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politics and politicians Title: Donald Trump: The rat that roared Stop waiting for Donald Trump to blow up. The bombastic billionaire isn't going to explode. He's going to shrivel up. Trump's fatal flaw isn't his oversized ego, but his undersized character. America can love an irreverent blowhard — even a foul and boorish one like Trump. But a blowhard can't get away with whining and being thin-skinned. Trump is proving himself to be a thin-skinned whiner, rather than the magnanimous braggart whose image he has cultivated. Trump's appeal is a mystery to much of the press — both the conservative media and the left-leaning mainstream media. Part of it is his hawkish (if deeply inconsistent) rhetoric on immigration, an issue the elites of both parties like to avoid. Part of his appeal comes from his inchoate (but not ultimately wrong) rants against the corruption of Washington politics. But his unapologetic offensiveness — the very trait the media has been counting on to sink Trump — is also part of his appeal. At every turn, media elites ask him, basically: Won't you publicly apologize for some thing you've said? That was Megyn Kelly's question to him, specifically about nasty personal things he had said about women. NBC's Chuck Todd asked him if he was allergic to apologizing. Trump's answer to Todd was perfect: "No. I apologize when I'm wrong." Today, we're supposed to apologize — grovel, even — for nearly everything. Make one bad joke on Twitter, and you're expected to prostrate yourself before the social media mob. The list of forbidden joke topics is expanding toward infinity, as comedians from Jerry Seinfeld to Trevor Noah to Amy Schumer learn daily. Heck, Democratic politician Marty O'Malley even had to apologize for saying "all lives matter." Even if you don't do anything wrong, you're supposed to apologize for your privilege: white privilege, male privilege, straight privilege, upper-middle-class privilege. Simply identifying as your actual biological gender counts as "privilege" today. In this suffocating, absurd, oppressive environment of political correctness, Trump looks like a free and brave man, saying what he wants and refusing to apologize. The people who support him see him as unchained, and they want to be like him. So his bombast won't bring him down, because it's self-reinforcing. Even the truly foul, vulgar and idiotic things he says (of course, today we use only the less descriptive and more political descriptors such as "offensive") only serve to bolster his image as a pariah in an age of political correctness. None of that can bring Trump down. What will bring him down is the fact that criticism instantly turns him into a thin-skinned whiner. His reaction to Megyn Kelly was telling. When confronted with his demeaning and dumb comments about women, Trump didn't simply say, I'm too busy making America great again to worry about your petty speech police. He complained to Kelly about "the way you have treated me." Awwwww. The bombastic reality TV star entering into politics has been criticized by a media figure. Poor baby. He then spent days on Twitter just complaining about Fox. For example: "Other networks seem to treat me so much better than @FoxNews." A man who stands behind what he says but apologizes when he's wrong sounds admirable and appealing. Trump doesn't do that. After his weird attacks on John McCain's service in Vietnam and suffering as a POW, Trump gave mealy-mouthed non-credible, quasi-defenses. As Rich Lowry wrote in National Review, "For someone who prides himself on being the bold truth-teller, Trump has a penchant for trying to litigate his way out of his controversial statements." Trump is willing, at least, to stand up for his whining. "I am a whiner," he said on CNN Tuesday morning, "and I'm a whiner and I keep whining and whining until I win." This rings familiar if you've followed Trump. He's found success by gaming bankruptcy law, failing to repay debts, exploiting his crony connections, whining, and working the refs. And so the picture of the man comes into focus: Trump is Victor Hugo's Monsieur Thenardier: "We know where the wind is blowing. Money is the stuff we smell. And when we're rich as Croesus, Jesus! Won't we see you all in hell!" Trump is another sewer rat in American industry. He wants to be another sewer rat of American politics. And he promises to make the U.S. the sewer rat of the world. The media has waited for Trump to flame out. He may instead simply scurry away. Timothy P. Carney, The Washington Examiner's senior political columnist, can be contacted at tcarney@washingtonexaminer.com. His column appears Tuesday and Thursday nights on washingtonexaminer.com. Poster Comment: He is pretty whiny, by his own admission.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 65. In the CNN/ORC poll, Trump (22%), Carson (14%), Walker (9%) Cruz (8%) and Fiorina (7%) account for 60% of the GOP vote, with Bush (5%) tied with Rubio and Paul. Which Republican candidate do you think would do the best job handling the economy Trump (37%), Fiorina (10%), others in single digits. Illegal immigration Trump (35%), Cruz (10%), others in single digits. Is most likely to change the way things work in Washington Trump (44%), Carson (9%), Cruz (8%), Fiorina (7%), Walker (7%), others 4% or less. http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/12/politics/iowa-donald-trump-poll-cnn-orc/index.html
CNN / ORC Poll: Trump tops in Iowa as Scott Walker drops
#26. To: nolu chan (#25) (Edited) I think Carson would likely win Iowa if the caucuses were held in the short term. It would fit with their general history, like voting for Huck in 2008. The Iowa evangelicals are a cohesive group and Carson would fit them to a T. Carson has a decent ground game in Iowa based on his volunteers with experience. Trump can go in and buy a lot of campaign help in IA. He'd like to make a big splash there so he might finally pull some money out to spend there. And there are still probably some Iowa hired guns available to hire. Working for these campaigns is something of a small industry to springs to life every 4 years. I think the bigger problems will surface with running an extended ground campaign in IA/NH/SC. Also, I simply cannot picture Trump starting to work the long 14-hour days on those buses, hitting all those events, etc. It is a tremendous amount of work. You have to be a total people person to do it. Half the time, Trump can't be bothered to leave his penthouse to go on ABCNNBCBS or FNC and just phones it in. And they are only a couple of blocks from Trump Tower. He won't go two blocks for a TV interview but he's going to hang out at the country fairs of Iowa all day, meeting and greeting. Maybe he has some yuge heretofore unknown talent for rubbing palms with the hoi polloi. But there really is nothing in his past to indicate Trump has any real interest in the kind of retail politics a presidential campaign requires. Perot was much the same way; these guys are businessmen, not pols.
