Trump’s success in the early primary season has pretty much baffled anyone who is an avid observer of politics. I’ve been reading Scott Adams series that Donald Trump is a master persuader, very skilled in the art of persuasion. I think there’s probably something to that, but the big fact that I think stands in the way of that theory is that Trump has run for President before, and never managed to get all that far. It’s possible that the environment had to be just right for his populist fire to start burning, and now he’s at the right place at the right time.
I’m not a regular reader of RedState, but this particular article caught my attention, and I think it’s a pretty good explanation for the Trump phenomena:
I don’t think the Trump support is reflective of any issue at all. I don’t think it’s even reflective of disgust with the GOP. I think it’s reflective of the disgust we have with the new unwritten rules of society …
… The reality is that people are excited to see, hey, here’s a guy who goes on TV, and if he wants to pop off at the mouth, he pops off at the mouth, and if this guy can rise to being President of the United States then maybe I don’t have to always shut my mouth and I can sometimes say what I feel and maybe I can call my annoying coworker ugly and not have to risk being sued, too.
Read the whole thing, as they say. That makes a lot of sense to me. I know I’m tired of the Troller in Chief in the White House stirring up division for political advantage, and sick of seeing people’s lives destroyed for expressing opinions that run counter to the prevailing left-wing orthodoxy. It is satisfying to watch someone giving the middle finger to the PC police and the media (but I repeat myself) and get away with it.
I was leaning towards Scott Walker out of the gate. Walker is a proven fighter and reformer,and he pulled it off while coming off as midwestern boring to the public. To me the ideal candidate is one who can maintain an air of public respectability and charm, but behind the scenes will eviscerate his enemies with a surgical precision. Walker did that very well. That is his record. Another political figure who is very good at that schtick? Barack Obama. In fact, I would argue that Obama is the master of this style, with a talent for it not likely to be seen again in our lifetimes.
Walker is out now, largely because I don’t think very many people wanted what he was offering. He probably also screwed himself by listening to the GOP consultant class rather than being himself. But I think he was ultimately done-in by the fact that a large part of the GOP base, the ones enamored with Trump, don’t want midwestern nice. They want vengeance, and Trump is playing to that.
Scott Adams is predicting Trump will go all the way, and win the Presidency in a landslide. I will admit, I’d vote for Trump over any of the three possible Democratic candidates, but I will definitely have a “Dear God, what have we done?” moment if that ends up being the choice. Right now I don’t have a horse to back, and it’ll probably stay that way until I can see whether Carly can build momentum, or whether she starts getting repetitive. I’m also keeping an eye on Rubio.
“I’d vote for Trump over any of the three possible Democratic candidates”
I may not vote R, but the ONLY way I’d ever vote D is if I happen to die in Chicago…..
Regarding Trump winning, I think the biggest problem is that he’s actually an avowed leftist and is only spewing his vitriol because it’s what people want to hear.
As for an actually Trump presidency, I think it might be great for the office to receive a little tarnishing from a bombastic fool. His ability to upset people, and I’m thinking judges here, might be a great boon for freedom when they, ie. judges, are not inclined to just go along with the executive branch. :-)
You are over thinking it.
Democrats: Amnesty! Amnesty Now! Let them all in! Viva La Raza!
Republicans: Illegal Immigration is Bad Mmmmkay, so we won’t give you Amnesty for like 2 or 3 years, and you might have to pay a fine or something, unless we cave to the Democrats and our big contributors like we do on everything else…
Trump: I Will Build the Wall you have wanted for the last 20 years. I will throw out all the illegal immigrants, especially the criminals.
Which position do you support?
It’s cute that you think he can do anything he says he wants to do.
I think it is cute that so many people no longer care about the rule of law.
Obama is ignoring immigration laws, by claiming “prosecutorial discretion.” IOW, “Go ahead, break the law, I won’t enforce it anyway.”
Boehner and McConnell are aiding and abetting him by refusing to defund the DHS activities that are allowing the illegal immigrants to stay. Their big money contributors want open borders, unlimited H-1B visas, and cheap labor.
We let them break these laws, because we vote for “our guys” those professional politicians like JEB!, Romney, Boehner, & McConnell. And They vote for “their guys” like Hillary, Reid, Pelosi, Schumer, and John Conyers. The only way they leave is when they die in office, like US Senator Grand Kleagle Robert Byrd. Just ask Thad Cochran, age 77, when he is wandering around trying to find the right caucus room.
well, in your scenario, only one of the three is lying to us, so…
So Janklow,
Who are you going to vote for?
The guys that WILL give you open borders and amnesty, or someone who says he won’t?
I believe Trump. He has made the border the centerpiece of his campaign. He knows he will be not only disliked, but HATED if he does not follow through. He will move heaven and earth to close the border and build the wall.
And Deportation is even easier. All he needs to do is enforce the existing laws.
I’m afraid if Trump wins … the next day we’re going to feel like the guy who got drunk at a Las Vegas party, woke up with the ugly girl, and discovered he’d married her. But of course when he thinks back to how much uglier the other potential partner was … maybe it won’t be so bad …
You mean like every other election for the last couple of decades?
More or less … except in the last 2 elections we ended up with the seemingly hot girl who turned out to have about every social disease imaginable. And made us look like an idiot to all of our friends, enemies, and co workers. It’ll take awhile to get over that one.
Donald Trump is the Buzz Windrip in Sinclair Lewis’s “It Can’t Happen Here.”
