Quote:'Teflon Trump' has no mask to slip.SOURCE:
'The roiling, rolling scandal of sexual harassment might be about to claim another scalp.
Roy Moore, the gun totin' evangelical judge and current Republican Senate nominee for Alabama, has been
accused of sexually inappropriate behaviour with a 14-year-old girl when he was 32.
Moore has denied all the allegations, variously referring to them as fake, desperate and politically motivated.
Beyond the ongoing and vital revelations this story provides about the scale of a problem that appears to be
deeply rooted in our society, why does Roy Moore matter? Well, if the seat goes to the Democrats, as it well
could now, it may shape Donald Trump's presidency, flipping a reliably red seat blue, and reducing his legislative
clout in the Senate, where the balance of power is already making pushing though his agenda tricky.
But more broadly it is an abject lesson on the risks of exploiting a high or pure moral identity for political gain.
Anthony Weiner made the same mistake. His cloak was progressive, inclusive, big city values.
His fall was all the more spectacular for it.
The list goes on, here and in the UK.
Men of great standing, with a certain sense of themselves, in positions of power, influence or both, preaching one
thing and doing quite another. It struck me, in a rather oblique way, that Donald Trump will never suffer from this
affliction.
There have been so many revelations, often directly from him, about his conduct (remember "grab 'em by the p****"?),
that he is almost unassailable.
There is no mask to slip.
What most journalists thought were his biggest weaknesses have become his biggest strengths because he won anyway,
with all of it on display. He ignored all conventional wisdom, scripts and choreography to extraordinary effect - a disruptive
force, rough around the edges but authentic in a way few in that arena have ever been.
It's actually why people voted for him.
Trump and Moore couldn't be further apart.
It's what makes the President a much tougher opponent than Democrats ever imagined - a Teflon bruiser to whom
the normal rules don't apply. How to beat him in 2020? I'm willing to bet they're still scratching their heads...'
Wow...! the writer is almost there!
There's an old tale that may assist this journalist in her realisation:
'Two donkeys meet at a hitching rail in a frontier town. One is the pet of a little girl, who rides it every day and feeds it carrots.
The other is a prospector’s donkey, loaded down with ore, equipment, and food.
This second donkey’s back is bent from the weight it has carried for years.
The first donkey looks at the second and says, “That’s quite a load you got there!” The second donkey says, “What load?”...'
We've been stuck in the same place for so long that for many of us, the standard public attitude of political figures is that they
are merely mouth-pieces for party-driven agendas. For those who make vast fortunes in dabbling in political nuance and
condescension, they have accepted this mantle and smile into the camera with the false assumption that nobody quite gets it.
The lazy media also accepted this situation for purposes of sound-bites and to assist in a narrative for those a particular news
outlet favours. When something tragic accurs, a well-dressed politician will be there to tell us it's bad.
As if the viewers/readers didn't know that.
The 'mask' is assumed as the norm and we move on. The lifestyles that politicans live are far above the majority of those they're
supposed to serve can have many benefits that to that same majority, may be dubious. Semi or straight-out illicit sex is not only
a welcomed weakness and a ideal news story, it's also a reason for some who crave the darker-side of carnel lust to actually
enter politics.
But it becomes 'okay'... expected and the public become desensitized.
However, not everyone falls for the trick and maybe the United States' current President saw that.
The cliche is: 'you get what you see' -when it comes to Trump and even though he might not fit into the accepted niches of corrupt
governance, many who cleave to decent public behavior and the rest who can only wish for it, know -or at least, recall the days
when the tattle that is now branded 'news' was never customary.
It probably did happen, but it was hidden because the perpetrators knew it was wrong.
The readers and viewers of mainstream media are the prospector's donkey and even though they don't mind the load, the
resigned sadness in their voices should be a clarion-call for Journalists that this cannot continue.
The politicians rate as low as the conduits they use to get their message out and electing Donald Trump to the White House
is an indicator that the public's toleration is running out.
Trump knows this. He's not Teflon, he was just ahead of the curve.
Edith Head Gives Good Wardrobe.