Well, Iowa is over and Donald Trump emerged victorious. That is, if what he was aiming for was second place. He lost to bag of garbage Ted Cruz, so you know Trump must be livid. I suspect he's anger-brushing his hair until his scalp hurts.
I predict that if Trump doesn't win New Hampshire, he'll quit the race like a baby wearing a wig. And he'll find some way to blame Megyn Kelly.
Ted Cruz is a terrible candidate. So is Trump. A friend of mine asked me who I thought was more terrifying, Cruz or Trump. I responded that I didn't think comparing the GOP's candidates based on how terrifying they were made any sense since each individual person is a horror show in his or her own way. Not only that, but I think the very act of claiming that one terrible candidate is worse than another terrible candidate implies that there's a level of acceptable terribleness. This mindset can make voters lazy and apathetic.
Case in point: Michigan's Gov. Rick Snyder, the man who poisoned an entire city. Back in the 2010 Republicans Primary there were a lot of terrible choices. More than one Democrat said to me, "Well, Snyder isn't as bad as some of the others." Voter turn out sucked. And look where we are now.
When it comes to LGBT issues, Trump is far more tolerant than his rivals. But that doesn't mean he's fully supportive of LGBT rights. Nor does his half-hearted support redeem him as a person. He's still terrible.
A big sticking point is his opposition to marriage equality. Trump calls himself a "traditionalist" on the issue of marriage, even though he has been married three times.
In 2011 in the New York Times, Trump expressed his distaste for marriage equality using a bizarre golf analogy. "A lot of people — I don't want this to sound trivial — but a lot of people are switching to these really long putters, very unattractive," he said. "It's weird. You see these great players with these really long putters, because they can't sink three-footers anymore. And, I hate it. I am a traditionalist. I have so many fabulous friends who happen to be gay, but I am a traditionalist."
Okay, so on the issue of long putters and marriage equality: they're unattractive, weird and he hates them. All because he's a traditionalist. Got it.
On Jan. 31, in an interview with Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday," Trump said that he would like to see a reversal of marriage equality in the U.S.
"If I'm elected, I would be very strong in putting certain judges on the bench that I think maybe could change things, but they got a long way to go," Trump said. "I mean, at some point we have to get back down to business. But there's no question about it, and most people feel this way. They have ruled on it. I wish that was done by the states. I don't like the way they ruled. I disagree with the Supreme Court from the standpoint it should be a states' rights issue, and that's the way it should have been ruled on, Chris, not the way they did it. This was a very surprising ruling. And I can see changes coming down the line, frankly."
And just in case Trump's point was lost in his rambling answer, Wallace asked, "Sir, are you saying that if you become president that you might try to appoint justices to overrule the decision on same-sex marriage?"
"I would strongly consider that, yes," Trump replied.
Granted, this is what all the GOP candidates would try to do. If any of them get elected president and get to appoint Supreme Court justices, it would be a disaster. LGBT rights, women's reproductive rights, voting rights. All down the drain.
So while some think Trump is the lesser of many evils, the truth is he's just as evil as the rest.
