Trump is beating it at its own game.
I’m glad someone finally is, but I wish it were someone both more knowledgable and less childish. It’s possible to play that game without being him. I could certainly do it.
[Update a few minutes later]
Related: Trump haters: Do these two thought experiments. I can easily imagine the latter, and would vastly prefer it. Though I’d prefer him with policies less economically ignorant.
I’m not at all sure that anyone else could do it. After all, they never did.
Newt did.
Somewhat. But, he got badly burned with the shutdown, and lost his mojo.
Newt didn’t. He was speaker until the media got his scalp. He was never the tip of the spear again.
Yes, he did. He was doing it in the debates.
Romney almost did but then chickened out.
Trump broke so many barriers in the system and Althouse is right that if a Democrat did it, there would be mass celebration and adulation from the press and the Democrat party.
The outsider takes on the establishment of his own party, the establishment of the other party, an opposition media, and entrenched shadow government to win an election that everyone thought was impossible to win while shattering the illusion that money buys electoral wins? That is straight up hero’s journey in American psyche.
“Literally Hitler” isn’t a rational response to that and it wont be effective.
It is in fact so amazing that some think divine intervention is involved. I’m not there, but it is like nothing we’ve ever seen before.
Rush’s take on this news conference is spot on, but Neumayr’s article is even more perceptive.
You know, rather than continually dumping on this guy, the Republican party should be doing everything it can to work with him. His accomplishments (like winning the nomination and the presidency against all odds and predictions) speak for a person of immense capability. And despite all of the allegations from Right and Left that he’s an autocrat, an anti-capitalist, etc, etc, ad nauseum, few of these assertions have any evidence backing them up. He’s a smart, capable, practical guy, and he can kick the s***(1) out of the media. Back him, and help him choose the right path.
(1) “Shit”
Yup, Trump is proving to be far more competent and politically normal than he is portrayed. The overreaction to it only makes him stronger.
Yeah, Rand is “virtual signaling” that he doesn’t particularly like Mr. Trump, but his “peeps” don’t see it that way.
What if you ran a blog and your most ardent supporters “got ahead of you” on political opinion and commentary?
Rand seems to have a healthy dislike for all politicians. Giving praise/criticism where he thinks it is due is very fair. Wishing that Trump was more knowledgeable and less childish is a good thing to wish for. There are legitimate complaints about Trump’s conduct, after all he is a dick.
No, I’m not “virtue signaling,” unless by that you say I’m wishing that we didn’t have a president who wasn’t an ignorant unread anal orifice. I really, really don’t think that’s a crazy desire.
I really think that it’s possible to have a president that could accomplish what his supporters want him to accomplish without him being that. But you go to war with the army you have.
“…ignorant unread…”
I really don’t think such hyperbole is constructive. Do you really think he is more “ignorant” and “unread” than Barack Obama? Than John Kerry, or Al Gore?
The “ignorant” charge is a staple of Democrat attack propaganda going back at least as far as Eisenhower. The Republican is always dumb, if they can paint him or her that way. When they can’t (Nixon), he’s the ne plus ultra of evil. Yet, their candidates are so dumb they actually believe a command economy is superior to free enterprise, and that the nation’s enemies can be dissuaded by assuring them we haven’t the will to confront them.
“I really think that it’s possible to have a president that could accomplish what his supporters want him to accomplish without him being that.”
I think the historical record shows otherwise. And, if it were, would that be a good thing? Or, would it result in a personality cult so powerful that our system of checks and balances would be utterly destroyed? The Obama cult already had us teetering on that edge. The election of Hillary would have cemented a Court in place that, for all practical purposes, would have rewritten the Constitution.
Do you really think he is more “ignorant” and “unread” than Barack Obama? Than John Kerry, or Al Gore?
In some ways, yes, but those are all low bars. I’ve seen no evidence that Trump has ever actually read a book.
The real problem for many Conservative/Libertarian/Right bloggers is the Mr. Trump is pretty much a moderate Democrat, that is, before the Democratic Party ran off the rails.
It’s all style vs. substance. Trump is not ignorant (unless you mean he doesn’t know everything which includes everyone.) He knows what he knows which considering his results is a pretty impressive set of knowledge.
It is the stupid media that believe trivial pursuit games represent real knowledge. Take the nuclear triad for instance. It’ a policy, but not a reality. Yes we have bombers and both sea based and land based ICBMs. But we also have numerous other nuclear weapons. If you tried to list them I’m sure you would leave some out and some may not even be publicly known (like perhaps nuke landmines in the Fulda gap.)
Thinking somebody is stupid because they speak a different language (shorthand English) just shows the ignorance of the accuser.
I remember all of these arguments used against Reagan. Reagan was less of a scoundrel but not more intelligent. I would wager Trump loves this denigration in a Sun Tzu sort of way.
Reagan both read and wrote a great deal. There is no evidence that Trump does either.
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. In fact, the same spiel was used against Reagan. Reagan’s deepest political analyses were not even released to the public until well after he was out of office.
Trump has survived, and indeed succeeded spectacularly, for decades in one of the most cutthroat businesses on the planet, the NYC real estate market. It is churlish to diminish that accomplishment. It is major. You can’t be a dummy and manage that.