Trump is an ugly narcissist. Which means he's 100 times better than George W. Bush

We all hate Donald Trump, with good reason.   We've always hated him--he's all the things we'd like NOT to be as a country (even though the rest of the world already knows the truth).

But this hatred causes most people I talk to to use apocalyptic language:

• If Trump wins, the world will end.
• If Trump wins, I'm moving to Canada (these folks have said this prior to every election since McGovern lost the first time).
• If Trump wins, no one will respect the United States any longer (that boat sailed around the time of Reagan, dudes).

Here are the many ways Trump is less destructive than George W, or Sarah Palin, or McCain, or any of the other Republicans who have come to national prominence in the silly era of the "new conservative."

1. Trump hasn't yet lied about global threats--he has no war up his sleeve.
2. Trump does not propose to cut taxes for the wealthy.   I am wealthy and the tax avoidance strategies available to me are obscene.   It's all laid out nice and pretty for me in the "protect the upper class" guidance of GAAP.  And I'm not just talking about the special tax treatment the hedge fund guys managed to carve out for their greedy little selves.
3. Trump supports an increase in the minimum wage.   Of all the tenets of economic theory, this one stymies me the most.   Whenever minimum wage comes up, we limit the discussion to its effect on job creation.   But that never takes into account that every poor person in the country--that's 70% of our population living below or within sight of the poverty level--would have $3-$7 more an hour to spend immediately.   These folks are one car repair or unexpected health care bill away from a zero savings rate, for obvious reasons.   This money fuels growth more than any other direct stimulus.   Your basic exploiter-of-labor entrepreneur on Main Street would see a 10% increase in business the minute the minimum wage increased nationally.   If that's not enough to pay his slave laborers, the dude should not be in business in the first case.   Shut down and let some one who knows how to run a business take your slot.  You're an idiot.
4. Trump doesn't believe that it doesn't matter what happens in the here and now because we're about to all go up in holy smoke anyway.   So what the fuck--to use George Bush's policy mantra.  And Ted Cruz?   That guy definitely got an erection any time any one used the word "devil."  If you don't agree with everything in this paragraph (I don't really know what gives Ted Cruz an erection), then simply accept this:   Trump is less fundamentalist than any national Republican candidate we've had in the last three elections.  I'm an atheist and believe that religion truly is the heroin of the poor (if they're too poor to get the real drug, that is).   So this gives me some comfort.  
5. What happened to the Tea Party?   Trump has marginalized them.  Nice work!
6. Social issues--OK, Trump is a troglodyte.   He'll never get elected but imagine the interior decorating steps he'd take at the White House.   Makes my skin crawl.  Will all the tour guides down there have huge tits?  But unlike Bush or others, Trump is not now, nor has he ever, run on the fascist social issues of his Republican predecessors.   He's even marginally gentler on gun control, or as those folks love to pretend, "the 2nd Amendment."

You got me on Trump's statements on Muslims and Mexicans.   And several other things (I'm really giving Trump the wild benefit of the doubt on gun control in # 6 above.   He's like a millimeter better than his cadre).   

I'm not voting for the turd.   I'm just pointing out that he's less of a turd than Bush, and his policies would be a lot less damaging than Reagan's.  

So, to my friends outside the U.S. who are petrified (most of you want to move to Canada too...but only because Justin Trudeau is so super cool and actually has incredible politics), I assure you:   Hillary will crush Trump.   Bernie would have crushed Trump.  Who was that third guy who ran as a Democrat?   He would have crushed Trump.

Let's just be thankful that the real criminals--from James Watt to the Halliburton crew (Rumscrest?   Vodkafeld?   What was his name?)--are not running.   For sacking those lackluster milk-toast fundamentalist warmongers, we owe the Donald a big big big thanks.