While it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives. – Comedian Jon Stewart   

He’s back!

Not only that, it appears Donald Trump is leading in the November 5 election for President of the United States.

Yesterday, he promised oilmen that he would deregulate the industry and re-introduce fracking. The technique revolutionises oil and gas drilling but, without rigorous standards, it can poison water sources, impair landscapes, and threaten wildlife.

No one should be surprised. Most Republicans scoff at climate change anyway. For his part, Trump has always maintained it was a “hoax”. 

Sometimes he jokes about it. “It’s freezing in New York. Where the hell is all that global warming?” I am, of course, assuming he’s being facetious.

Otherwise, he creates a bogeyman. “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing uncompetitive.”  

Donald Trump is an enigma, a person so weird that he makes Richard Nixon seem Lincolnesque. He’s often been characterised as a “textbook” narcissist – a person who’s so self-involved that he tends to ignore the needs of those around him. 

The “diagnosis” made him easy to underestimate with analysts predicting that people would begin to see through him, that his popularity would diminish over time. 

The man lied about the 2020 election, even instigated a riot which he hoped would overturn the election results. Even today, he insists that he won but he’s also declined to debate incumbent Joe Biden, flagging a possible fear that he might be cornered on that issue.  

Almost every senior official in his administration, including his former vice-president Mike Pence, has criticised his tenure – wholly or in part. And there have been any number of tell-all books. 

Yet it does not seem to have had any effect. His popularity remains undimmed. It just proves Napoleon was right: “in politics, stupidity is not a handicap.” 

The title of a 2018 book by former Washington Post correspondent Bob Woodward succinctly summarises what Trump arouses in people – Fear: Trump in the White House.  

Indeed, a May poll among US voters showed that many voters were worried that Trump would not leave the White House if he won in November. 

More tellingly, another poll indicated that two out of three Americans worried that violence would follow if people weren’t satisfied with the outcome of the polls. Indeed, the Donald has refused to commit towards accepting the results of the election. 

He continues to stick to his surefire recipe for success: heads I win, tails you lose. 

US allies are equally fearful of a Trump second term. The man has indicated that he would be willing to tear up treaties if Europe didn’t honour its commitments. He even went further, saying Russia “could do whatever the hell they want” (in Europe) if the allies didn’t keep its promises. 

He has made no secret of his admiration for Vladimir Putin. He also lauded China Xi specifically citing his “President-for-life” status for special mention.  

You can see where his heart lies. 

And yet he didn’t see anything wrong with categorising Covid-19 as the “Chinese virus” and indirectly exposing Oriental Americans to hate crimes. 

The bottom line: the man does not give a fig for public opinion. He actually said he could shoot people in the middle of the street, and it would not affect his popularity. 

If that’s true, then Einstein was right. “Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” 

ENDS