Dagger-Part II

Donald Trump is a self-absorbed, boorish, low information candidate. Hillary Clinton is a dishonest, corrupt, and generally incompetent candidate. The elites (in politics and the media), it would appear, are perfectly okay with dishonesty of the highest order, corruption that would make you gasp if it were perpetrated by a Republican, and incompetence that is easily documented. But Trump's tendency to be politically incorrect, or worse, boorish and insensitive, are far too much for the elites.

The NBC 'video tape' was the dagger that was supposed to kill Trump. It was (to mix metaphors), the last straw. Trump had to drop out of the race ... he was unacceptable ... he was defeated ... he was done. He would come into the second debate a broken man. He would grovel. And then ... the dagger somehow failed to kill him. By most accounts, he weathered the second presidential debate and rose from the grave. Heh.

There is a certain humor in all of this. This morning, the talking heads in the media seem stunned. I think they expected Trump to vanish, to disappear, allowing their candidate—Hillary Clinton—to be coronated without further ado. But that didn't happen.

The elites complain about the tone of the debate, about the lack of civility, about the "vicious nature" of the verbal interchange, and of course, suggest that all of this Trump's fault. It's as if the Democrat candidate has every right to call her opponent a "racist," "a bigot," and "a misogynist" and suggest that a significant number of his millions of supporters are "deplorable" and "irredeemable." Those are awful accusations, but Democrats are allowed to make them repeatedly and without consequence. When the opponent punches back hard—and Trump did just that—the elites in the media characterize the counter punch as uncivil and a demonstration of lack of "temperament."

Last night, CBS's Bob Scheiffer, and this morning, NBC's Tom Brokaw, epitomes of old-school elitist journalism, were outraged by Trump's tone and the fact that he brought up Bill Clinton's serial sexual escapades. That was hardball, no doubt, but since there are indications that the Clinton campaign coordinated with NBC on the timing of the release of the Trump tape, it seems only fair that a counter punch would occur. Scheiffer and Brokaw suggested that Bill Clinton's failings were "old news" and should not be dredged up again. They are either too stupid or too ideological to understand that most of what has been dredged up on Trump is also old news, but somehow, that doesn't matter.

The elites are worried. Polls indicate a tight race. and they just can't understand why that is. Possibly, it's because the elites view themselves as the smartest guys in the room (or the country) and telegraph that to everyone else. Possibly, it's because the smartest guys in the room have run the country into a ditch. Possibly, it's because calling people who disagree with them "racists" or "bigots" or worse causes those accusations to lose their sting, much less their meaning. Possibly, it's because clear and irrefutable media bias against one candidate by supposedly objective observers is off-putting. Possibly, it's because the elites derisively suggest that the people in fly-over country—the "deplorables"—simply aren't enlightened enough to understand the merits of their policies.

That's why Trump continues to remain close. Not because of his questionable character or his shallow intelligence, or his often muddy policy positions, but because he becomes the conduit that allows a large segment of our citizenry to express their utter contempt for the elites and their failed policies. This is, above all, an F.U. moment. We'll see how it turns out.