Donald Trump has an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today that hinges on this sentence:
"Let me ask America a question: How has the 'system' been working out for you and your family?"
As you might expect, he describes a series of ways in which the "system" -- some of which we might just call "the rule of law" -- has failed Americans. He also, as is his custom, includes a number of demonstrably false things along the way. One example: It is not true that Ted Cruz "has been mathematically eliminated by the voters." If Cruz were to win all delegates in the remaining states , he would have 1,314 delegates; 1,237 are needed to clinch the nomination. This may be unlikely, but it is not mathematically impossible. Trump also repeats the lie that something was amiss in Colorado's delegate-selection process -- other than his campaign's and supporters' inability to follow the rules that had been set months in advance . This is all par for the course with Trump, who despite his yuuuge ego wants voters to think about everything but him -- when it comes to his own trustworthiness and fitness for the presidency.
So, given his penchant for spreading falsehoods, not only in this op-ed but most every time he opens his mouth, there is another question that ought to asked of those who believe the "system" has failed them:
Why in the world would you believe anything Donald J. Trump says about fixing the system, or anything else?
This is a man who:
- has broken his promises to (at least) two of his wives , his creditors and his shareholders ;
- who at some point in the not-too-distant past has been for, and actually done, everything he now says he's against, including shipping jobs overseas , hiring foreign workers when Americans were available , and pumping money into the "system" ;
- who says verifiably false things throughout his campaign appearances;
- who has been losing primaries of late not because of his words or actions so much as the fact that he is running a terribly unorganized, incompetent campaign , calling very much into question his ability to hire "top people" to help him run the country in a more orderly fashion;
- whose words and policies are problematic not so much because they aren't "politically correct" but because they reflect a clear lack of thought into the problems he wants to solve, how he would solve them, and why.
In these ways and others, Trump has more in common with the "career politicians" he wants you to blame for everything wrong with the "system."
So, yes, the question is whether Americans are being well-served by the government they have elected. But the answer is not, to anyone who has spent any time considering his history and actions, Donald Trump.
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