"Woman of the Year" Backs Trump

In a distant past, many eons ago, there was a simple way to tell the difference between a man and a woman. We called it a penis. Now, I’m not against the destabilizing of oppressive identity markers or the complexifying of gender definition. I am not anti-transgendered communities, anti-LGBTQQ, anti-gay, homophobic or any of the other monikers one often sees attached to anyone who challenges the crossing of gender and sexual borders. On the other hand, I was among those who questioned the judgment of Glamour for naming Caitlyn Jenner as “Woman of the Year” (Inquisitr) and all the other organizations and individuals labelling her a hero. She has been called courageous, brave, a role model and the inspiration for a burgeoning transgendered civil rights movement. However, one does wonder if this collective encomium might be misplaced.

I am not implicitly against Caitlyn Jenner, an Olympic hero when I was a young boy … though then as Bruce. Coming out as a woman was certainly bold, particularly for someone already so often in the media spotlight. And yet it is hard to ignore why she has been in the spotlight so often over the years, attached to a family I believe is pure popular culture poison, famous it appears merely because they had enough money and time to convince others they should be. It is a family that celebrates the crassest elements of our culture, from an obsession on looks, body and appearance, conspicuous consumption and greed to the basest elements of celebrity culture itself (unearthing, more than anyone else, the boldly unctuous grab for power and money based predominantly on notoriety alone).

And it seems clear to me that Caitlyn seems largely in line with the family ideology, defining her new identity largely through the lens of the male gaze she is supposed to be destabilizing. We saw it most clearly in the Vanity Fair Spread in July of last year, but we also see it in her television show, her endorsements and now her political perspective. For it turns out that Caitlin Jenner is a huge Trump supporter and equally huge Clinton hater.   

Again, Caitlin Jenner is fully entitled to her gender identity and political perspective, but when she begins to talk about how “Trump will be good for woman” and “Hillary is a liar,” essentially toeing the Fox News/Radical Right Wing line, one does begin to wonder if a woman who still has a penis and wants to continue dating woman is really an appropriate spokesperson for women. In a more general sense, we could argue that celebrities often make terrible advocates for any political position, whether it be on the right, left or in between, but the reality is that celebrity has more currency than at any time in history. One hopes that few heed her call toward hatred and intolerance, supporting a man who would have been little more than a clown and a sideshow in saner times.

Tuesday Primaries Provide Further Clarity on Nomination Favorites

Tuesday’s primary results, where Trump won in Hawaii, Michigan and Mississippi, Cruz won in Idaho and Bernie Sanders pulled off a huge upset in Michigan while getting blown out in Mississippi (NYT), gave us more insight into the battle for the two party’s nominations. On the Republican side, Trump now has a 99 delegate lead over Cruz (458 to 359), with Rubio (151) and Kasich (54) far behind and essentially out of the race. Trump is thus closing in on the nomination, with many of Rubio’s money men now wondering if he should drop out before the March 15^th Florida primary to save himself further embarrassment. On the Democratic side, Sanders upset in Michigan is one of the biggest in the history of their primary season but doesn’t necessarily make his struggle toward the nomination much easier (Clinton currently leads 760 to 546, with most of the super delegates currently pledged to her).

What the results means in a broader sense is that much of America is still angry with politics as usual in the country and willing to support any populist movement, though clearly more on the Republican than Democratic side (Real Clear Politics). It appears they are angry about everything from continued Wall Street greed and malfeasance to the growing diversity in the country and the no-nothing Congress. Some are clearly upset with Obama as well, even as his approval rating hovers around 50 percent. And it appears that Democrats have switched sides with the Republicans, going the more pragmatic route even as they continue to have real doubts about Hillary and her ability to enact real progressive reforms (Salon). The press also seems to again be doing its best to derail the prospects of a more progressive candidate, as they have done with Dean and others successfully and Obama less successfully. Whether the self-proclaimed Vermont socialist can overcome his disadvantage in the polls, with African-Americans and with the media is still to be seen, but Hillary does look the likelier candidate.

On the Republican side, Trump is currently trailing Clinton in most national polls, but a matchup of the two could turn on the insider-outsider narrative that seems to be driving both Trump and Sanders campaigns. The difference between the two, of course, is that they stand on almost polar opposite ends of the ideological spectrum and Sanders has a net positive favorability rating while Trump has the worst of any candidate who is running, or has already dropped out. The most troubling aspect of the current incarnation of Trump is the pseudo-Fascist tendencies that are becoming more amplified with each passing day.

