Sunday, May 22, 2016

Donald Trump, Gunslinger

Or Bullslinger: take your pick

He's a long time member and so are his "boys" Donald Trump told the NRA. I have no idea if that's true or whether his girls are duck hunters.  I do know whether I think that's a reprehensible organization -- and I do.

Before you put the "liberaliberaliberal" disc on your Victrola, I'll continue on and say that since 1993 when The NRA began to use the the Oklahoma City bombing and the holocaust in Waco, Texas as fund raising fodder and began to justify terrorism in the name of the second amendment, it lost any credibility as an advocacy for anything but arms manufacturers and insurrectionists.
"In Clinton's administration, if you have a badge, you have the government's go-ahead to harass, intimidate, even murder law-abiding citizens."    — Wayne LaPierre, 1993 NRA fundraising letter. —

As you may recall George H.W. Bush resigned his membership because of statements about "jack booted thugs" deserving to be blown up along with their children and I'm sure you know that Quick Draw LaPierre is still at the helm of that organization. Of course the tired trope about the license to kill is also a battle flag of some allegedly left-leaning organizations, but we do live in a time of  the war of all against all and war justifies all lies, or so it's said.

Picturing the young Donald at high noon on Main Street in Queens, reaching for his matched pair of Colts is worthy of a giggle, but pudgy old Don, the comb-over king isn't so cute at all and I'm not laughing.  He's attempting to rally the well-regulated militia by lying about Hillary Clinton - our new national pastime.
If she's elected, he says, she'll somehow make the second amendment go away and he's "not going to let that happen,"  as though any president any anything like the power to amend the constitution, particularly an amendment with a huge following.

In fact she's never suggested that and has publicly supported it as fundamental, although the notion that a manufacturer of a legal product that is not defective can be sued if that product is used illegally seems like nothing less than an attempt to kick the legs out from under the concept of law itself, but I digress.

Hillary Clinton has a lot of haters on all sides and if  she is to have some hope of defeating the Flushing Kid she's got to sound more moderate about guns. The Democrats, as the public sees that party, have pandered too long to the anti-gun phobics, spent too much time fudging figures and hyping up the danger despite two decades of declining gun violence. It's the main issue today in the minds of a huge number of Americans including many Democrats, and their votes hinge entirely on  a candidate sharing that magic thinking that is the hallmark.  She needs a big image change and she needs it now and the Trump-happy media need to cooperate.

Of course I don't want to see her duck hunting in a camo pants suit, We remember Kerry with a shotgun and Dukakis riding in a tank and it would backfire, but make no mistake this is a gun-loving country and people will vote for a megalomaniac liar with no morals or manners before it will consider Hillary the gun-grabber.

No comments: