Through cunning and grit, General George Washington’s Continental Army and French allies had harassed, outwitted, evaded, and, at times, out fought the British Armies for six grueling years. At long last, General Washington had the advantage of both position and numerical superiority over the British Army under General Lord Charles Cornwallis. After weeks of indecisive battles, Cornwallis was ordered back to Yorktown, Virginia in August 1781, where prepared, should the need arise, to evacuate his 9,000 man army by sea, with the protection of the British fleet under command of Admiral Sir Thomas Graves.

Having underestimated the size of the French fleet, under command of Admiral Count de Grasse, Graves’s fleet was defeated on September 5th, leaving Cornwallis cut off from both reinforcements or retreat. By September 28th, 1781, the combined forces of General Washington’s Continental Army and Rochambeau’s French Army had surrounded Yorktown to the west, with de Grasse’s French fleet controlling the waves to the east. After three weeks of constant bombardment from all sides, Washington ordered the attack, and the Continental and French Armies overran the British positions.

On October 19th, 1781, General Cornwallis surrendered his Army to General Washington and General Rochambeau. The Revolutionary War was over. As news of the war’s end reached King George III, the British monarch cynically assumed George Washington would crown himself “King of the Americas“, because that’s what men in Washington’s place had done for millennia. When told Washington would instead retire to his farm, a shocked George III declared, “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.“

On December 23rd, 1783, General George Washington resigned his commission from the Continental Army and returned to his farm at Mount Vernon, Virginia.

“I will be changing very rapidly. I’m very capable
of changing to anything I want to change to.”
-Donald Trump-

As the election careens toward its final destination, shedding pieces as fast as it sheds poll numbers, the mythology of “electability” will be the first horrific casualty of what will undoubtedly be a fairly extensive list. It was, after all, “electability” that propelled the Republican nominee’s candidacy beyond sixteen far more qualified candidates. The impending defeat of the candidate primary voters deemed the most “electable” begs the very serious question, does anyone actually know what “electable” even means?

From the very beginning, it became obvious that “electable” didn’t mean “competitive“, because of the final four Republican candidates for president, the three candidates that were the most “competitive” in hypothetical general election polling were not nominated. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich all polled either better or at least within one or two points in head-to-head polling against Hillary Clinton. In fact, of the seventeen candidates, Donald Trump was one of the few that consistently polled well below Hillary.

Does “electable” mean “constitutional“? Obviously not, because Donald, like most of his supporters, doesn’t have the faintest clue what is actually in the Constitution. In a private meeting with Congressional Republicans last July, months after effectively securing the nomination, Donald boldly declared he would “protect Article I, Article II, (and) Article XII“. As Article VII, regarding the ratification process of the Constitution that took place over two hundred years ago, is the last Article of the Constitution, we can only wonder what Donald even thought he was talking about.

Since the Constitution clearly doesn’t have anything to do with being “electable“, perhaps Donald’s supporters meant he’s “relatable“. That unfortunately depends on a few factors, however. For one, if you happen to own property that Donald Trump wants to turn into a parking lot for a casino or even a mediocre golf course, you are unlikely to find that Donald to be “relatable“. If you happen to be a woman who finds Donald’s hands roughly up your skirt, it’s hard to see how you might find him “relatable” either. As far as the majority of Millennial, minority, and women voters, Donald Trump is demonstrably pretty far from “relatable“, so that’s out.

What’s left?

“In my opinion, we don’t devote nearly enough
scientific research to finding a cure for jerks.”
-Bill Watterson-

Say whatever else you want to about the man, but Donald Trump has always been the poster child for the ham fisted hard sell. Everything in his professional and personal life has ever been a reflection of his own brand of unchecked, over the top, narcissistic, masculine bravado. He has leveraged this brand to propel himself to great wealth, into great bankruptcy, back into more wealth, into even more bankruptcy, and once more into great wealth. It is his loud, unfiltered, and often totally incoherent mouth that somehow resonated with rank and file Republican voters.

Everything Donald has ever thought, he has said, regardless of the consequences to himself or others, and, with a considerable pass from the mainstream media during the primaries, the sheer power of this shoot from the hip (and only the hip) personality carried him through the primaries. Donald’s supporters thought that because they liked Donald’s smash mouth politics that America would like Donald’s smash mouth politics.

He had a popular reality television show. He was a living parody of the fabulously wealthy. He was going to make great deals. He was going to bring jobs back to America. He was going to defeat ISIS. He was going to make America great again. How in the world, asks the incredulous Donald Trump supporter, could he not win? It’s actually quite obvious. He’s an unrepentant jerk. That’s how.

“And the LORD told him: ‘Listen to all that the people
are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected,
but they have rejected me as their king.'”
-1 Samuel 8:7-

Of all the wretched tragedies of this election season, and there are many, one stands out above all of the rest. Of the possible Republican candidates for president available this year, the one Republican voters chose to represent them was Donald Trump. While it’s true that Donald Trump’s habitual dishonesty, clumsy bigotry, entitled promiscuity, sociopathic vanity, and callous imbecility has poisoned our nation, what does this say about the people who chose him to represent America?

If nothing else, this election shows that we have a lot of soul searching to do as a nation. We are a nation lost. Only when we find ourselves again, when Liberty is written on the hearts of every man and woman, when we remember who we once were, only then will we once again deserve “the greatest man in the world“.

Be Brave. Be Free.

 

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Liberty is For The Win!