Editorial: The risk and reality of Donald Trump
Republicans began this campaign season with a great opportunity — a real chance to win the White House, to strengthen the grip on the Senate, to maintain the grip on the House, a real opportunity to affect the nation's agenda and to change course.
For conservatives as well as moderates, all of that opportunity now seems greatly at risk.
Not just the White House could be frittered away, but the Senate too, possibly even the House.
That should give pause to any Republican voter considering casting a ballot for Donald Trump.
Politician passions can be mesmerizing, but they also can obscure reality. Barry Goldwater led a movement. George McGovern did too. Each won frenzied nominations. Each then led his party to landslide ruin.
Meanwhile, we worry that reality-TV-style politics isn't just putting the Republican Party at risk, but the welfare of the nation as well.
We have yet to make endorsements in the presidential primaries. We've waited until closer to Illinois' March 15 election day so it would be clear which candidates are still standing. We expect to submit our recommendations later this week.
But today, with all due respect to the phenomenon that is Trump's campaign, we feel the need to share our concern about his candidacy.
Trump, who created “The Apprentice”, understands the basic rule of reality TV: that talent, affability, good intentions, decency, smarts — all are less important than flamboyance or even outrageousness, whatever it takes to command the camera.
He understands that perception becomes reality. His career has been built around creating perceptions.
Trump, we concede, has a certain bad-boy charm, but there is so much about him that also is troubling.
By that, we're not just referring to the shock-value positions he takes or his embarrassing apparent belief that the bully pulpit is meant for bullying.
We're most troubled by the lack of insight he brings to issues foreign and domestic. He has opinions the way a neighbor might have opinions, opinions based on hunches and intuition, not on study and expertise.
The world is complex and dangerous and demands thoughtful solutions. Too frequently, the solutions Trump suggests are uneducated, simplistic, even top-of-the-head. The wall is effective symbolism, but is it a comprehensive solution?
We suspect that most of the time he means what he says, but is what he says well thought out?
Perception is not reality. Reality is.
In so many ways, the reality is, Donald Trump is a great risk.