Sunday, August 09, 2015

Why Donald Trump's critics really are losers

I'm trying to think of what you say about the political analysts out there who are saying last rights over Donald Trump's presidential campaign because he said outrageous things (or because he defended outrageous things he has said) during last Thursday night's debate.

Any analyst who tries to peddle this as competent analysis should have his political analyst license revoked. Charles Krauthammer, among others, should hand in his pundit badge.

And will someone please give the absurd Frank Luntz another job at Fox? I suggest trash detail. Why do we have to watch these ridiculous studio focus groups? We're supposed to get the "man on the street" view from these people, but only half of them are men and none of them are on the street. They should be--on the street, I mean, as soon as possible.

Why would you say that doing the very thing that has catapulted Trump to the leader in the Republican race for president would hurt him if he did it in the debate?

You wonder about people who act shocked that Trump would do what Trump always does and who need someone to administer the smelling salts to revive them from the fainting spell they have when he does it again--right after he said he was going to continue doing it.

The only thing that would have hurt Trump was if he had not said outrageous things. The very people who created Trump and now revile him would have said he was off his game. They would have accused him of using the wrong strategy. They would have said he was like everyone else.

There is literally nothing Donald Trump can now say that would diminish his appeal. What can he say now that could hurt him that he has not already said? He has made himself gaffe-proof by redefining "gaffe." If he says something that in any other candidate would be a gaffe, he just owns it, and asks "So what?" and makes anyone who accuses him of committing one look naive for taking notice.

There is only one thing he could say now that could hurt him: "I'm sorry."

This is the one thing that would kill him. Ironically, it would destroy him because, if he said it (being the authentic person he is), people would believe he meant it, unlike other politicians who, when they say "I'm sorry," don't mean it. Voters wouldn't like the former in a truly authentic candidate any more than they have ever liked the latter from an inauthentic one.

Which is why Trump will never say it. And which is why he may win the nomination if he continues to refuse to do it.

Up until now, I have thought Republicans would toy with Trump and when they got their fill of the entertainment he offered,  would go find a respectable alternative, however, inauthentic and boring he or she may be.

But now I am not so sure.

The Trump phenomenon is a rebellion against the Republican Party by its own members. They want to burn the Republican house down and they now see a way to do it. He is Robert Penn Warren's Willy Stark turned upside down: A rich (rather than poor) radical populist who leads an army of peasants with pitchforks that succeed (in Stark's case, if not yet Trump's) in throwing out the establishment bums in his own party.

2 comments:

KyCobb said...

While Trump is popular with a large segment of the GOP Base, I don't believe it is a majority. Trump is the frontrunner now because 70% of GOP voters are splintered between 16 other candidates, but as the field is winnowed out (looks like Perry is almost finished already) the anybody but Trump vote will eventually coalesce around a Bush, Walker or Rubio. Then the interesting question will be whether Trump decides to run an independent campaign or not.

Anonymous said...

Are Trump's supporters really Republicans? There may be a few, but the majority are relatively new to the Republican Party.
Here's why:
1. They are Obama haters first and foremost.
2. They are mainly jingoistic.
3. They are poorly educated and overly emotional.
4. MOST IMPORTANTLY, NO REPUBLICAN WOULD PREFER HILLARY TO ANY REPUBLICAN. Trump raised his hand that he would form a third party and pull a Ross Perot.