Alec Baldwin and 16 More People Who Think Donald Trump Is the Candidate ''We Deserve'' (and 1 Person Who Doesn't)

President Obama himself said this week, "The American people deserve better"

By Natalie Finn Jul 29, 2015 6:54 PMTags
Donald TrumpAP Photo/LM Otero

Alec Baldwin isn't the first person to suggest that Donald Trump is the presidential candidate the American people deserve.

On The Howard Stern Show this morning, the actor said, "If Trump was the nominee let alone won the election—but even if Trump was the GOP nominee, it's exactly what we deserve right now with the system we have."

Now, he was talking campaign finance, pointing out how lobbyists and corporate interests have put most politicians in someone's pocket and Trump, at the very least, has asserted how he alone cannot be bought.

But the various people who've come before Baldwin in saying that the long-winded real estate tycoon is who "we" and/or the Republican party deserves have had a variety of reasons—most of them ironic, like Baldwin, but some of them genuine, especially from frustrated conservatives who think Trump is just the breath of fresh air that the GOP needs (and frustrated conservatives who think Trump is further evidence of the party's decline).

Take a look at 16 people who agree, for whatever reason, that we're reaping what we've sown:

Tom Bogglioni at Raw Story was one of the first to assert that the Republicans had paved the way for Trump, writing June 17, the day after he announced his candidacy: "Since the Republican Party is desperate for the yahoo know-nothing anti-science virulently racist vote to replenish their aging demographic, their presidential nominee slate has become a big circus tent for every clown with a PAC and a guest spot on Hannity.

'Enter The Donald."

STFUpworthy stated it flatly on July 10: "Trump is simply the candidate America deserves. Celebrity-worshipping, reality-obsessed America. Come on, how much longer do you think it would be before we got an actual reality show candidate for President?"

After the John McCain-isn't-a-war-hero disaster (or seeming disaster, since that gaffe not only didn't derail the Trump train but practically served as a refueling station, the Chicago Sun-Times' Neil Steinberg asked Democrats to look within and admit it.

"Haven't we turned our political life into a theater of the absurd? Don't we acknowledge that shiny surface appearance trumps—no pun intended—inner merit? Hasn't money hijacked the electoral system, flowing easily around all feeble efforts to constrain it like a swollen river around a rock?" (So Baldwin fell into the Steinberg camp.)

And now we hear from the Twitterverse:

But there's at least one person out there who hasn't lost hope in us, who still think the American people at large are a salvageable bunch.

Speaking in Ethiopia during his tour of Africa this week, President Barack Obama said Monday, referring to Trump, "The American people deserve better. Certainly presidential debates deserve better. In 18 months, I'm turning over the keys. I want to make sure I'm turning over the keys to somebody who is serious about the serious problems that the country faces and the world faces."

Call us motivated by special interests, but we're inclined to agree with this guy.