(Stanford Erickson lives in Vero Beach and is a thirty-year member of the National Press in Washington, DC, and a former member of the Overseas Press Club in New York City. This column was first published on TCPalm.com, the website of Treasure Coast Newspapers and approved for publication in Vero Communique.)

THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH ABOUT DONALD TRUMP IS THAT HIS VEROSITY RESONATES WITH VOTERS because there is a lot of truth in what he says. Our republic form of government that for more than 200 years has permitted us to operate as a democracy is in serious jeopardy. The country does need to be great again, as Trump bellows.

George Washington had to come out of retirement to save our country as our first president. Abraham Lincoln had to oversee a Civil War to save our form government. Franklin Delano Roosevelt took a depressed people and economy and saved us from becoming a fascist or socialist/communist nation. We again are teetering on the brink of a dangerous crisis, one that threatens our unique form of government. Again an economic crisis of world proportion has created this crisis.

Another inconvenient truth is President Barack Obama has used this crisis to undermine the form of government that twice has elected him president. He has burdened the nation with an $18 trillion debt and entitlements to perpetuate further debt while imposing additional regulations to throttle the country’s capitalistic engine.

Worst of all, another inconvenient truth is that his efforts to push the country into a European-like economy have unleashed a groundswell of anger. This anger has allowed Le Donald, the hirsute hotelier, to be a candidate for U.S. President.

The pendulum that has swung far left now threatens to swing far right. Socialism and fascism are much alike. They are results oriented. A republic form of government is process oriented. It takes time to get things done in a republic because many worthwhile opinions are to be considered. But a fearful citizenry demands results.

Only strong leaders, such as Washington, Lincoln and FDR, could bring about needed results while working within the democratic process.

Obama has undermined our country’s form of government by using autocratic means in achieving those results — so-called executive orders, only supporting those laws with which he agrees and pushing through Congress uncompromising legislation.

Le Donald promises to be no different. Even when he announced he was running for president, if you were observant, he raised his right hand in a fashion similar to Benito Mussolini, Italy’s results-oriented dictator. Mussolini got the trains in Rome to run on time, no small feat. Trump, if elected, I’m certain will build a wall between Mexico and the United States, no small feat.

Another inconvenient truth is that Obama and Trump are Mama’s Boys, what I refer to as conflicted Mama’s Boys. It might surprise you to think of Trump as a Mama’s Boy. But before he became the boss on the television show The Apprentice, renown for his shouting “Your fired!” to anyone who did not perform to his fashion, I saw him a few times in Manhattan following like a puppy dog after Ivana, his first wife.

Conflicted Mama’s Boys are insecure in their own masculinity and brook no opposition because it threatens their manhood. Obama recently lashed out at Republicans opposed to the recently negotiated nuclear treaty with Iran, comparing them to radical Iranians.
“It’s those hard-liners chanting ‘Death to America’ who have been most opposed to the deal. They’re making common cause with the Republican caucus,” Obama said.
Le Donald is just as dismissive of those who disagree with him when he calls them “stupid,” “a loser” or a “bimbo.”

Next year through 2020 may well be break-or-make years for the United States. Whichever it is will greatly impact the rest of the world for good or bad. We need a president who can achieve results without undermining what makes our nation unique.

As a Bureau Chief in Washington, DC, and a reporter and editor in New York City, Mr. Erickson covered Presidents, Congress, Administrative and Regulatory Departments and Agencies. He interviewed Presidents and other world leaders and many of the many significant business leaders in the country. He is author of “Mama’s Boy Presidents: Why Do We Keep Electing Them?”