Donald Trump is right when he says this country is in trouble. It certainly will be if any of the candidates now running for president actually gets elected. They seem so wan, so much smaller than life, except for the windbag Trump, who’s like Popeye’s Blutto — a “towering brute” with a “colossal ego.” One puff of hot air from Trump is enough to scatter the rest of Republicans across the stage, crying out in helium-filled falsettos, wondering what hit them.

Are none of them capable of brushing aside Trump’s strident inanities and standing on their own two feet? Trump calls Jeb Bush “low energy” and instead of laughing it off, Bush whimpers, “Trump isn’t a true conservative, but I am.” Heavens, who cares what label Bush is entitled to? What does he bring to the table to get this country moving forward again?

On the other hand we have Hillary Clinton, whom most Americans say they don’t “trust.” Are they kidding? Whoever heard of a trustworthy politician? Clinton’s problem is that she has no ideas to offer but the standard ploy: Pander to interest groups in exchange for votes.

Yes. America seems to be stuck in the mud. We’ve had two mediocre, divisive presidents in a row. Congress is held in universal contempt. Foreign policy is incoherent and destructive. Incompetent, unelected bureaucracies spawn incomprehensible regulations. The Supreme Court has become an ossified, politicized institution. Public schools are failures. Cities are awash in firearms. Prisons burst at the seams. Yet none of the candidates can be bothered to address these problems in constructive ways. None of the candidates has much to say about the role government has played in the many problems that face us. Politicians keep telling us that reforms are “politically impossible.” Maybe we need to find a way to govern without impossible politics.

How about a candidate stepping forward and exhorting us to come together and transcend our rabid, irrational animosities? How about one with the courage to criticize his own party’s extremism and failed policies rather than demonizing and insulting the other party? Wouldn’t it be refreshing if Hillary Clinton asked the teachers’ unions to start running schools for students rather than the unions or if Donald Trump politely asked the National Rifle Association to practice a little moderation in its promotion of firearms? Where is the leader who asks “What works?” rather than “Who’s to blame?” Where is a little common sense, a little good will?

Footnote: People say they prize Trump’s “authenticity.” But Trump has a comb-over. A comb-over signifies a man who hasn’t the courage to accept the truth. It takes courage and a bit of self-knowledge to admit that you’re bald and instruct your barber to cut the comb-over off. A man with a comb-over is not “authentic.” Believe me, I know.

— George Gurley, a resident of rural Baldwin City, writes a regular column for the Journal-World.