Recently I attended and participated in my sister Lisa’s Memorial Service in Illinois. Lisa passed away this past February about a month before what would have been her 59th birthday. She spent the last 22 years of her life in Paris, France. I was unable to attend her funeral in Paris and this Memorial Service gave me and many others a chance to remember and celebrate her life on this side of the pond.
One of the guests at the lunch/reception following the service pulled me aside and in hushed tones wanted to know what I thought the appeal of Donald Trump was and is he liked in Kansas. Here’s a synopsis of what I said:
–Trump has tapped into the anger a lot of people, especially conservative Republicans, who have won many elections recently without yielding the results expected and desired from the newly elected. Maybe Donald Trump is the guy who can make the preferred change happen.
–There are things he says that you absolutely cannot defend, but supporters of Trump are willing to either accept or ignore those things because of the perceived upside they see in Trump.
–Finally, there is a candidate who is willing to go after Hillary Clinton (and by extension her husband) in a way that nobody has heretofore been willing to do despite the fact that this has been hoped for and expected for many, many years.
–Is it playing in Kansas? I told him about an unscientific poll we took on ksal.com when Bernie was still in the race that asked the question “If the election were held today, who would you vote for President?” Trump: 55%, None of the above: 22%, Sanders: 12%, Clinton: 11%. So, yeah, I think the Trump thing is resonating here.
How would you have answered if you had been asked the same question?
