JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: TRUMP’S WEAKENED POSITION – HIS FAILED POLITICAL RALLY IN TULSA AND BAD NEW POLLS – BUT IT IS FAR TOO EARLY TO COUNT HIM OUT – HE ENJOYS AN IMMENSELY POWERFUL OFFICE, A GREAT HOARD OF CAMPAIGN FUNDS, A SECURE POLITICAL BASE, AND HE IS RUTHLESSLY WILLING TO DO ALMOST ANYTHING TO GET WHAT HE WANTS – INDEED ONE OF THE THEMES OF BOLTON’S BOOK IS THAT TRUMP HAS NO POLICIES BECAUSE EVERYTHING HE DOES IS DIRECTED TOWARDS RE-ELECTION – TRUMP ALSO HAS THE STRENGTH OF HATRED AND CONTEMPT ON HIS SIDE AND THOSE ARE POWERFUL FORCES IN AMERICA - JOE BIDEN IS NOT A STRONG OPPONENT AND HE CERTAINLY IS NO PRINCE CHARMING ON A WHITE CHARGER, HAVING A LONG RECORD OF COOPERATING WITH CORRUPTION AND EMBRACING VIOLENCE – HORRIBLE AS IT HAS BEEN, THE TRUMP EXPERIENCE HAS TAUGHT THE WORLD IMPORTANT LESSONS ABOUT AMERICA

John Chuckman


EXPANSION OF COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CBC NEWS


“Trump rally features empty seats, staff with coronavirus infections”

“Campaign blames protesters, media for thousands of empty seats at Oklahoma event”



Response to a comment below, “The most recent poll has trump's approval rating at 40%, disapproval at 56%. That is wipe out territory”

I would not yet count Trump out. The months ahead are a long time period in America's volatile politics.

Trump has proven capable of doing almost anything towards achieving his personal goals, bending even the country’s foreign policy to advance personal ambition. He is a relentless, unforgiving political predator.

His possibilities include a dramatic development in world affairs, either positive or negative. A positive one to surprise and attract marginal voters back. Or a negative one to make Americans rally around their President, as they always do in time of war or crisis. They rallied even behind the lamentable George Bush.

Trump’s capacity for attacking Biden is immense – hostility and nastiness are what he does best, and Biden has many skeletons in his closet. He doesn't have an ugly mouth like Trump does, but his political career is filled with smarmy and crooked stuff. He worked intimately with the corruption of Hillary Clinton and the violence and lying of Barack Obama. And Trump has been given just truckloads of money by special interests.

The Trump experience has not been without value to the world.

It provides something of a diagnostic x-ray of American society.

And what we see in the x-ray photo is an extraordinary number of nasty, brutish figures. People untroubled by lying, not keeping your word, and making outrageous claims. People untroubled by hatreds and name-calling. People untroubled by misery and death needlessly caused at home and abroad.

For those who analyze America's actual behavior in the world, none of that is a discovery, but now it should be apparent to almost everyone.

Unfortunately, even Trump’s defeat comes with nasty side-effects.

Joe Biden is no prize, not at all, and with all the euphoria over a Trump defeat, the American establishment will powerfully reconfirm its place for a time. Its horrors – Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Palestine, and others - will just be carried right on.