What is America, really?

I mean, we have held ourselves up as a nation that is benevolent and righteous and Christian and just. We have defended our “exceptionalism” with a fury.

And yet, it seems that a large core of Americans are anything but ..benevolent, righteous, Christian (in practice) and just. Donald Trump, who has sounded and acted like a 21st century George Wallace, has gotten up in front of Americans and been racist, sexist, arrogant and disingenuous …and Americans love him.

OK. So it’s not all Americans. But it is a lot of Americans, and his lead, according to the polls, is increasing.

He insults, bullies, and cuts people down when they try to question him. He has made the most outrageous claims of what he will do if he’s president – all of which feels like he thinks he’ll be able to act independently of the Congress  – and Americans love it. I have heard people say he sounds “strong.” No monkey business with this guy. Under his “regime,” world leaders will cower and give into him as he makes America “great again.”

It seems that some of his Republican colleagues have just hidden under a bush. He has said things that none of them would have gotten away with, and they have been unwilling, for the most part, to challenge him.

He says he “adores” women, but from his mouth come the most foul, distasteful comments about women that seem to indicate otherwise. His “adoration” includes putting women down for what they wear, what they look like and how they ask questions. Yet, if he is challenged, he changes the story, blames the media for taking his words out of context, and generally moves to the point where the issue becomes moot.

He is “The Donald,” after all. And in spite of his disparaging comments about women, polls show that American women are flocking to his camp.

Does anyone understand any of this?

When I think of Trump’s arrogance and his hot-headedness, I shudder. What would happen if he were elected and Kim Jong-un said something to offend him or challenged him, and what if Trump responded like he shows he responds: hurling insults, getting on Twitter to further the reach of those insults, and totally bullied the young North Korean leader? Does anyone but me think that it would be a recipe for disaster, that Kim Jong-un would not hesitate to pull a machismo and press a button to annihilate America? Doesn’t Trump know that much of the world does not like America and is probably itching for an excuse to go after us?

Americans are tired of politics. They are tired of the lack of jobs and of having to struggle. They are tired of a Congress which has been impotent and of a president whom many are still not sure is a “real” American. When Trump says “we’re going to make this country great again” it makes their chests swell. The attitude is “do what you want, in whatever way you want to do it.”

Isn’t that the way dictators are born? Are tired Americans so tired that they cannot see what danger a Trump presidency would be to the world?

Someone said to me, “it’s not that they are tired, not like that. They are tired of “the coloreds” having too much power and presence, too much “say” in things.

“What they want is to get the coloreds out,” she said.

Maybe.

But whatever these Trump Americans want, it is a scary thought.

Trump might be a good businessman, but a world leader, he is not. He seems no better than the lives of dictators who have gotten into office in other countries and wreaked havoc.

America is in trouble.

A candid observation…