THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/18/15 FULL BROADCAST HIGH QUALITY (720P)

President Jimmy Carter: The United States is an Oligarchy...

I think President Carter has hit the nail on the head this time. It's not what people like to hear, but sometimes the truth goes down hard.

Donald Trump is going to make 2016 memorable

Commentary

By REV JIM PURCELL

Donald Trump running for President of the United States is going to make the 2016 Presidential Campaign can't-miss-television.

Politics has been theater since the first caveman decided he was going to run the show. But, mankind has made it more and more entertaining until now -- when the shark has been jumped with "The Donald" running for the Oval office.  In most cases, it's been the same old thing on America's biggest stage -- Republicans and Democrats going at it with lefts and rights.

In 1992, there was some commotion when H. Ross Perot ran as an independent candidate for President and placed himself right in-between incumbent President George H.W. Bush and upstart Arkansas Governor William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton. As an aside, a lot of people don't know Clinton was actually born with the last name of "Blythe."

Anyway, I didn't have any white-knuckled terror about any one of those three men being elected. They were all sane, well-educated and had impressive records of leadership. It just so happened Clinton won and the rest, as they say, is history.

Now, turning our attention to this coming race: Yes, this horse race has me terrified all the way down to my dress socks. America is ambling out of two catastrophic wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which were fought for questionable reasons, at best. Our country is being torn apart by politics, some Liberals (like me) believe Conservatives these days are bordering upon sheer insanity and the back-and-forth going on with them and basic issues like Social Security, healthcare, military action, Medicare and worker's rights. Conservatives are terrifyingly aggressive about nonsense.

Enter Donald Trump.

I would easier trust the country with the Crips or the Bloods than with anyone in the GOP line-up these days, especially Donald Trump. Frankly, I am not the greatest fan of Hillary Clinton. However, I believe she is sane and that is all it takes to get my vote this time out.

I wouldn't care if the GOP came up with a surveillance video of Hillary robbing a liquor store with an Uzi -- she is better than any alternative the Party of Lincoln can produce. At the very least, though, it will be a show, particularly if Trump decides to go the route of Perot and become a third-party candidate should the GOP bounce him.