Trump campaign leaves us with much to ponder

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It is Friday morning as I write these words for possible publication on Sunday. Who can predict what antics Mr. T might show us between now and then? I do hope he won't turn this column upside down in the coming hours.

A former student of mine asked me yesterday if I intended to write about the American presidential campaign this weekend. We had just heard Mr. T announce that he was not ready yet to say if he'd accept the results of the election on Nov. 8. I told my student that I preferred a more Taiwan-centered topic this time around.

"But it's a very big issue," she said. "If Trump wins your election, that's going to be a very big deal."

It had to be clear to all but his staunchest supporters that once the Billy Bush video — potent evidence of Mr. T's sexual behavior — surfaced a couple weeks back, his campaign was virtually dead in the water. The accusations a number of women made against him in the days that followed were only more nails in the coffin.

For the record, as we all know, Mr. T has denied the improprieties. To make matters worse, in his denials, he has ridiculed the appearances of some of his accusers. He has laughingly remarked that a few of them were not sufficiently attractive to stir his libido.

All of the above self-inflicted wounds, well before Debate 3, had effectively trashed Mr. T's chances in the upcoming election. A number of pundits had of course posted obituaries of the campaign weeks or even months before the Billy Bush escapade. So, in the minds of some, the man's presidential ambitions were all but buried before his remarks in Debate 3, thank you very much.

Then came Debate 3.

After the man defied 240 years of American political history by his breezy refusal to say what he'd do if voters rejected him, I said to myself, "I just learned a presidential campaign can die more than one death."

His devotees will stay on his train, I'm sure. Like Mr. T, between now and Nov. 8, they will work overtime stewing in the odiferous broth of their fervid minds to cook up claims of conspiracy and organized voter fraud. They will swear that evil-doers succeeded long ago in secretly stealing the election.

When you attack the grounds upon which the democracy of your country stands, the integrity of its elections, you had better have proof in hand. Otherwise you appear cowardly or unable to face reality. And 48 hours prior to publication here, Mr. T and his minions have yet to offer a baby finger full of proof for their claims.

My student is right. It happens to be "a very big deal" who the American people choose to be their president.

Whatever contortions into which Mr. T and his followers twist their bodies between now and Election Day, I hope they'll stop shouting long enough to hear the collective expression of thanks that many of us feel for all that their campaign has given us. This includes our thanks from here in Taiwan, too.

In a grisly sort of way, this has all been very entertaining. I admit it has also been hard hitting for me. Right up until Debate 3 (Debacle 3?), I've had one negative lesson after the other thrown at me. The lessons are brutal reminders that have bruised my sensitivities and made me sit up and listen.

I have heard the cry in my conscience to re-examine every possible way I might inadvertently hurt other people by paying attention to their outer appearance, gender, race, religion or skin color, rather than to their deeper and more important human qualities. Mr. T's negative example of intolerance and veiled racism (remember "the birthers") strengthen my resolve on that. In a particular way, his manner of referring to girls and women and, apparently, of relating to them, are a challenge to any lingering adolescent tendency in my imagination to strip them of their sense of dignity and self-respect.

The U.S. presidential election is now over and finished not once, but twice. Its finish line arrived earlier than we had anticipated. This was a truly troubling campaign, a time that forced us into painful self-reflection on both the personal and public level.

Although the campaign is effectively over and done with, we are left with much to ponder.

Father Daniel J. Bauer SVD is a priest and associate professor in the English Department at Fu Jen Catholic University.