#34. To: TooConservative (#26) Trump can go in and buy a lot of campaign help in IA. He'd like to make a big splash there so he might finally pull some money out to spend there. And there are still probably some Iowa hired guns available to hire. Working for these campaigns is something of a small industry to springs to life every 4 years. I can't picture Trump working 14-hours a day in a Scooby bus to hit small events when he can get all the free tv air time he wants and can draw a large crowd wherever he chooses to appear. It's nice to have all that free air time. It means he does not have to buy any airtime. I have not heard one message yet that ended with, "I'm Donald Trump and I approve this message."
#40. To: nolu chan (#34) It's nice to have all that free air time. It means he does not have to buy any airtime. Free airtime will dry up very soon. So will these interviews where Trump is allowed to phone it in. Those affiliates in early primary states live off of this campaign money. With the changes in the 2016 primary schedule, a lot of other states' network affiliates want some sweet campaign ad money too. The networks won't be able to just give Trump a free ride. They ain't gonna give it away much longer even if he is a celeb. Trump will have to pay like anyone else. I think Trump might drive up media ad rates for all candidates in some of these media markets. Of the other candidates, only Bush has enough money to try for a media shutout on Trump. That means going in early enough and buying all the ad time in local media to keep your opponent (Trump) from even having a chance to buy any. Bush has bought up most of the top campaign talent already (Romney just bought them all right off, especially the dirty tricksters with national experience). So the kind of ads they'd go after would be stuff like talk radio (Limbaugh, Vannity, Levin) and the most desirable ad slots on local TV affiliates. A campaign with deep pockets can do a lot of strategy in manipulating ad availability in a small cheap ad market. The only thing that tends to spoil it is other candidates could drop out and then Trump would get a shot at buying their ads (at top dollar of course). These kinds of tactics from well-funded establishment campaigns like a Bush or Romney campaign are the kind of thing that deep pocket support can buy. It is much harder to do this in NH because large parts of the state are part of the Boston media market and it is way too expensive to try to corner the media market there. No doubt, Roger Stone informed Trump of these tactics and many others. So what if Trump went all-in on winning Iowa and he pulled the same stunt on the other candidates and struck first to grab up all the ads (or all the best ones), shutting them out? Man, would they be pissed!
#60. To: TooConservative (#40) Free airtime will dry up very soon. So will these interviews where Trump is allowed to phone it in. As long as it draws viewers, free airtime will be available. Something drew 24M viewers the other night and it was not Bush and the GOPe.
Of the other candidates, only Bush has enough money to try for a media shutout on Trump. That means going in early enough and buying all the ad time in local media to keep your opponent (Trump) from even having a chance to buy any. You must be joking.
Bush has bought up most of the top campaign talent already Now all they need is a marketable candidate and they are all set.
So what if Trump went all-in on winning Iowa and he pulled the same stunt on the other candidates and struck first to grab up all the ads (or all the best ones), shutting them out? Man, would they be pissed! Trump has not had to pay to get his message out and heard. People want to hear it. They showed up by the millions to hear it. Bush's money makes him about as marketable as Romney. I doubt he can even beat Rubio in Florida.
#62. To: nolu chan, TooConservative (#60) What is Trump's intent? What is his agenda?
#63. To: buckeroo (#62) What is Trump's intent? What is his agenda? Selling Donald Trump. Getting Donald Trump elected. All while sucking up all the attention so the other guys appear to have been rendered mute.
#64. To: nolu chan (#63) All while sucking up all the attention so the other guys appear to have been rendered mute. I like it. But what is actually happening is Trump is "neutering" opponents. Even if he were to reap a winning position there is no guarantee for you or me or anyone about a responsible president. But all presidential "candidates" represent problems.
#65. To: buckeroo (#64) But all presidential "candidates" represent problems. WE could pick a random name from the phone book and do as well as we have lately.
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