Buzz Windrip was modeled on Huey Long, who until he was assassinated, was to the Democrats of his era what Trump is to the Republicans. But of course that era was so quaint, and we know It Can’t Happen Here.
I’ve heard others speak of parallels to Huey Long. I may have to grab that book.
It’s available online as a .PDF. I downloaded it a long time ago, so I don’t remember the link.
I’ve always liked it, but others think it is a bit naive and quaint. But, the setting was 80 years ago,
Here is one source:
https://www.goodreads.com/ebooks/download/11371.It_Can_t_Happen_Here
I think that the article is probably right. I have never trusted Trump, or really liked him as a candidate, but I have appreciated his willingness to speak out mostly unapologetically, and the fact that the media (and others, really) have not had the ability to take him down a notch…
If a Trump presidency is what it takes to finally break the stranglehold the PC police have over us, then I say its worth it.
I just hope he doesn’t press the button…..
The big issue I have with Trump is I don’t really know what the hell he’d do if he actually won. I wonder whether even he knows. He’d be like the dog that catches the car. Who would advise him? Who would he put in his administration? Who would be on his short list of Supreme Court picks?
The country and lawlessness has gotten so bad that many are willing to burn it down and Trump gives that impression. Trump got started right from his announcement and then the SJW and media all got offended that Trump supports Americans over Mexicans. So PO Americans said Trumps sounded good. Since then Trump has done well despite his vulgarity and no PC attitudes. Americans are enraged at the government ignoring law and the Congress wont do anything to stop the lawlessness. Not even impeachment for Holder. Koskinen, GIna McCarthy .
I think Trump is a test of how gullible the GOP base and the American public are. He keeps on spewing things that are the opposite of his positions in the past and what he used his money to support. We won’t find out how gullible the people are until we start actually seeing primary results. However, if he becomes President, I think a lot of people will be shocked when he starts rubber stamping whatever the Dems can get across his desk.
You don’t trust Trump. I get it.
Do you still trust John “Build the Damned Wall” McCain?
John Boehner and Mitch McConnell who promised to Defund Obamacare? Promised to stop Obama’s Illegal Immigration Executive actions by defunding them? Promised to actually pass real budget bills?
How many promises have THEY broken?
They want the EXPORT-IMPORT BANK because their big money donors want that boondoggle. They keep bringing it up again and again. Defund Planned Parenthood? No, not even going to try?
Find the truth in Fast and Furious? No, did not even try. Eric Holder is still holding them in contempt and Loretta Lynch was approved without even trying a filibuster.
I don’t completely trust Trump, but at least he has not broken his promises to me. Name one other politician that you can say that about?
We already know how gullible the American public are. (See 2008/2012 presidential elections.)
So, choosing charlatan “R” over charlatan “D” would have been less gullible?
The bigger news this week I think is Walker dropping out of the race. I think Walker was one of the better candidates from a 2A perspective. He had some proven credentials on the issue and was a fighter with executive experience.
Of the remaining top and mid tier GOP candidates, I think Cruz and Paul can probably be trusted on the issue. Neither of them has executive experience though.
The others (other than Christie, who is toast anyways) will probably do the right thing out of fear of provoking backlash but don’t seem like they really buy in philosophically. Jeb & Rubio are both “B+” tepid support kind of folks… Carson called for an AWB before he realized that was a non-starter in the primary. Fiorina talks the talk but has little record and hails from Deep Blue land.
Of course, Trump dropped a pretty pro-2A position paper, but I’m still not convinced that he isn’t just an Epic Troll, dropping red meat in front of the base.
I think the Trump thing can be explained simply:
1) Name recognition. Early in the race, that’s key.
2) A lot of folks are PO’d at the GOP establishment.
“I think Cruz and Paul can probably be trusted on the issue.”
No one seeking political power can long tolerate people saying no to them, and having the ability to back it up. Trust no one who seeks political power on the gun issue.
Also, for most of them firearms rights is just a decoy issue to win our support, so they can achieve the political power to pursue their real agendas.
Trump’s a clown, and a clown fits right in with the circus we’ve got going on. Where’s my bread?
Where have these fools been for the last decade? There was quite a backlash over the second Iraq war courtesy of GW. What really set off this current wave of anger though is the ramthrough of Obamacare. Do you all remember the town halls where thousands showed up to angrily tell their elected leaders to NOT vote for this mess? I had never seen that in my adult life. People lining up to speak in a microphone and tell their elected leaders OFF! They went so poorly for that they just scratched them. And what did they do? They just rammed that bill through. “We’ll just have to read it later” they told us. That gave us the wave of upset in ’10 and the rise of the tea party. Then you had the anger from the left that mobilized into Occupy Wall Street, and now the Black Lives Matters movement have had it with being shot down by cops. People have had enough and these idiots in Washington just want to keep playing standard operating procedures.
The Donald does NOT believe a single word he says. He is clearly trolling on a massive scale, and I would not vote for him. However, I think that if him and Bernie Sanders joined together on a ticket, they would beat both Hillary and Jeb by a landslide. That is scary, my friends. I can’t believe that both parties are trying to shove candidates that no one wants (Hillary and Jeb) down our throats. I don’t think this one is going to end well.
If Trump is elected, four or eight years later there isn’t going to be a wall. I don’t get why people think everyone else is lying to them, but somehow Trump is going to not only build it, but get the Mexicans to pay for it. Because he said he would, right?