of Oz barking furiously into a mike to scare and entertain us.

This is why I am urging you conservatives out there to vote for Trump. As often as you like. I’ll leave you with a wise thought left to us by Napoleon Bonaparte: “Never interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake.”

Jerry Tuck is a retired San Andreas resident and an indie author. Contact him at olwhofan@aol.com or use the Contact Form.