# Could a smarter and more savvy Trump succeed as much as the real thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 17, 2017, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-smarter-and-more-savvy-trump-succeed-as-much-as-the-real-thing/784608 "2017-04-17T07:04:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 5
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-smarter-and-more-savvy-trump-succeed-as-much-as-the-real-thing/784608/5 "2017-04-18T06:15:50Z")
OP, are you referring to the first bit of [my post?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20142600&postcount=40) > [@Re the 2016 POTUS election 5 months later are there any "lessons" for the Dems going forward?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-the-2016-potus-election-5-months-later-are-there-any-lessons-for-the-dems-going-forward/784510/40): > > Trumpism isn’t a short term problem. Democrats will need to figure out how to fight it after he’s gone. The right is well practiced in class rhetoric, but Trump took it to another level. Imagine if a competent politician followed the blue print, like someone who doesn’t insult gold star families, women, and minorities, or someone who can talk in complete sentences. My “competent Trump” wouldn’t be a boring Republican hack like Jeb or Rubio. He would still be boisterous, anti-PC, and revel in taking a torch to the establishment, but he would avoid landmines that hurt and embarrass him. Or he could just be a better person not plagued by stories of sex scandals, cheating on his wife, or stiffing workers. One could argue some landmines actually helped him. Maybe saying McCain isn’t a hero just because he got captured signals that he won’t bow and scrape to RINOs. Or you could say there were so many dumb statements they inoculated him, e.g. “Hey man, that’s just Trump being Trump!” It might also depend on which narrative you favor: Trump won because America is so racist and misogynist versus Trump won because of economic populism. He savaged Democrats for supporting NAFTA and TPP, being Wall St. toadies, and importing immigrants for cheap labor and votes. That’s the sort of nationalist rhetoric Democrats need an answer for, because they didn’t have any good ones last time. Go ahead and defend NAFTA and say how great it is and cite all the academic sources you like, just don’t expect to win the places it affected. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-smarter-and-more-savvy-trump-succeed-as-much-as-the-real-thing/784608)._