Red Meat and Nonsense



Presidential hopeful Senator Marco Rubio, R-FL

A few months ago, while in a hotel room in Wisconsin, my brother and I were forced to laugh while watching Marco Rubio’s speech announcing he is running for president. While neither of us have a lot against the junior Senator from Florida, Rubio did something that many politicians do: said something that meant nothing. “When America fails to lead, global chaos always ensues!” He might be right part of the time, but certainly not “always” and Rubio never said he would be doing anything about it. He was throwing out red meat.

It happens all the time and you will see it in nearly every political speech you hear. Rubio is by far not the only offender, or the worst. Politicians from Mike Huckabee to Hillary Clinton say things that make the crowd scream and lose their minds and say afterwards “I’m voting for that one,” and of course, that was what the speaker, either Jeb Bush or Donald Trump, was trying to do. But if you look back at the statement that created all the ruckus, it often was either untrue, misleading, or simply pointless.

Hillary Clinton shouting “we are the party of people!” and the crowd goes nuts. But what on earth does that mean? The party of people? Animals aren’t allowed to vote? I doubt that’s what she was talking about, but she never did clarify. Or Republicans saying “I stand for traditional values!” and people say later “He is anti-gay marriage, I’m voting for him.” But of course, the politician never said whose traditional values he’s backing, or how he will make sure they are protected.

Donald Trump making his racist , disgusting, and desperate comments in the last few weeks is a prime example of rhetoric gone wild as politicians, (yes, Donald is one, whatever he may say) screaming nonsense hoping someone will like it enough to vote for him. Nobody likes illegal immigrants coming here and killing American citizens, so Trump is lying when he says some people do want it.

And Donald Trump doesn’t really believe that Jeb Bush’s wife is an illegal immigrant, like he has said. But those out there who are Trump supporters love it. And the sorry excuses for human beings in this country who are racists like it too. So the Donald screams nonsense to bait them to his side.

When choosing a candidate in the coming months, be certain you watch out for those on both sides of the aisle who will say things without meaning or talk about fixes they can’t deliver, in hopes of getting your vote.

Politicians who throw red meat (pandering to the far wing of their party with high flown rhetoric) aren’t dumb, they are really smart, like Bernie Sanders, a Socialist, who knows he can’t possibly deliver on his promises of free college for all, but says he can hoping for votes. But when someone throws red meat to you so you’ll bark and go crazy, they aren’t worthy of your vote anymore. They just treated you like a dog.

Andrew C. Abbott