Current Trends by Natasha Sapp

The people virtually applying for the job leader of the free world and the 2016 election cycle, not yet even out of primary season, has been the definition of unorthodox, weird, crazy, more drama filled than an episode of Jerry Springer or the Maury Show; prolific commentator readers know me to be, I stopped covering the debates and election news after Iowa because there were only so many ways to say this is bizarre, this is insane, this is wrong in terms of how immature, unsophisticated, lacking gravitas the procedures and candidates are, yet they still keep getting votes. Debate, after debate, after debate and candidates answers especially Trump’s and Cruz’s, kept getting more and more outlandish, farfetched, fantasy laden but people kept casting their— I want that— vote. Writers quickly ran out of adjectives, thesaurus equivalents to describe what was going on, an election cycle that was going down in all the wrong kinds of history. Enter the Trump dementia theory attempting to explain the easily unexplainable, jaw dropping behavior, endless conspiracy theories—the latest one hot off the presses stating Ted Cruz’s father is the man standing next to Lee Harvey Oswald days, weeks before he shot JFK in an unsourced photo— blatantly false, ill-informed statements that characterize Trump speeches, Trump rallies, Trump’s debate answers. Yes this has been the speculation for some time that Donald Trump isn’t just a spewing blowhard, isn’t just an undisciplined mind on stream of consciousness, what you get from a billionaire surrounded by money and yes men most of his life; he actually has a medical or psychological problem, observations from everyone clinical psychologists to members of the public who’ve had relatives suffering mental decline. Or perhaps he is devolving into another Howard Hughes-esque eccentric, replace OCD with narcissistic personality disorder and it seems to fit as much as anything else does; narcissistic personality disorder is another popular amateur, non-amateur remote diagnosis repeatedly applied to Trump with varying degrees of serious argument. All the more reason he shouldn’t be president; at least president Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s 5 years after leaving office and there is no definitive evidence early signs of the disease were at work during his presidency. Supporters of the Trump mental problems theory, be they medical or purely psychological, highlight something else important too, much hay has been made about Hilary Clinton’s health at 68, reported past health problems becoming quick punchlines at one of the many republican lead Benghazi hearings, allegations she may not be operating with all her faculties; analysts noting the frailty of Bernie Sanders at a whopping 74 and truthfully looking every day of it and can he withstand the rigors of a campaign schedule, 3a.m. crisis wakeup calls as president. Yet nothing about Donald Trump at 69, age sandwiched in between the top front runners for each party early on; but is it time to concede Trump’s bombastic showmanship, vibrance and exuberance to spare may be hiding something deeper? Ted Cruz honestly isn’t much better than Trump clearly in possession of the faculties he chooses to use; stubbornly turning select ones off when he talked about carpet bombing the middle east to rid the world of ISIS no thought to the innocents living there, when he talked about not knowing if sand could glow in the dark but being willing to find out again in efforts to defeat ISIS. Still emitting a creepy factor highlighted on numerous occasions during his presidential run by pundits and ordinary people alike, quoting The Princess Bride, an awkward kiss with his daughters, letting his would be VP choice Carly Fiorina fall off stage without missing a beat in shaking hands with supporters, ‘punching’ his wife in the face while hugging his father after the campaign suspension announcement, his informing an event audience about children in his house would receive a spanking responding to a pint sized heckler; obviously Cruz didn’t suspend his presidential campaign because his comment about spanking that young heckler raised a few eyebrows instead dropping out because of his abysmal showing in Indiana and no chance whatsoever at securing the nomination. But it did spark serious conversations, commentaries about the sad state of our democracy when the only thing he could think to do with a young person’s dislike, dissent was to say if he was your child you would spank him, launching into a muted storm tirade about respect and our youth dripping with irony considering the way he has spoken about his fellow political colleges, his fellow candidates and the president of the United States, once reading Green Eggs and Ham during a completely ineffective government shutdown over Obama care he  orchestrated to the chagrin of his party. American public more than happy to see him exit stage left from the presidential race; too bad his lingering ideas won’t so easily go with him.

http://www.salon.com/2016/04/25/maybe_donald_trump_has_really_lost_his_mind_what_if_the_gop_frontrunner_isnt_crazy_but_simply_not_well/