There was already the bullying of opponents, the anti-immigrant rhetoric, the macho misogyny, the fear mongering and a tagline that sounded rather alarmingly like that of Herr Hitler. Now he has added anti-Semitism to his arsenal while leading a crowd yesterday in what looked a lot like a Heil Hitler salute. Trump seems immune to criticism, feeds of on the pathos and hatred of the audience, has an endless array of scapegoats he intermittently calls out, is a bully and now appears to be building a movement that seems to find democracy a troubling political force that can be overcome. Lest us forget the Republicans have been attacking democracy for years, from the push for Presidential power in the Bush administration and the Tea Party movement to the obstructionist Congress over the past two decades whenever a Democrat has the White House. Trump seems to believe these past efforts don’t go far enough, threatening anyone who might stand in his path if he were to win the election.

One could take hope from the populist uprising, particularly that of Sanders, but the Fascist undertones of Trump and the sense that establishment figure Clinton might just be able to beat him in a general election seems to indicate that the growing cynicism that has punctuated American politics for much of the past 35 years is only growing, assisted by a media that can be summed up by the words of the CBS CEO, “Trump might be bad for America, but he is great for CBS. More Trump!”

And Then There Were Two … Trump/Cruz Duking it Out for Nomination

Less than a week ago, it appeared the wind was only catching Donald Trump’s jib and he was sailing away toward the nomination with ease. But the results Saturday and Sunday gave some hope that an alternative candidate can emerge as the nominee. The most likely upstart at this point is Ted Cruz, who won in Kansas and Maine Saturday and Puerto Rico Sunday, while closing in on Trump in Louisiana and Kentucky (though early voting that heavily favored Trump undermined the late upset). The delegate count at present stands at Trump (384), Cruz (300), Rubio (151) and Kasich (37).

While Rubio and Kasich are the more obvious choices to moderate the party, given the reality that Cruz is almost as radical a presence as Trump – far right of the center and guilty of ostracizing the very forces he now seeks to navigate his way, it appears unlikely either has the time to mount a realistic drive to the nomination. In fact, if they are truly dedicated to Cruz beating Trump, now is the time to get out of the way. The problem is neither appears that excited about a Cruz nomination either and both still hold out the faint hope that wins in the big, winner-take-all states like Florida and Ohio, could swing momentum their way. Of course, that thinking is undermined by the fact Rubio is most likely to win his home state of Florida while Kasich will hope to secure his own home state of Ohio. Where does that leave us?

Well the money in the race is certainly going against Trump, with the New York Times claiming tens of millions are funneling into attack ads on Trump after his weaker than expected weekend showing. And it was not only the Cruz victories that might worry Trump, but the fact that late voting in both Louisiana and Kentucky showed Cruz about even with the New Yorker. Given his tenuous favorability ratings and the reality that any loss of momentum at this point could be fatal, one does worry about his muted speech Saturday evening and the sense his bombast is starting to backfire.

The Democrats are, of course, hoping Trump holds on to his lead and wins the nomination, as a candidate they believe they can beat rather handily in a general election. His rhetoric certainly supports that claim, with the same women and minority voters that Obama won in both 2008 and 2012 unlikely to switch allegiance to a Natavist Patriarch who has been winning by deriding them. In every national poll except the USA Today, Clinton is head in a matchup with Trump, from +1 to +8. On the other hand, Cruz is currently leading Clinton in all the national polls, though only by one to three points, well within the margin or error.

Republicans looking at those numbers might coalesce behind Cruz as the most likely candidate to end eight years of Democratic rule, and 16 of the past 24, shifting a trend that was decidedly Republican from 1968 to 1992. The GOP, in fact, has a tendency to choose expediency over ideology, as shown with the nominations of Bush, McCain and Romney. Each was closer to the center of the political spectrum in America today, but only Bush (arguably only in 2004) was able to win the popular vote and election. Maybe the GOP is stuck with a candidate that supports their move to the right over the Obama years.

At present, Trump is still the favorite and the Dems might want to soften their criticism at this point, hoping he can complete his unlikely path to the nomination. If he does, then the attacks can continue in earnest, based upon the presumption that he is the most beatable of all the candidates on offer. Clinton has been running a smart campaign and, after early momentum for Sanders, seems likely to lock up the nomination in the coming months – even if many continue to question whether she is a candidate that can really transform the country or address its biggest problems. More will become apparent after March 15, but the truth is, nothing is certain yet.