Can a Clown Candidate Project Presidential Poise?

Bill and George on Trump’s latest mayhem…

.

George: Terminally ill people “stay alive long enough to vote for me”. And talking to himself, "We're going to be nice and cool, nice and cool, stay on point, Donald, stay on point," during a rally. "No sidetracks Donald, nice and easy."

.

Bill: This is a candidate who is presidential material? One who asks dying people to forget their suffering and go vote  just to gratify his ego? One whose inner speech comes out in muttered public ramblings?

.

George: So what is “being presidential” all about? You had it. I had it. This clown doesn’t.

.

Bill: Calmness over becoming hysterical. Politeness over being insulting. Subtle but not simplistic. Witty, not clownish.

.

__________

Voice-over

It is a time to be fearful when swathes of the U.S. population vote not for someone fit for the job of president but who triggers their hate.

As John Kerry says, it’s “downright embarrassing” to have a presidential candidate who doesn’t even acknowledge climate change and that the presidential contest has been “a humiliating time for America”.

Barack Obama goes further and says the “fate of the world” is at risk if Trump takes over.

...

Innermost thoughts

Gerald met an old acquaintance yesterday, who Jim also knows.

…

Gerald: I saw Wellington yesterday.

Jim: Haven’t seen him for years. Still living around here?

Gerald: Couldn’t avoid him. Called my name. You ever get into conversation with someone who just goes on and on, spilling everything that’s in his mind?

Jim: I know. They tell you their innermost thoughts. And leave you exhausted trying to figure out how to respond.

Gerald: Wellington’s like that. Doesn’t follow conversational conventions. Comes out with things like, “I know you never liked me…” or “I look like a total jerk, I’m so fat…”

Jim: So how long did you spend with him?

Gerald: Two hours. Couldn’t get away. Got home totally drained.

______________

Voiceover

It’s a fine line between confiding with friends, entertaining them with your inner thoughts, and divulging too much.

The greater the social distance, the more circumspect most people become.

Except for those who don’t draw lines.

Travellers on airplanes, for whatever reason (intimations of mortality, confusion of close seating with near social relations) sometimes launch into deep confessions.

And those like Wellington who, in their attempt to get close to people, drive them further away. Could judging who to divulge what to be a marker of mental health?

...