“Stupid Is as Stupid Does” the Hobson’s Choice of 2016
In the blockbuster movie Forrest Gump, the main character as portrayed by Tom Hanks, is best remembered for his iconic quote, “Mama always said, ‘stupid is as stupid does,’” recalling his mother’s wisdom in helping him deal with the name calling by others, attributed to his own learning disability.
Perhaps nothing could better describe the Hobson’s choice of the 2016 Presidential Election.
On the one hand we have a candidate, the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, who has a penchant for saying stupid things. Most recently, he has been excoriated by members of his own party for questioning the ability of a judge who is ruling on a lawsuit involving Trump University, based upon the judge’s ethnicity (his parents are Mexican immigrants), in light of Trump’s stance on curtailing illegal immigration by proposing that a wall be built on the US-Mexican border. While it is true that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel is an American, born in Indiana as the child of Mexican immigrants, it is also true that Judge Curiel is an avid supporter of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, has publicly supported open borders and was named to the United States District Court for the Southern District of California by President Barack Obama, all of which suggests that this particular judge may indeed hold some bias towards Trump, in adjudicating the class action suit against him. While Trump failed to mention these pertinent facts, and only mentioned the judge’s ethnicity instead, he deservedly fell prey to charges of racism from both Democrats and Republicans, alike…in a word, stupid…
On the other hand we have a candidate, the presumptive nominee of the Democrat Party, who has a penchant for doing stupid things. Such deeds include, but are by no means limited to, her laughing and bragging about getting a case dismissed against a man, one Thomas Alfred Taylor, who Mrs. Clinton knew had savagely raped a twelve-year-old girl in 1975. There would be many more stupid deeds to follow, including ignoring repeated requests by slain Ambassador Christopher Stevens for enhanced security at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, which directly led to the death of Stevens and three others, lying about the cause of the Benghazi raid to surviving members of their families when she knew better, insisting that all of her e-mails while Secretary of State, be routed through her own private server instead of the legally-required use of government-provided secure e-mails, and then ordering the destruction of over 30,000 e-mails in an attempt to evade subpoenas relating to the same…in a word, stupid…
Interestingly enough, we often hear about Mrs. Clinton’s “vast experience” as being an advantage over her Republican opponent. Yet, when such “experience” is comprised of a reprehensible record of abject failure upon abject failure, it remains to be seen whether her experience is an asset or a liability in the minds of American voters.
So given the propensity of “the Donald” to say stupid things, and the propensity of Hillary to do stupid things, we are left with a Hobson’s choice as to whether or not stupid words, on Trump’s part, equal stupid deeds on Hillary’s part.
In such a dilemma, we are reminded of the old maxim that “actions speak louder than words,” and it is the sticks and stones of Hillary’s stupidity that potentially pose far greater danger to America than the words of Donald Trump, at day’s end.
-Drew Nickell, 7 June 2016
© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.