Instances pointing to the possibility of Trump’s waning mental status surpass unending self-aggrandizement, hyperbole and absolute fantasy policies on par with Mexico building a wall and stopping Chinese currency manipulation leveling inordinate taxes on their goods sold here, forcing U.S. produce on the Japanese or doing the same with the ‘boatloads of cars brought here for sale,’ calling immigrants rapists, murderers, drug dealers and maybe good people, the birther bunk he just won’t let go of, calling Hillary Clinton’s e-mail scandal and private server criminal post Tray Gowdy’s admission the latest Benghazi hearing was a witch hunt to derail her presidential bid, the fact the FBI has not concluded its inquiry also finding nothing criminal to date, failing to correct a rally questioner when he stated we have a problem in this country it’s called Muslims proceeding to call the president one. And a thousand other things besides; writers kept in business fact checking, debunking and scorching Trump statements, ideas, even historical references with little things like logic, tangible, provable fact. Going to something else entirely the odd diction, sentence structure Trump is known to use, the almost word salad comprising his speeches because he can’t reasonably stay on topic, insertions of by the way or other rejoinders to buy time to think about then formulate answers he should already have, less due to thoroughly researching a topic, forming an opinion based on political leanings, running it through the filter of you are running for president and more the ready answers someone with fully functioning cognition at any age would have. Having given the world a play by play of debates up until just after Iowa nevertheless I had forgotten the “we need brain” response spouted off as far back as August, Salon author perfectly holding it up alongside their 3rd grade son who easily picked up on him saying something potentially profound in a stupid way; me thinking of my best friend’s little boy (11) who would have scrunched his nose and asked his mother what did he say?  His inability to answer questions does genuinely appear to go beyond evasiveness in answering uncomfortable questions, deft to no so deft attempts at changing an undesired subject, unsuccessfully changing the topic to one he prefers, something ‘on message’ for whatever his goal was at X event, city rally straight to a failure to grasp, remember the question asked, assimilate the complexities associated with the issue at hand. Salon.com does a brilliant breakdown of exactly what this looks like; how do you confuse 7/11 and 9/11? We might excuse the how’s Joe Paterno comment in Pittsburg as him not being up on famous people, forget famous people who’ve passed away, not to mention having infinitely more important things to think about considering he is trying to secure the nomination for president of the United States. After all don’t they devote entire segments of TV shows to young people who don’t know these things exposing their ignorance as a segue to rants on education, the apathy of this generation exc.; except he did the same thing regarding the doctor who penned an unusual note proclaiming his ‘astonishingly excellent’ health thanking his doctors dead father for writing it. Maybe less unusual than first thought unless you understand the 2 doctors shared a medical practice until the elder’s death, and wouldn’t that be something you’d know being a patient of either? Scrutinizing the letter itself, aside from the flamboyant word choices and unprofessional terminology stating recent medical testing turned up only positive results, normally positive results indicating a problem, a medical malady, Salon author absolutely correct in asking who, what doctor flubs the line ‘to whom it may concern;’ painfully familiar with spell check, auto-correct we’ve seen firsthand the interesting predictions to come out of both grammar programs to the frustration of people who have a more expansive vocabulary than the computer (I had to add vibrance to my spell checking dictionary) better understand grammar. But assuming my was a prediction for may, a letter was added with a lead finger making it come up with my as a spell check alternative and the person, a lowly secretary paid $8.00 an hour, forgot to move down to the second or third choice; there is still a word missing “to whom my concern” is missing the it even if my is just a typo. Further this is a standard line in a letter macro or template frequently used more places