The Last Trump

There has been a degree of excitement about Mr. Donald Trump's thoughts on violent extremism in America and its causes and the community from which it is alleged to originate.  So what is he doing?  Is it some kind of Last Trump Resurrection of Souls, see the picture above by Stanley Spencer?

He has entered the contest to be selected as the candidate for The Republican Party for the coming Presidential elections.  This means beating the boundaries from one state to another over the next months to collect enough pledged party votes to have a good chance of nomination.

You do not get pledged votes without media coverage.  You only get media coverage if you can hit the headlines in a way acceptable to the signed up Republican voters for the primary elections in the individual states in question.  To raise issues on terrorist actions in America will gain attention.

What then might happen at the subsequent party Convention to agree the candidate if nobody has a clear majority at the outset is all to play for.  It is quite usual for tunes to be changed, deals done and a different line being taken to enable a candidate to win.

If nomination is won then the party candidate for the Presidency will go into a big huddle with the teams of advisers and media consultants to come up with ideas and policies that will swing the vote for the Presidency.  These may vary from those at the start.

If, after all this, the person does make it to the White House, restored since my ancestor's brother-in-law torched it to counter Yankee extremism, what he or she will do in office may differ, perhaps a little, perhaps a lot, from what has been said in the many months beforehand.

What is engaging about the present row is that so many people still think politicians mean what they say and when they make promises will fulfil them.  The triumph of Obama has been the triumph of global corporatism.  The triumph of Eisenhower was the very industrial military elite he did not want.  The triumph of the Clinton's was years of the Bush.

Mr. Trump's mother was a Scot, a Mary MacLeod of The Western Isles, my ancestral Mary MacLeod from the Isles married in 1843 in Greenock. The SNP have disowned him, they may come to miss his money.  The relativist views of their leaders, Muslims good, English bad and to be bashed and banned and their hopes to out Merkel Merkel in welcoming those from the East are a puzzle if they want a Scots Scotland.

What matters in the USA at the moment is how good and how strong any of the other Republican candidates are and what they can offer.  If, and it is a very big if, Trump is nominated it then depends on whether the Democrats can come up with a candidate who makes a lot more sense than the Clintons.

At Dunvegan Castle, the seat of the Chief of Clan MacLeod, one of the treasured objects is The Fairy Flag said to have been given by Titania, wife of Oberon, King of the Fairies.  I suspect this will not play a part in his bid  for the Presidency.

Mr. Trump owns a number of golf courses so as he tees off from the first long hole of the Presidential course will he be an eagle or a bogey?