“They’re All Full of It”

Hillary Clinton’s anticipated “October surprise” a day before the second presidential debate was the release of an eleven-year-old video of Donald Trump using a vulgar term in reference to women. I found the surprise disappointing, even more low brow than the brouhaha over Trump’s taxes. If that’s the best the Clinton campaign can come up with, it’s obvious they lack momentum and imagination.

Meanwhile, media outlets on the Right have Clinton selling uranium to Putin for millions of dollars and then declaring World War III against the Russians before dying of a brain clot, which would turn the presidency over to Tim Kaine, who is depicted as a Jesuit agent for the globalists. Actually, Kaine is the least popular candidate of the four, which is quite an accomplishment.

By most accounts, Hillary Clinton will do or say anything to get what she wants, including covering up Bill’s philandering and intimidating his victims. This includes her use of a private email server, which even mainstream news now concedes was a cover for donations to the Clinton Foundation in return for favors. That a number of her staffers have pleaded the Fifth to avoid testifying before Congress is telling. According to Politico, some have done so 125-130 times. Like Claire Underwood, the House of Cards Jezebel character, Hillary covers her tracks so that her allies, of which there are legion, can claim there was no quid pro quo. Even so, naming Loretta Lynch as a potential Supreme Court justice before the election was nothing short of stupid, since we now know the topic of conversation on the plane between Lynch and Bill Clinton. It wasn’t, as Trump has joked, golf.

For his part, Trump is his worst enemy. His campaign’s greatest fear is his locking himself in the bathroom at three in the morning with a cell phone, charger, and a thermos of coffee. However, contrary to the hyperbole of many on the Left, I find no credible evidence that he is a racist, bigot, or misogynist. What I do find is a concerted effort to make him appear that way, either by editing, redacting, or even creating comments. Of course, his off-the-cuff remarks don’t help, and most people read headlines if they read anything at all.

Certainly, Trump is arrogant but he isn’t smug. He is educated but not pedantic, affable but not polished. This is why the Left loathes him. I agree with Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, who fears a Clinton presidency more than a Trump one. Why? Take nuclear war. While everyone foams at the mouth over the “p” word, Syria is turning into another October missile crisis. And Clinton has said she would treat a cyber attack on the United States “just like any other attack,” requiring “serious political, economic and military responses.” One suspects she had JFK‘s television address in mind when she said that. After all, it’s all about marketing.

Some have accused Trump of connecting with his people, “Les Déplorables,” but not engaging in substantive debate. Yet the Republican platform is substantive, characterized by responsibilities as in Aristotle’s polis. The Democratic platform is also substantive, characterized by human rights. They lay out two different visions of America.

I would like to see Hillary and Trump debate these visions rather than spend ninety minutes bickering like a divorcing couple. Like all Americans, I want to see more substance and less bull crap. Then again, it’s difficult when you’re full of it. As I overheard on the street this week, “They’re all full of it.”

Feature image by Erik Mclean; top photo by Michael Jasmund; bottom photo by Alexas_Fotos. Want more? Go to Robert Brancatelli. The Brancatelli Blog is a member of The Free Media Alliance. Note to self: The hard truth is, I have to be honest before I can demand it (Letters from Culver City).