than just a doctor’s office, so why did they have to type it at all; next, no one proof read the merely 1 page 3 paragraph document for errors. Including the candidate before it was released since it was about him, not a task you would typically farm out the an aide like the honoring veterans tweet actually containing Nazi soldiers; where it should have earned a scathing comment about the quality of workers, bad ones he had to fire because they put it out there or a crack about even his doctor can’t find good support help, nothing, instead the candidate repeatedly referring to it and his ‘excellent’ health prompting commentators to assert he probably wrote it himself. Meaning he flubbed the line, failed to proof read adding more evidence to the dementia accusation. Divesting Trump’s shocking statements regarding nuclear options and ISIS from hype, it is entirely possible in the Washington Post Editorial Board interview the Meet the Press interview where he talked about a need for unpredictability and not taking anything off the table he was using it as a scare tactic, floating the idea of maybe for effect and exclusively addressing ISIS in the middle east; frankly the Salon.com author really used the wrong quote example to expose The Donald on this one. His much scarier comment was when asked by Chris Mathews of MSNBC’s Hardball where he could conceive of using a nuclear weapon, anything we possess today several times, several hundred times Hiroshima, on ISIS in Europe, the home grown radicalized citizens planning things there and he refused to rule it out, he refused clarify himself about where he intended to use a nuclear weapon even as a last resort. Here is what scares the crap out of world leaders, is continually making them increasingly nervous, putting all eyes on America and wondering how this man who unmistakably has some problem managed to be in serious contention to lead a country, praying it doesn’t put him at the helm of the most successful democracy in history, the most stable country on the globe. That delusional senile dementia so much as is in the realm of public thinking related to Trump is another giant red flag, worse the Daily Kos’ rational behind using the aforementioned type of dementia to describe, we can’t reiterate this enough, the front running republican presidential candidate; it’s more than just interesting to see them put Trumps statements, many cataloged here, through the lens of impaired judgement associated with mental decline, more than just intriguing to hear how many episodes of ‘faulty memory’ he’s had and it could indeed point to more than a politician being a politician, paying little attention to his words and spouting off whatever will make crowds cheer the loudest wherever he happens to be but that he probably can’t remember what he said less because of world wind campaign schedules and more due to brain disease. Daily Kos telling every bit the truth when they stated Trump’s childish behavior requires the least elaboration doing it anyway, to a different purpose than calling out a spoiled billionaire, rather indicating mental degradation with the following quote: “Trump is the most juvenile presidential candidate in this nation’s history. He lashes out with infantile insults about people’s looks and character. If he is criticized he will punch back with baseless, often unrelated, rebuttals….Trump has the ego of four year old who believes the world revolves around him. The parts of his campaign stump speeches that aren’t attacks on his rivals are comprised primarily of bragging about how great he is at everything and how high his poll numbers are. The rest of his rhetoric, when put through the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, scored at the third grade level. Of course, that’s probably still somewhat higher than most of his Tea-vangelical supporters.” Writer’s plain political views notwithstanding, if they are onto something and Trump really is this kind of unwell where does the country go from here, should he be elected what happens, really happens when he can no longer discharge the duties of his office? On a broader scale, is this what’s ailing the whole of the Republican Party varying degrees of senility, already seen in aging federal court judges going as far back as 2011?  It certainly would explain a lot whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing remains open to interpretation.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/12/14/the-donald-s-trumped-up-medical-report.html

