The Republican Trump Card?

Republican presidential contender Donald Trump is controversial, loud, and communicating with all his filters turned off. Every time he opens his mouth, or writes something on Twitter, you can be sure that he offends someone. Like the time he retweeted a nazi-sympathizing white supremacist.

There are a lot of different opinions about Trump, but whether you like him or not, you have to agree with me on one thing: His unconventional, hardly political ways of running a campaign has brought a lot of entertainment to the ongoing United States presidential election. People are simple, and to make something entertaining is a very effective way of making something interesting. This has in turn made a lot of people who usually don’t give a shit aware that there is actually something going on that might impact their future.

Trump is ahead in the Republican polls, has won some states and we’re only a day away from Super Tuesday. When the polling stations close on Tuesday, we’ll be down to two Republican candidates, and one of them is very likely Donald Trump. Who will actually become the GOP’s presidential candidate won’t be decided until the Republican National Convention in July, though. And even if that turns out to be Trump, he’d have to beat the Democratic candidate to get the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

But what if the unthinkable happens? What if Donald Trump is the one who puts his hand on the bible during the presidential inauguration in January next year? Will Trump erect impermeable walls along the Mexican and Canadian borders? Will he start World War III by nuking Denmark, so the crackpots on Doomsday Preppers have to dig up their canned bean caches and start to repopulate the Earth?

Probably not. While politicians tend to say and promise a lot of outrageous things during an election, most of it usually turns out to be hot air. Take Norwegian politics, for instance. In the 2013 parliamentary election, the Progress Party - a name that is hilariously ironic - managed to claw their way into office. Their politics are outrageously populistic, and in 2013 they pressed important issues like demolishing every single tollbooth in the country. It’s not entirely clear how they planned to pay for roads without tollbooths - and it wasn’t through taxes, because they also wanted to decrease those - and now, three years after the election, the booths are still a thing. I know because I drove through one last week.

My point here is that even if Trump says loads of stupid things, much of it might be terribly hard to implement in real life. This is the reality that also hit the leader of the Norwegian Progress Party in the face when she was appointed Minister of Finance after the election. In opposition, she was one of the most candid (and annoying) people on TV, but ever since she’d had to deal with the realities of actually running a country, her appearances on the idiot box has become few and far between. So I guess something good came out of the election after all.

That said, you should be careful who you elect, America. The rest of the world lost a lot of confidence in you when you elected George W. Bush, not once, but twice. Don’t make the same kind of mistake again. And remember this: Electing Trump will give the man access to a black suitcase with a big, red button in it.

None of us needs to go to bed at night in a world like that.


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