Remember this:
“I pledge allegiance, to Donald Trump…” (Yes I know, those weren’t the words)
Much has been said about how this looks like a Nazi salute. Doesn’t look at all like that to me. however that’s not what really bothers me about what Trump did here. What bothers me is that Donald was essentially asking people to pledge allegiance to him.
Sure Obama ran an iconic campaign with himself as the cultural icon.
It bothered me some then, but mainly because I thought it was a pretty cool image and my side had nothing so cool. We live in America where we make idols out of all kinds of people. All of the candidates have their own worshipers. What sets Trump apart is this pledge. Its not Presidential. In fact its the opposite. The candidate should be pledging to the people to uphold the constitution not the people to the candidate vote for him.
Maybe pledges don’t matter much any more. We don’t take them seriously and we don’t expect politicians to either. Trump has already bandied about backing from his pledge to not run as a 3rd party candidate in the event he doesn’t get the nomination. Fair enough, but what was the pledge for then?
I liked Ben Carson before he started opening his mouth and spewing nonsense. Early on I almost pledged a small amount of money to him. I backed off at the last minute, because I felt myself getting caught up in his campaign and decided it was early and I wanted to stay objective. By pledging my own money I felt my objectivity might slip away before I got a real sense for the candidates. There were so many back then, so I waited. I’ve never donated to any campaign before aside from the $1 blanket donation on the tax forms. Don’t think I will start any time soon either as I would have been really pissed to see that donation go into a Veep for Trump campaign.
The point is we don’t owe these guys anything. Its the opposite. They want the top chair, they need to prove they deserve my vote. Then if elected they can say a pledge of their own…
“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
That is the oath or pledge that matters.