http://www.bustle.com/articles/129774-the-letter-from-donald-trumps-doctor-sounds-well-exactly-like-donald-trump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjNbuGDS2PU

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/2/17/1486899/-Is-Donald-Trump-Suffering-From-Delusional-Senile-Dementia

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2011/01/the_oldest_bench_ever.html

Trump as a case of possible narcissistic personality disorder is much easier to spot just take any of his comments on nearly any broached issue in the election; USA Today pulled this from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders under Narcissistic Personality Disorder. “They include a grandiose sense of self-importance, a preoccupation with unlimited fantasies of success, power, and brilliance; a belief that one is special; a consistent requirement for excessive admiration; a sense of entitlement; the taking advantage of others for one’s own gain; a lack of empathy for others, and a hyper-sensitivity to criticism.” Their next line, sound familiar; whether it’s his feud with Megyn Kelly, the blood coming out of her wherever comment, the lawyer who described his explosive response when she insisted on a prearranged lunch break to pump breast milk, giving people the impression he was referencing the female menstrual cycle in example one and answering the lawyers allegations by calling her a disgusting person in example two, hyper-sensitivity to criticism a definite yes. Referring to fellow candidate Marco Rubio as ‘little Marco,’ parlaying comments on the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal and close aide Huma Abedin into inappropriate sexual comments about her husband Anthony Weiner, his publicly ridiculed sexual exploits aside. How many times did he complain the debates were unfair, he was given hardball questions others were not, threaten to leave the republican party if not treated fairly, walking away from a debate because his demands weren’t met, look at his feud with Fox News as a whole, complained at least one primary was unfair, going so far as to try and file a lawsuit over Louisiana delegates?  While at the same time touting himself left, right and center, calling himself the greatest jobs president god ever created if elected, talking about how wonderfully Trump organizations are at building things, i.e. the wall he will have Mexico pay for, nearly channeling an unstable at the time Charlie Sheen who kept repeating winning as if he wanted to coin the phrase, telling rally audiences if he becomes president we the American people may get bored with winning, telling reporters if he doesn’t win the presidency he will have wasted his time. Millennials aren’t the only ones who think they’re special but Donald Trump takes it to a new level, we’ve lost count of how many times he’s called a known political figure stupid, viewing trade diplomacy as a win or die competition thus referring to our diplomats as weak pathetic babies; grandiose sense of self-importance, a preoccupation with unlimited fantasies of success, power, and brilliance, check. Bragging at one event he could stand in the middle of a busy New York street shoot someone and not lose votes, no real laughing matter when he also lets people know he has a permit to carry a gun, a concealed weapon; notably downplaying violence inspired by his words responding to two drunk brothers in Boston who beat up and urinated on a homeless Latino person who happened to be a veteran by saying his people were passionate individuals who wanted to see America great again, a consistent requirement for excessive admiration, believing he already has it, bingo! Violence at Trump rallies virtually unanswered by the candidate; lack of empathy being one of the key traits exhibited by narcissistic personality disorder patients and that, like everything else having much larger implications when speaking from the office of the president, a contender for the office of the president. Separating how his ideas to ban Muslims, deport illegal immigrants including young children brought here not of their own volition, children born to the undocumented, older dreamers who only remember America plays among the American public, among Arab American, Latino American, Hispanic American communities, not all of whom are immigrants, not all of whom would be deported as children of illegals from the realities of actually implementing either plan you immediately run into vast, far reaching problems; namely the gaping holes in an already struggling American economy and the retaliation from radical groups like ISIS who obtain one more reason to hate us, target us, the potential for there to be a Mexican, Latino group formed for the same goals— avenging themselves of an America that once said bring me your tired, your poor, your weary, once represented opportunity, hope closing its, already deemed incredibly selfish, doors based on an unfounded stereotype from someone who quite possibly isn’t all there mentally. Underscoring he joins the ranks of some famously dangerous narcissists Muammar Gaddafi, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Saddam Hussein, not just entertaining household name ones, Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando, Kanye West, and even Alec Baldwin; what the Raw Story author forgets in the comparison between “good” and “bad” acknowledged narcissists is the latter set of famous names wasn’t running for the leading position in one of the most strategically important countries on the planet. Because despite constant talk of decline, where America is not compared to where it was, America still leads and where America goes the rest of the world follows. That we’re asking the question is a much bigger problem, that a candidate is so obviously something on the medical or mental health spectrum and layman can see it, forced to ask it in real time, as opposed to a different historical perspective; I and others before me have explored what could happen if he speaks about a foreign leader, dignitaries wife the way he routinely talks about American women, calling them all sorts of names, he is a guy who when asked about the care, proliferation of nuclear weapons talked about having his finger on the button. More than sidestepping the question was who talks like that in the modern era, the button he mentioned being the one that would launch a nuclear weapon on behalf of the United States to largely unsuspecting people somewhere rendering miles and miles of earth uninhabitable for millions of years, killing untold millions if not billions of people and harming our ecosystem to where the rest of us might not survive for want of food, water, materials to make clothes, proper shelter. Remember we’re not just talking about quite seriously electing someone with a mental illness suffering from anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, our president joining the millions of Americans who succeed despite their mental health diagnosis to go on leading productive, functional, fulfilling lives, putting a positive, aware face on what you can accomplish with mental health and medical science, who takes their medication, sees their doctor, mental health professional regularly and takes care of themselves, makes healthy lifestyle choices based on caring for their mental health condition. We are talking about it in the context of  a person running for, garnering votes for the highest office in the land whose behavior strongly suggests they are medically, mentally unhealthy and receiving no needed treatment. Charlie Sheen, whatever his problems, eventually stopped saying phrases like winning and tiger blood as if he intended to copyright them, stopped doing chain smoking, talk about true stream of consciousness rants posted on YouTube, left one show to star in another shortly after and made headlines a few short years later for his candid health admission in an effort to effect change. Donald Trump can’t so much as begin to reign in his twitter account and shows no signs of stopping the bombastic showmanship prompting the sitting president to scold everyone the election cycle is not a reality TV show.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/03/23/donald-trump-elections-2016-diagnosis-narcissism-personality-disorder-column/82128174/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWJyTtjNrU0

