The answer to "how do I love thee" is "let me count the ways." The answer to "what is wrong with Donald Trump" is the same: "let me count the ways."
Trump has a remarkable love for authority and authoritarians, going so far as recently praising Vladimir Putin because he projects strength. He is a singularly sexist politician, claiming a Fox News anchorperson had "blood coming out of her wherever." When a few years ago he stated "I've said if Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her," it was probably far less sexist than really, really creepy (even assuming he was thinking of "dating").
He is taken to saying such things as "I have fantastic relationships with the Hispanics" (the Hispanics?) and "I am going to protect women," and bragging that he forced Ford Motor Co. to move a manufacturing plant from Mexico to Ohio. Politifact has labeled Trump's statements- plural- its "lie of the year."
Views differ on Trump's perspective on immigration and guilt by association is unfair. However, it is probably not a good sign when David Duke praises the candidate's remarks as “I’ve said from the beginning I think his campaign is good in the sense that it’s bringing these issues to a discussion which we have to have in America."(In Trump's favor, Duke disagrees with him about Israel.)
And on and on and on- but enough of that, because Bernie Sanders on CBS' Face the Nation (video below) encapsulated the biggest problem with Donald Trump, albeit one which the mainstream media and most of the Washington establishment has little problem with. Sanders noted the GOP frontrunner had maintained wages are excessive,which Trump promptly on Twitter falsely denied. The Vermont senator and most authentically Democratic candidate then explained
Donald Trump says that I’m a liar because I said he believes wages in America are too high. Really?…It appears that Mr. Trump is getting nervous that working families are catching on that his policies represent the interests of the billionaire class against almost everyone else. He refuses to support raising the minimum wage. He believes wages are too high, and he wants to provide hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the very richest families in America. That’s not an agenda that ‘makes America great.’ It’s just another Republican billionaire wanting to make the very rich richer at the expense of working families.
As Sean Illing summarizes, Donald Trump is "a fraud and a shill for the billionaire class, which the GOP dutifully represents." And like Illing, Bernie Sanders seems to recognize that Trump is a confederate in the GOP's goal of reinforcing corporate control of the economy and the culture. Take away Donald Trump's bravado and crudeness, and he's a perfect match for the Republican Party.
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