It now seems virtually certain that our choice in the presidential election will come down to this: Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.
How could this happen in a country of more than 320 million people with two historic political parties that have given us the likes of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt?
Trump or Clinton? Seriously?
Trump’s emergence as the Republican front-runner is as frightening as it is baffling. He has conducted a campaign steeped in racism, misogyny and a blatant disregard for anything resembling depth or substance.
He’s a crass, insult-spewing bully who shows no respect for the office he seeks or the traditions and institutions that have made this country great.
The Democratic nominee-in-waiting, Hillary Clinton, is a pathological liar and a self-serving hypocrite who will say anything and do anything to advance her campaign. Clinton and her ex-president husband Bill rank among the supreme “takers” in the political world, having spent decades exploiting their public standing for financial gain.
And let’s not forget about Hillary’s use of a private email server when she worked as Barack Obama’s secretary of state, currently the focal point of an extensive FBI investigation into her handling of classified information.
What are the alternatives to this sad scenario? The Democrats’ Plan B is a socialist senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, whose presidential platform is, as commentator Bill O’Reilly calls it, “free stuff for everyone.” The Republicans’ backup if Trump fails to lock down the nomination is Ted Cruz, a first-term Texas senator of no visible accomplishment who Trump refers to – accurately – as “Lying Ted.”
Cruz’s hopes of winning the nomination hinge on his efforts to beg, borrow or steal enough delegates to block a first-ballot win by Trump, forcing a contested convention that might allow Cruz to wheel and deal his way to victory on a second, third or fourth ballot.
To promote this effort, and to grab the media spotlight back from Trump after the real estate mogul pounded him in five April 26 primaries, Cruz unveiled a vice presidential “running mate” – failed presidential candidate Carly Fiorina.
Cruz hooked up with Carly just days after announcing an alliance with another presidential hopeful, John Kasich. That alliance lasted less than an hour before Kasich distanced himself from it. Does Cruz wake up every morning thinking of a new stupid pet trick to help salvage his floundering campaign?
The two-party system has served our country well in the past but this year, so far, it’s failing us. Let’s hope we survive the failure.
Richard Connor is chairman of the parent company of Fort Worth Business, DRC Media. Contact him at rconnor@bizpress.net.