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/a-neuroscientist-explains-trump-has-a-mental-disorder-that-makes-him-a-dangerous-world-leader/

Switching ideological fallacy gears, as detailed in the introduction Ted Cruz was no stranger to awkward moments before the final gaffe that solidly was the last dying breath of his presidential bid; in all fairness to the candidate, he didn’t say anything people before him haven’t said and in a variety of formats, people after him won’t continue to say likely unto the end of mankind sadly. Citing countless statistics, situations and scenarios where they believe spanking a child completely appropriate, believe it made them better persons when they were growing up or is a proportional response to the unruly behavior of young people today; exactly the kind of unruly surpassing anything we once did exhibited by a bash kid yelling you suck for, in adults minds, no other reason than to do it. But again context matters, until he announced his withdrawal from the race he was vying for the job leader of the free world; never mind can you imagine the reaction had president Obama said the same thing circa 2008, at a presidential event, throughout his presidency every time republicans decided to criticize him up one side and down the other suggesting they be spanked, suggesting things would be better for the country if his (Cruz’s) parents had spanked him, exactly what Cruz implied about Trump, how scandalous it would have been/would be if he had recounted spanking Sasha and Malia as young children, announced he had spanked them for outlandish behavior on par with what the Bush twins made headlines for?  Sure you’d be greeted with no shortage of finally a black man who knows how to raise his kids lines playing ‘the race card’ more than the media ever could, others practically jumping up and down a leader of the free world, where it’s youngest members/citizens have hopelessly abused that freedom, knows how to take things in hand messages left on Facebook, Twitter exc. Most though wouldn’t hesitate to call it out as a horrible example of A- not keeping your private business private and an equally terrible example of solving all your problems with violence, condoning abuse, putting a rubber stamp complete with the seal of the president on precursors to things known to put children in the hospital, known to have caused the death of more than one unfortunate toddler when a ‘spanking,’ normal parental ‘discipline’ went too far. Context that tells us we know better now than we did back in the day and we should act accordingly; context by now cemented in as much concrete, granite as Moses’ stone tablets repeated in study after study, the absolute latest comprehensive review of studies going back 50 years solidifying spanking is bad for kids increases acting out, increases aggression, causes children to have trouble distinguishing right from wrong later in life and mirrors the effect of physical abuse only to a slightly lesser degree. However, they looked exclusively at open hand spanking not ones done with paddles, belts, other objects; useful to know since Mr. Cruz’s state, Texas, permits spanking with belts, shoes, hairbrushes providing marks are not left on the child and you don’t spank in anger, like anyone can truly gage that. A spanking stance the senator holds to despite publicized stories like that of Adrian Peterson’s 4 year old and the graphic pictures that accompanied his indictment, the Facebook posted ‘spanking,’ 60 lashes with a belt, of Demicio Powel for unfounded allegations he tried to join a gang carried out by adults not related to him and who had little idea what was going on with him, countless videos of adults committing, straight out of the penial code, physical assaults on students in school over things that could have been, should have been delineated through conflict resolution, negotiation tactics, adjudicated through standard school punishments detention, suspension, not body slamming of students by school resource officers over cellphones and handcuffing elementary grade children rather than calling their parents over temper tantrums. An additional Salon author’s piece exquisitely laying out why Ted Cruz’s remarks regarding the minor incident (take it as a pun or don’t) emphasize everything wrong with the conservative platform, the conservative mentality; exceeding “It was one of those moments when the cowardice of the conservative movement was laid bare. Unable to defend conservative views, even to a small child, the crowd hooted and hollered for the use of brute force. While Cruz used the word “respect”, what he was not asking for was respect. This was all about extracting unearned deference with the threat of violence. Does anything better illustrate the toxicity of conservative ideology better than the enthusiasm for beating children? Research has shown time and time again that child-beating, even if you employ the euphemism “spanking” to justify it, does not actually achieve better behavior in children.” Is how right she is a hand full of paragraphs later illustrating this: “…That’s because spanking has a symbolic value to the right, one that is far too precious to give way to mundane concerns about efficacy and human decency. Spanking appeals because it is about asserting authority. The spanker is in charge not because they are in the right or because they have earned that authority, but because they are bigger and might makes right. It doesn’t even matter that spanking doesn’t work. The assertion of authoritarian power is all that matters. The moment at the Cruz campaign really crystallized this. The reason given for why the child should be quiet while Cruz is speaking isn’t because of basic good manners or respect for democratic systems. No, the reason is that Cruz is an adult and the protester is a child, and therefore the child owes deference. The adult can be a screaming moron who is spewing nonsense, but the child is expected to just sit there and take it, not because of any legitimate reason, but under the threat of violence.” Legions of children hit under the guise of discipline, some even sexually assaulted, killed under our continued spanking ruse less because their horrible behavior demanded it for the better of them, society and rather because their parent is stressed about work, their romantic relationship, life, didn’t know what else to do to quell ‘bad’ behavior so hit/spanked them; adults who will spank a child for perceived back talk simply because they said they didn’t do what the parent, sibling accused them of, balked at being punished, being spanked because the parent didn’t believe their side of the story or and here’s the Salon author’s other big one, fed up with unfairness, BS, inaccuracies in known factual material shoved at them, told the truth to power. Only to find out later, via sibling comment, additional adult observer, more information, reflection on what the child actually said/meant versus what you thought they said in the heat of the moment, genuinely having misheard the bad word you believed them to have uttered, in the middle cases, the kid was right; you spanked a child who didn’t deserve it. But because parents with the Cruz approach won’t humble, lower themselves to apologize, believing it gives away their authority to admit they indeed made a mistake; lasting result resentment and rebellion against authority, not respect and adherence to it. Think about it these are the people who were spanked, Ted Cruz certainly and Donald Trump a significant probability, and this is their behavior, Salon.com delving into their mentality might makes right and age equals authority regardless of the correctness of your information, argument, morality of your own actions. Surely not what we want either as a president or making decisions in our government, apt to keep laws allowing spanking, lowering the bar for child abuse versus child discipline, stirring up the masses to keep something arcane and ineffective on the books.

