Pittsburgh_Patrika_October_2016

The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol, 22, No. 1 , October 2016
The Quarterly Magazine (Jan, Apr, Jul, and Oct) for the Indian Diaspora
Vol. 22 No. 1 www.pittsburghpatrika.com October 2016
Phone/Fax: (724) 327 0953 e-mail: ThePatrika@aol.com
Trump vs. Clinton in the Race to the White House
This November, millions of voters in the US will ponder which box
to check — whether to go with Hillary Clinton, or with Donald Trump,
or to simply leave both boxes blank. Sigh! Several expressions describe
my dilemma — between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, or a rock and a
hard place; and Morton’s Fork, all describing situations people face in life
with Itwo or more equally bad options. My horizon is already on 2020.
t is unbelievable that the Republican Party, out of the seventeen candidates
seeking the nomination — some of them astute pols rooted in
the GOP system — ended up electing a neophyte in US electoral politics,
Donald Trump. One would think that someone like Trump, a billionaire
real estate mogul and casino owner with dicey political and legal business
dealings and decisions, would prefer to stay away from the glare of public
scrutiny to which presidential candidates get exposed to.
Trump does not have the backing of the GOP heavy weights and elected
officials in Congress and the states, not to speak of rich donors, think tank
types, and conservative columnists. Many have publicly walked away from
him. Only Right-wing talk show hosts on radio and cable TV are rooting
for him. Trump’s foolhardy courage is remarkable.
The lack of courage among potential Democratic candidates was pitiful.
Fearing the Clinton Machine, nobody had the spine to throw their
hat in the ring! If Hillary Clinton wins the election in November, as is
predicted by analysts, pundits and bookmakers, she will thank Republicans
for giving her Donald Trump as her opponent. With much passion
against her among Republicans and many Independents, and many
Democrats
I
lukewarm towards her, Hillary was vulnerable otherwise.
n spite of all the negatives, the billionaire Trump’s bravado on a
host of domestic, immigration, foreign policy, and defense issues, as
outlandish as they are, resonate well with the working class, mostly white
and less educated Americans. It is not hard to understand this.
In the US, only 33% of whites have a bachelor’s degree or better; 90%
have a high school diploma or its equivalent. (The stats are worse for
blacks and Hispanics). They worked grueling hours in assembly lines, steel
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