http://www.thenational.ae/
On Thursday, Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic party US presidential nominee, introduced what must inevitably be her main campaign theme against the de-facto Republican party nominee, Donald Trump: that his bizarre views and unstable, thin-skinned personality make him uniquely unsuited for the role of commander-in-chief of the world’s sole remaining superpower.
Her speech wasn’t perfect, but it was a good start. And if she hones this message, it should be enough to sweep her into the White House.
Over the past fortnight, Mrs Clinton – who is still facing an unresolved challenge from Bernie Sanders and is bedevilled by questions over her use of an unauthorised private email server when she was secretary of state – should, by all rights, be having a tough time.
But despite securing the nomination, it is Mr Trump who seems to have entered meltdown mode. Rather than unifying the party and switching to a more “presidential” persona, he has intensified his grotesque conduct, conspiracy theorising, combative attitude, incorrigible dishonesty, boundless vulgarity and blatant racism.
With few remaining holdouts, Republican leaders have gritted their teeth and endorsed Mr Trump in the most unprincipled display of obeisance to power in recent American history.
Dozens of Republicans who have been frank about Mr Trump’s manifest unfitness for office – most notably Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio – have capitulated and endorsed someone they are fully aware is unfit for a low level government position, let alone the presidency.
They must never be allowed to live down the infamy. Mr Trump’s candidacy is not normal, it is bizarre and poisonous. Despite his securing the Republican nomination, neither the party nor the media can change that.
Indeed, all efforts to recast Mr Trump as a normal candidate are, in themselves, malignant and malicious. Only wilful ignorance or calculated dishonesty can account for it, and neither is excusable.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump has been doing his best to humiliate his fellow Republicans by demonstrating the depths to which they are sinking in endorsing him.
He strongly reinforced his lack of any political values beyond his personal interests, particularly by attacking New Mexico governor Susana Martinez, a popular conservative Republican, simply because she declines to openly support him.
He unleashed a tantrum against the press for asking legitimate questions about his deceptive and dishonest claims about contributions to charities for military veterans. His performance was petulant and, again, entirely personal and personalised.
He once again demonstrated contempt for a free press, and highlighted his determination to restrict freedom of speech. When shocked journalists asked Mr Trump if this bullying tirade is how he plans to relate to the media if elected, he replied: “Yeah, it is going to be like this.”
In addition to a daily litany of lies – usually denials that he ever said things he is on record as saying, such as that various countries ought to have nuclear weapons or his support for the invasion of Iraq – Mr Trump launched an unprecedentedly racist attack against the judge presiding over a lawsuit against his so-called “Trump University”.
In the past he intimated that the judge, who was born in Indiana, “is a Mexican”. Mr Trump now claims that the judge’s Mexican ancestry is a “clear conflict of interest” because “I’m building a wall”, and that his ethnicity makes this jurist incapable of fairly hearing the case.
Mr Trump did not elaborate what other federal offices that “Mexicans” (from Indiana) should implicitly be barred from holding.
Such openly racist and blatantly self-serving comments are unprecedented from a major party candidate.
This is the Trumpery Republicans are bowing and scraping before, and the attitudes they are embracing and endorsing.
This is the person they are trying to place at the centre of power, not just in Washington but, far more than any other national leader, globally. There is absolutely no excuse for it, and anyone supporting Trumpery should never be allowed to live it down.
Trumpery is not, and cannot become, American political business as usual.
Mrs Clinton should stick to the “Trump as national danger” theme. Other lines of attack – Mr Trump as gouging plutocrat, gender-based arguments and so forth – will either backfire or prove ineffective.
His infantile response to her speech, mainly criticising her teleprompter reading ability and demanding she go to prison, was itself a fine example of why his mentality makes him entirely unfit.
To win, Mrs Clinton need only focus attention on the myriad ways Mr Trump himself consistently demonstrates how and why he cannot be trusted with the military and diplomatic power of the White House.