The media is quoting Trump. If that makes him look like a joke it’s because he is a joke.
Does Trump have supporters? Sure he does. There are people who believe the moon landings are a hoax. There are people that vaccinations causes autism. There are people who believe the government blew up the World Trade Center. And there are people who think Donald Trump should be President. All this proves is that there are stupid people in the world.
Nonsense. People aren’t predicting Trump’s about to stop. The big question people are debating is whether he’ll run as an Independent in order to stay in the spotlight longer.
As pointed before it is because in reality many in the media know how to squeeze the money out of a campaign.
There was an even longer piece on the Ramos incident with Trump from the Young Turks that pointed at the mainstream media not looking at what Trump did bad, but just at what Ramos did wrong. The host of the Turks made the point that the media did only look as it was kowtowing to Trump, and the reason is simple, the narrative is set to squeeze the supporters of the current leader. Ramos upset the apple cart and so the talking heads only could say “what are you doing?” “do not upset the leader!” “bow down”
Next stop? Carson if the polls keep up.
Trump is this elections Hope and Change.
I have absolutely no use for Donald Trump, and I pretty much agree with every criticism of the man.
But I see why he’s succeeding, and the explanation is pretty simple: NEITHER major political party is addressing issues that matter to wide segments of working class America. Indeed, both parties have treated dissent from certain pieties as off-limits.
It should be self-evident that EVERY policy decision has winners AND losers, correct? And even when a decision GENERALLY benefits a nation, there are going to be people who suffer as a result of that decision, correct?
NORMALLY, at least one of the major parties would address the concerns of those “losers,” those suffering people. But in recent years, those people’s concerns have not been addressed. They haven’t even been treated as legitimate.
For example, even if NAFTA has been a net benefit to most Americans, the fact remains that there are many other Americans who’ve lost good jobs when their employers have moved operations to Mexico. It does no good to tell them that, on balance, things have gotten better. For THEM it’s been an unmitigated disaster. Swingline Staplers used to manufacture their products in my old neighborhood. Now, they make everything in Mexico. Can you NOT understand why the hundreds of people who used to work at Swingline are angry? They used to have high-paying, union jobs with benefits. Now, they’re scrambling to keep lower paying jobs without benefits. Is it so hard to sympathize with them?
Donald Trump may be a jerk… strike that, he IS a jerk, but can you really not see why the guys who used to work at Swingline are cheering his message?
Those workers were mostly straight-ticket Democrat voters, but the Democrats no longer have any interest in protecting blue-collar Americans. And the GOP elite, as exemplified by Jeb Bush, like them their cheap labor. So, where else are such voters to turn, if not to the jerk? The leadership of both parties is dismissing working class Americans’ concerns as racist paranoia. If mainstream politicians won’t address the issues these people care about, of COURSE they’ll go for the phony, BS-spouting demagogue with the bad hair!
It’s not even the question of “addressing the issues”. It’s gone past that. After decades and decades of politicians “addressing the issues” during the campaigns, then not doing anything about the issues after they are elected, people don’t trust one word that comes out of a politician’s mouth - even when/if they are “addressing” something.
So they go with the gut. And the “gut” and experience tells them to dismiss professional politicians as inveterate liars and scoundrels. It is not a coincidence that the three leading candidates in Iowa right now - Trump, Carson and Fiorina, together accounting for 56% of the polled Republicans, have not ever held a political office.
I bet if someone with big name recognition, high charisma and no political experience was running on Democrat side, he’d be trouncing Hillary in polls right now.
OK, so?
Could you maybe name two or three of these political advocates in reporters’ bylines (sorry - closest I could do to ‘wolves in sheeps’ clothing’), describe the nature of each one’s past political advocacy generally, and how their coverage of Trump fits into it?
Because so far, there’s no way to tell if you’ve got a valid point, or whether you’re just spouting off nonsense.
These top it:
Donald Trump & white America’s anxiety: The political throes of a forgotten country
Donald Trump’s Nixonian populism: Making sense of his grab bag of nativism & welfare statism
There’s yer “tangible American nationalism.”
I’m trying to decide if the schadenfreude from Trump getting elected would be worth enduring Trump getting elected 
So… Republicans like Ben Carson because they’re racist?
Nonsense. Every politician of both parties has been addressing major issues. But here’s the thing about major issues: they’re big complicated problems that need big complicated solutions.
And some people reject that. They want simple answers - and they’ll accept simple answers even if they’re wrong. So Trump comes along with a bunch of simple answers and there are fools that want to believe him.
Get back to me when the Republicans actually elect Carson to office.
The good news is…Trump doesn’t have the stamina, energy to maintain his pitch for the long road that follows. Eventually Trump’s trumpet will go flat. And he will become a footnote.
