David Madore and Donald Trump have a lot in common.
Dear Nation:
Look, I get it.
We’re essentially a mess. Our country once was run by real public servants. Everyone from the mayor to the president would put in a few years, do their public duty and head back to the farm to milk cows.
No more.
Today, we’ve got career politicians, many with big paychecks and huge pensions. They will tell us that’s the way it has to be today. It’s too complicated to not have longtimers running the country. You need to know the ropes.
Unfortunately, these career politicians have put us on the ropes. We’re always in a war, our roads are crumbling, parents have to feed their children through free school lunch programs and no one can even comprehend how large our debt is.
And it’s getting worse! For decades, Democrats figured we could tax our way out of the problem. And Republicans figured we could tax-cut our way out of the problem.
How has that worked out for us so far?
Yep, I get it.
So now we have an alternative. You know, right?
• Get a rich guy.
• Get someone with no political experience.
• Make sure he’s a successful businessman so he can apply some of those business techniques to government.
• He’ll need to say he loves the little people. That he’ll go to bat for them.
• Above all, he needs to shake things up!!!
Welcome to Donald Trump.
We can tell the future
But wait! This isn’t just another rehash of why Trump is doing so well in his bid to become president.
This, dear nation, is an opportunity for Press Talk to look into the future. Now, it’s at this point, you might be asking, how can I manage to do such a thing?
Well, notwithstanding my moniker, “The Predictor,” I’m able to peek into the Twilight Zone because we have our very own mini-Trump right here in River City. And his name is Madore. As in County Councilor David Madore. Madore has these similar qualities: He’s a rich guy … check. He had no political experience … check. He’s a successful businessman … check. He says he loves the little people … check. And when he ran, he told us he would shake things up … double check! Now — after witnessing three years of Madore World — I’m pretty ready to use a word to describe how it’s working.
Nightmare.
Nation, it ended up being so bad here, we actually changed our form of government to weaken Madore. Think about that for a second. We changed our county government!
Like Trump, Madore said a lot of stupid stuff that just can’t happen. That border wall Trump says he’ll make Mexico pay for? Heck, that’s chump change compared with Madore’s claim that he’d build a toll-free east county bridge in five years over the mighty Columbia River. That was two years ago, and not one shovel of dirt has been moved.
The list of stupid stuff from Madore goes on and on, but no need to rehash it all here.
Nation, I, too, thought the government could use a little shaking up back when Madore was running for local office. But time has proved me wrong.
So, nation, I have seen what the future looks like with a guy like Trump running the show. And it isn’t pretty.
Now, that’s not to say that our career political types are the answer. We can and should do much better. I mean — trust me — Hillary Clinton is no walk in the park.
But we do have to be careful — very careful — with these Trump/Madore characters.
Sometimes we’re better off dealing with career politicians — the devil we know — than the devil we don’t know.
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