Trump Can Never Be A Winner. It is Logically Impossible.

 

Whether Trump takes the election or not, he can never be a winner.  It is logically impossible, under the rationale and auspices of what this country is all about, its Constitution, evolutions, and precedents. 

Trump certainly likes to fashion himself a winner.  And, yes, by some standards he is successful (others not).  However, the word "winner" is commonly associated with someone who came in first in a competition, following certain rules and standards of ethics, and in that way proved themself to be the best.  

In this sense, Trump is in no way a winner or potential winner.  And it is this sense that is far-and-away the most relevant to the race for the presidency.

When Trump calls himself a "winner," he hopes we will subconsciously slide from seeing him as successful (in certain ways, such as fame) to seeing him as a moral person who is the best possible leader because he won fair and square.

This is false framing.  A devilish slide of semantics.  But so far, we have let him get away with it. 

Call him a devastatingly wicked influencer.  Call him a superb con man.  But it isn't rational or sensible to call Trump a winner.  For one thing, if he achieves the Presidency again, we all lose.  Moreover, he cannot be the best person to manage our country from the White House, not in the way a marathon runner shows they are the best in a competition.

My argument for this conclusion--that it is inconceivable that Trump could be the winner (even if he gets enough electoral votes)--has a couple of steps.

First, Trump is evil.  Evil, of course, can have many meanings.  In theology, it can apply to natural phenomenon like tornadoes and diseases.  But the evil I'm talking about is human-based.  No one can see into another's heart.  But we can judge behaviors and actions, and when those are numerous enough to form a reliable pattern, a point is reached where it becomes common sense to call someone evil.

So, when you use racism to divide a country, it is evil.  When you use that dark influence to shred basic norms of decency--of principle, democracy and virtue--to create a throne for yourself, it is evil.  When you have no respect for human rights, as in separating infants from mothers, it is evil.  

The above adds up to a hate-mongering tyranny, a force that can wreck our country on the world stage, and perhaps permanently besmirch its once-admired values.  Hundreds of years of ideals, gone in a flash.   This, too, is the product of evil.  

For all we can see, that product, the destruction of the republic, is Trump's narcissistic intent.  Dictatorship is what he admires and what yields maximum self-aggrandizement and adulation.

One galling trait of evil is cowardice.  Such evil never admits what it is doing and instead blames those who seek justice (racists who call others the racists).  In this way, rationality, the light of reason, itself gets wrestled down into the impotence of ignorant darkness. 

All the above indicts Trump, and is apparent enough in his behavior, after four years of evidence.  If you don't like calling him evil, it is enough that he is grossly unethical.

Now that I have established Trump as evil, I want to move on to the next step.  The point is simple:  a person who acts in evil ways in a rule-based competition can never be the winner.  If they come in first, it is because they cheated.  Competitions have standards.  And if you act with evil in pursuit of victory, you have, by definition, broken those standards. 

For some reason, in the common parlance of politics, we Americans are still talking as if Trump could be the winner--the projected winner, or possible winner of the 2020 election.  This despite his efforts to subvert the moral fabric of the nation and defy the Constitution.  Needless to say, this moral fabric, which includes the Constitution, is part of the rules.  

So, our common parlance is quite nonsensical.  Why consider a cheater a potential winner in a rule-based system, when they are clearly cheating?  

>>>>>> What???

The moral fabric of a republic is necessary for its existence.  If someone shreds the moral fabric, while claiming to honor and defend it, they are no more a winner than someone who cheats at sports--and of course the outcome is far more important.

Again, how does Trump "win" if he destroys the republic?  An overthrow makes him successfully evil.  If you rip out a country's heart, when it is your oath to protect that country's lifeblood, you are not a winner.

You are a destroyer.  You are a traitor. 

You might say that, when watching movies, for instance, we sometimes say that 'the evil side won'.  For example, in The Empire Strikes Back.

I would again point out, in response, that the race for the presidency has rules, and that the most relevant sense of "winner" is the one that requires following the rules.    

Actually, there are two sets of rules in relation to winning the presidency.  First, there are the electoral rules.  Now, by this standard alone, if we exclude all other factors from consideration, the nominee who gets the most electoral votes is the winner. 

However, and here is the catch, there is another set of rules that applies to the race for the presidency:  the rules embedded in the moral fabric of our society.  These rules reside in our Constitution and in our two-hundred-plus years of cultural progress and precedent. 

A political competitor must abide by both sets of rules to win the presidency.  They must satisfy the electoral rules, yes, but also the moral rules.  Without these moral rules, there is no republic.  There is no decency.  There is no winner.   

Therefore, Trump cannot be the winner in 2020--no matter what.  Judged by his pattern of actions, he is evil.  And by despoiling our most cherished values, he has broken the rules.

Call him a successful cheat.  Call him a fantastic con artist.  But he is not a potential winner in any sensible or logical way.  We abet his ability to be thought of as a winner, or potential winner, by falling for the trick of framing discussed above.

I think the American people have been so gullible, so lacking in vigilance, so ready to be ambushed, our freedoms so susceptible, for just one reason:  We have forgotten how lucky we are to live in a republic.  

Again, because we have become so blind, so deceivable, so gullible before awful illusions, I repeat myself:

Trump is no winner, and he cannot be a winner.  Even if--god help us--he gets enough electoral votes.   He is still a cheater and a con artist, a traitor who seized control by ripping apart the moral fabric of our nation through evil, selfish means.

If that happens, we all lose.

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