http://www.salon.com/2016/05/03/cruzs_spanking_fetish_ted_cruzs_authoritarian_streak_comes_out_when_he_urges_spanking_a_child_to_silence_dissent/

http://www.salon.com/2016/04/30/we_must_shame_dumb_trump_fans_the_white_working_class_are_not_victims/

The same ‘creepy’ Ted Cruz who forcefully demanded a kiss from one of his young daughters in front of cameras making watchers wonder what exactly goes on behind closed doors coupled with him placing his daughters in that campaign ad reading politically parodied Christmas stories raises serious questions about his parenting skills especially as a potential commander in chief, his continued career in politics, being a public figure. Combined with his comments on spanking it leads to in depth questions about what he is unintentionally teaching his daughter, by default the rest of America, via how he applies typical old school, conservative methods; domestic violence comes to mind in the hyper emphasis on authority, obey an adult or else, violating her personal space when, in that moment at least, she didn’t want to be touched, held, hugged or kissed and he aggressively pushes her to anyway. Too much obedience can make children easy prey for predators, people who would abuse them; can and does, particularly with women, make them people pleasing doormats. Cruz the posterchild for irony he’ll opposed rights of transgender people to use the bathroom matching the identity between their ears not necessarily between their legs on the premise no grown man belongs in the bathroom with a little girl (independent a transwoman doesn’t feel any more like a grown man in the bathroom with a little girl than he feels like a middle aged woman in the bathroom with a little boy), completely unaware of the negatives he’s teaching his daughters just by being him. Returning to the subject at hand, the heckler, it’s also worth being fundamentally clear about something else, finding the kid yelling you suck as inappropriate as we do, 1-freedom of speech doesn’t only begin the moment you come of age; barring standard safety examples and specific settings freedom of speech belongs to everyone capable of communicating in several forms. 2- Contrary to the phraseology Cruz used to frame his statement this wasn’t his house, some intimate family gathering with relatives the child should inherently respect, possess no reason other than orneriness to disrespect; neither was it some formal event demanding heightened amounts of decorum, a house of worship, a courtroom, a wedding, attendees weren’t at the Whitehouse, yet. It was a political rally, open to the public, prone to the potential for vocal outbursts positive or negative, where the onus was on Mr. Cruz to behave with class and dignity befitting the office he desired to hold; considering things that have happened at other rallies across the country for his opponents, a singular person, and a pre-teen child at that, yelling something that didn’t even include profanity seems pretty benign. Still instead of putting it in reasonable perspective with a joke, a nod to the young man’s youth, appreciation for his interest in the political process or a sarcastic quip posing a serious question in a more receptive manner about what was the child roughly 12 doing at a Ted Cruz rally, was he dragged their by his parents as punishment, say flunking a history test, because his parents are neo-hippie activists, extreme conservatives excitedly showing off their idol, was he looking for the gamer convention across town?  He turned it into a mini-lecture/commentary on youth, parenting today, respect today, an endorsement of authoritarian, thuggish brutality hanging out in all its glory and in a way that once again made people outside the cheering audience members feel uneasy about him, not simply spanking.  