"... Trump seems to have been born without a self-awareness gene."

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We need a political process that matches Trump’s stature
By Scot Lehigh, June 19, 2015

Never did a proud man think so absurdly well of himself as a lover does of the one beloved, English philosopher Francis Bacon once declared.

Sir Francis, please meet Donald Trump.

“Our country needs a truly great leader, and we need a truly great leader now,” Trump said on Tuesday in announcing his candidacy for president. “We need a leader that wrote ‘The Art of the Deal.’ ” OK, bibliophiles, don your thinking caps: Can you guess who that storied author might be?

Watching Trump bemoan our national decline made me reflect on what America really needs to be a great country again. My conclusion: A whole separate pretend primary process for buffoons, eccentrics, egotists, and kooks, to remove them from the serious discussion.

Code Name: The Pixilated Primary. Of course, we’ll have to come up with grander nomenclature for official purposes.

Maybe, Prominent Intellectual Notables Holding Edifying Alternative Discussions. Or perhaps: Great Icons Generously Giving Leadership Exhibitions.

We’ll just have to play the odds that Donald won’t recognize an acronym in the making. But fortunately for us — and the preservation of his ego — Trump seems to have been born without a self-awareness gene. Hence the genius of the Pinhead Primary: It’s a parallel political track for politicians who take themselves seriously even though no one else does.

We’ll be polite about the debates, mind you. No one will ask how, having filed for business bankruptcy four times, Trump possibly imagines he can run for president as an exemplary private-sector leader.

And tactful about our reporting: No one will inquire what the men in the white coats think about a candidate who, just a few years ago, comported himself like a political Inspector Clouseau, pursuing the nutty notion that Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States.

So who will join poor deluded Donald in those pretend primary debates?

Well, I for one sorely miss former Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, last seen hereabouts informing surprised Granite Staters that the American Revolution started in their lovely state. Why, a Giggle Debate including those two would be a virtual WPA project for fact-checkers.

As far as sheer, unadulterated — no, actually, make that, adulterated — narcissism, perhaps John Edwards could throw his hat back in the (unreal) ring.

And how about Lyndon LaRouche? He’s still out there giving batty fireside chats, warning that President Obama is about to start a nuclear war, and stressing (I kid you not) the need to return classical orchestras to the tuning pitch that prevailed in late 19th century Italy (!).

LaRouche v. Trump?

Why, I’d go to Iowa in the heat of August to cover that. All for the Pixilated Primary cause, of course.
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