Don’t the people who say Trump is a good role model know what that means? Or are they so debauched they think their children should emulate a vulgar libertine with no conscience, no moral compass, no restraint?
Do the 72 percent of Republicans who responded in that way to a recent poll really want the nation’s kids to become obese braggarts?
Do they want America’s children to admire self-indulgent frauds who cheat and lie as a matter of course? Who routinely use obscene and profane language without regard for their listeners? Who habitually commit sexual assault and boast about it?
Even among Trump voters, I find that hard to believe.
Some may have voted for Trump, in spite of his debased character, because they expected his policies as president to benefit them financially or to promote their favorite causes.
But a lot of Trump voters were driven by rage.
They voted out of spite for a spoiler whom their fellow-Americans would find utterly repellant. They wanted a wrecking ball to personify their futility and frustration.
And now when the pollster called, they gave the most shocking answer they could think of. It was their way of flipping off the pollster – and flipping off society once again. It was their manifesto of defiance.
What they really meant could be expressed by any number of vulgar phrases you might hear in a barroom late at night (or in Trump’s “locker room”).
Nobody could possibly think Trump is a good role model. Why a pollster would even ask the question beats me.