3-You suck is the thing most easily picked up of what the young man said, there are other indistinguishable things heard as one guesses security approached him, making the decision to escort him out; he could have had an articulate argument, legitimately thoughtful complaint we plainly didn’t hear perhaps the former presidential candidate didn’t either. Had he been thinking about either his political career, over what the Salon author called in her comment piece right wing political theater, or even engagement with the young person, to encourage a future voter, he would have told security to stop, informed everyone this is not a Trump rally disagreement, dissent will not be met with violent bullying. And sought out him, his friends, his parents, whoever brought him for a substantial conversation after the rally ascertain his problem, advise him on how to better express his views to be received by adults. But that’s not really what he wanted too busy being offended someone said something impolite to him at a political rally no less; young people remaining the ones with a sense of entitlement. Take too the tone he used with the adult Trump supporters he encountered in Indiana and the child at that event; he uses some of the same words but the condescension is obvious talking down to a kid simply because he was a kid, respect hounds wondering why they so often respond in kind.  They respond that way when we continually marginalize, ignore and belittle their observations, ideas, their hopes, dreams, the very essence of who they are because they are kids, because they are young, continually subject them to arbitrary rules only they have to follow, inundate them with outdated ‘facts,’ life truisms. To the people who agree, think Ted Cruz is onto something, want us to go back to ‘the way we used to be’ note the kid was walked out and remained non-violent, calm, calmer than the rioters at Trump rallies; Mr. Cruz was ‘disrespected’ and guess what he didn’t melt, he didn’t die, neither will you in the same situation. For those who want consequences to teach the kid not to do that, there were consequences he was escorted out; even if he hadn’t been he would have had the lecture Cruz gave or audience member reaction one to make him think twice next time. Sense of entitlement goes both ways, the people screaming ‘no nay would I let a little kid talk to me that way’ ask yourself these questions; who is the kid to you, who are you to that kid? The answer: no one, so why do you care so much, some kid wants to act like an idiot, mouth off, say stupid things, why are you so interested, invested in that?   Except they violated your sense of entitlement to be seen as god’s gift to, insert topic, issue, idea, activity here, because you are an adult; but the kids are the problem, not in the least. “This kid who yelled, “You suck!” at Cruz is in the right. Cruz does suck. In the face of this frankly inarguable point, Cruz doesn’t even really try to defend himself. Instead, he pulls rank, demanding that the child pretend that Cruz doesn’t suck. And not because Cruz has earned this deference but because, as an adult, he feels entitled to it. The rapturous applause he got suggests that this is exactly the message conservative audiences want: That they deserve to win not because they have better arguments, but because they feel entitled to be in charge. And anyone who disagrees should simply get a spanking.” Begging the question what the heck is wrong with the American electorate, it is one thing to ponder the plausible fact Donald Trump even aging members of the Republican Party are in the throes of mental decline on a varying scale; it’s another thing entirely to see the throngs of followers trailing behind them, voting for them, spreading their visually twisted ideologies for them. It’s one thing for Ted Cruz to advocate spanking children under the scientifically proven misguided thought pattern it makes better disciplined, harder workers, more moral people, be extremely candid and let people know he uses spanking in his house; the booming crowd cheering him on in spite of his other, observers weren’t wrong, creepy moments are another phenomenon altogether. Proving America’s mental status, America’s emotional, logical wellbeing is in trouble not just the politicians, the elites, the ‘average Joe’s’ too.

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