The people who support Trump don’t actually support Trump’s positions. He’s ok with abortion, he is ok with tax increases, he’s ok with a single payer healthcare system. He’s from friggin’ New York City, for christsakes! A careful review of Trump will show that he is, at the least, a moderate, and possibly even a liberal!
But he’s also a bully who has no qualms about saying rude things to people. And he has enough money to get away with it without ever needing to apologize.
This, in my opinion, is why he has support. He appeals to people who (because of lack of education, opportunity, or personal legacy) have no power themselves. Their boss tells them what to do at work, their preachers tell them how to behave at home, news pundits tell them what to think about the world, and far more powerful people lead the social consciousness.
In short, they feel powerless. Which makes them afraid. Afraid that foreigners will take away what little career they have. Afraid that the government will take away their guns. Afraid that gays will make them queer.
And, while all of this is going on, they hear that other people (minorities) are deserving of “special” treatment (that is, respect and accommodation). Which makes them angry and resentful.
So when a guy stands up and talks down to the powers that be, he reaches that inner desire to tell all of the “special” minorities to go fuck themselves. And tell the people in charge to shove it. And tell the politicians that they are idiots.
They wish they could be that guy. They want to be powerful and important, and they want people to ask them about the important decisions of the day. Trump satisfies this angst…for now.
But if Trump ever has to talk actual policy, and give actual details, they will drop him in droves as they realize that he doesn’t really have their back. He’s a businessman with an international reach who cares about the bottom line. And when that becomes apparent, they’ll realize that he is just another bigwig who is telling them to shut up and listen to orders. And they’ll go back to being pissed off at the world, frustrated with their impotence.
Well, that and his father’s hundreds of millions of dollars and New York real estate empire.
Sez you.
The media outlets have been discussing when Trump’s campaign will end. They don’t understand how it could have lasted as long as it has. In reality, the media outlets don’t understand why so many of their viewers are ignoring the media outlets advocacy. Don’t they understand that the media outlets knows all? Choosing to ignore the advocacy of the media outlets can be a fatal attraction. They will not be ignored.
*But questions are gathering around the unlikely GOP front-runner, despite his success in confounding pundits and his display of unforeseen political instincts that have forced the media to treat the bombastic reality show star they once viewed as a punch line as a genuine White House contender.
In particular: Just how long can The Donald keep this up?
Can a campaign prospering at the intersection of politics, celebrity and self-publicity with an incendiary social media strategy exploiting public disdain for establishment politicians sustain momentum through the six long months before the first nominating votes are cast?*
Plus the family’s political connections, mob connections, and the government bailouts that saved him from total ruin.
True. But sometimes complexity is used as a shield by politicians to avoid solving problems. One reason immigration problems cause a lot of anger is because the political class could do more but just doesn’t want to. They actively go out of their way to not enforce the law. In the drug war, the federal government expects state cooperation. With immigration, they want them to stay out of it. We have something like 5 laws passed mandating biometric entry/exit systems. They have yet to be implemented. Almost all Americans recognize that we can’t deport 12 million people and favor some sort of path to legalization. But we can prevent a new 12 million from entering, and we can deport the most undesirable of that 12 million(the felons and recent border crossers).
Because a simple answer delivered with conviction is better than gobbledygook meant to excuse inaction. The political class only wants one thing: amnesty. Everything else is just rube bait, to be pulled away like Lucy’s football.
And it’s not as if liberals don’t rely on simplistic slogans. “We can end poverty! And we can do it just by giving people money!” Then there’s both parties constantly saying they want to “eradicate racism”, which is about as likely as eradicating rudeness and sarcasm. Racism is the perfect example of a complex problem that liberals treat as the simplest imaginable.
I agree with all of this.
Trump is like the mean kid in your fifth grade class. He talks back to the teacher, picks on other kids, and is a sore loser on the kickball diamond. But everyone eagerly awaits being invited to his sleepovers and birthday parties. Because he’s rich. And if you’re in his inner circle, that means he’ll stick up for you when you guys move into middle school–where the social hierarchy is sure to get all screwy. As long as you’ve got Mr. Rich Kid on your side, then you’ve got nothing to fear. Plus, he talks back to the teacher. That shit is hilarious!
Also, Trump makes presidential politics seem so easy. Fuck the complexities of foreign diplomacy and global climate change. It’s all about IMMIGRATION. Let’s talk about how the brown people are taking all the jobs. We can’t understand the other stuff without listening to NPR…and what the hell would want to do that? But we see them brown people all the time. Let’s get 'em!!
If I didn’t actually live in the US, I’d love for Donald Trump to win. Trainwrecks are always fun to watch.
LOL - Trump plays the Willie Horton card against Jeb Bush!