Yes, Trump is a boor…

But the real story is about his supporters

Late last week American voters listened to an audio clip of lewd, offensive comments made 11 years ago by Donald Trump, confirming some old news: the Republican candidate is a boorish narcissist. The more-interesting story is: Why are large swathes of ordinary, intelligent and goodhearted Americans still considering casting their vote for him?

Trump’s continued momentum is driven not by bigotry and hate, as some would like us to believe, but by the same groundswell of desperation and rage that kicked off the grassroots “Tea Party” movement in Obama’s first term. Americans who support Trump are terrified by the doubling of our national debt and damage to our country inflicted by Obama’s policies:

• Destruction of America’s health care system — huge cost increases, diminished quality, loss of patient choice;
• Excessive and ever-increasing regulation, mandates, and taxation of Americans and their businesses which is destroying economic opportunities, particularly for those in the lower economic tier;
• Feckless global strategy leading to large scale human misery and death in the Mideast and a substantial degradation of US strategic interests throughout the world

Hillary Clinton directly contributed to these failures as Secretary of State and at other points in her career, and is promising to expand them if elected.

Given that, it’s not too surprising that many goodhearted Americans are wondering if a narcissist in the White House who has America’s interests at heart might be preferable, and pose less threat to America and their children’s future, than a third Obama term.