Trojan Horse Play

After losing the primary election in Wisconsin Donald Trump decided to rise above the fray and demonstrate his presidential and statesmanlike side. After accusing Cruz, the governor of Wisconsin and the Republican establishment of having stolen the election from him, Trump, through his campaign, offered up an analogy:

Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet — he is a trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump.

One might question the political wisdom of a Republican candidate who trashes a Republican governor who has an 80% approval rating among members of his own party. And one might question the candidate’s using liberal talking points to attack said governor, but, when you are Trump, you do not reason why. You let fly.

More importantly, from my perspective is this: comparing a Republican to the Trojan horse is not a new idea. In fact, you read it here, on this blog, first. Some of you, I take it, would rather not have, but still, fair is fair… the analogy was mine. The only difference is: I labeled the Donald himself as the Trojan horse. 

The other difference between my analogy and the Trump campaign’s was that mine made a lot more sense. But, that should not surprise anyone.

To be clear, I am not accusing the Trump campaign of having read this blog. I am certainly not accusing it of having lifted my idea. It did not. For those who prefer the light of reason to embittered nastiness, here again is my Trojan horse analogy, from a post two weeks ago:

The Democratic Party has had a very bad time of it during the Obama presidency.

But, if you cannot beat the Republicans head to head, how can you beat them? You might resurrect a tactic invented by one Odysseus during the Trojan War. You might not remember the Trojan War, but it had been fought to a stalemate until the cunning Odysseus decided to construct a giant horse and to offer it to the city of Troy as a peace offering. The Trojans accepted the gift and lugged the large horse into their city. Once they had gone to sleep the horse was opened up and out popped Odysseus and a band of soldiers… who slaughtered the sleeping Trojans and put an end to the war. The Trojan horse was a poisoned gift.

One does not believe that Obama employed the same level of cunning, but he has sufficiently addled the brains of enough people for something similar to have happened. What could be better for the Democrats than to send a New York Democrat into the heart of Republican country… as a gift. And why not have him capture the hearts and minds of some Republicans while alienating enough others to fracture the party. It would be the crowning glory of the Obama years, a Republican Party marching to ignominious defeat behind a short-fingered vulgarian with markedly Democratic leanings.

I am not suggesting that this was planned out. Not at all. I am suggesting that when you replace reason with emotion, you end up playing a role in someone else’s fiction. And you do not even know it. The Democrats are watching the Republican implosion. They can barely contain their glee.

I rest my case.