If there is a How-To-Run-For-President manual, Trump chewed it up, crapped it out and flushed it down a long time ago. He is running in a way we’ve never seen. This is part of his strategy. We’re on page 3 of a topic that’s all about him skipping the debate for crying out loud. As someone noted above, CNN is running all Trump all day. So are other news outlets.
Do you really think he’s afraid of Fox News or Megyn Kelly? Really? Of course not. This is his play. Grabbing the spotlight, yet again. This debate will have the lowest ratings yet of Republican candidate debates and Trump will crow all about it. He will win the debate without even showing up.
Nail on the head, though he may not have been that thoughtful about it. I honestly think he just thinks he doesn’t need the debate, doesn’t want to bother with it, and it feels good to be able to effectively moon the entire system. This won’t hurt him in the slightest in primary/caucus season.
Right, that’s all I’m saying. How his emotional need to be vindictive stacks up against hard-nosed strategic assessment of his election strategy is something we can speculate about all day, but in the end, none of us can read his mind. We can, however, presume that his past history (vicious personal attacks, suing people, etc.) is a pretty good indication of how he thinks.
That depends. What “crowd”, exactly? So far the kind of crowd that goes wild over that kind of schoolyard bullying is the crowd of his slathering followers, and that’s not going to get him elected. And if it causes a large proportion of the general electorate to consider him an untrustworthy, over-the-top out-of-control buffoon who shouldn’t be allowed within a hundred miles of the nuclear button, then it’s bad strategy where vindictiveness has won out over rational thinking.
Are you claiming that he doesn’t have a fragile ego? Because that would truly be amusing! Do I really have to dig up all the examples throughout his career? We’ve already talked about many.
I recently skimmed an online article about Trump that was derived from a series of interviews with him that’s a good illustration of exactly what I’m talking about. Trump only agreed to it because the author’s research assistant had written flattering things about him in the past. During the interview Trump made various veiled threats about the consequences of writing not-nice things about him (he does this all the time!), saying at one point “I probably won’t sue you but nobody will read it” if he said anything critical. Most revealingly, when the author innocently mentioned to one of Trump’s assistants that he had been talking to a certain individual to get more background, and that individual turned out to be someone Trump didn’t like, Trump abruptly terminated the interviews as soon as he found out about it. This author is now persona non grata anywhere around Trump. The man really does act like a very spoiled and hypersensitive six-year-old.
Except you have the order of things backwards. AFAIK, Fox started the retaliatory tweets after Trump had declined to attend the debate. I acknowledge there’s no love lost between Roger Ailes and Trump, but they didn’t initiate this.
Sure, but again, that doesn’t necessarily translate to votes. Here I am writing about Trump, too. The man is fascinating. But he’s also a joke.
It was a win/win calculated move, as all of the exposure he gets only increases his polling stats. The man is an entertainment guru like Vince McMahon in the world of pro wrestling. He received more free coverage and was the #1 story today than if he would have just showed up Thursday with no controversy.
His followers love this stuff, and so do the media, and he believes that any publicity is good publicity.
I have never seen a presidential candidate work the media and laymen so obviously before.
The thing you are failing to grasp, wolfpup, is that Trump is a brand as well as a person. That is his business nowadays. Saying he has a “fragile ego” is akin to saying Disney has a fragile ego. He will attack if his awesome winner personae is attacked publicly. That is not (necessarily) the same as him not taking a jab in person.
You’re referring to his past history of being a successful businessman, succeeding in areas he endeavored to pursue, and making a shit ton of money in the process?
Sure - that’s what the election will be all about. The strategy of wide appeal is not what he is adopting, clearly. I’m not sure this is what he’s doing, but I kind of get the impression he thinks he can capture enough votes by energizing certain demographics, while antagonizing the rest, or perhaps by antagonizing the rest.
You’ll have to define how you are using the term “fragile”. He is certainly reactive. But I don’t think he is crippled or overwhelmed by concerns of his ego. Does lashing out constitute fragility, or hostility, or something else? In any event, I don’t think it much matters.
AFAIK, that’s incorrect. My understanding of the timeline is as follows:
(1) Trump tweeted for his followers to “vote” as to whether he should attend the debate with Kelly on the panel. AIUI, this vote was pretty close even after the later tweets by FOX. (I think he was still going to generously bestow his presence upon them if they kept mum in response to this, just as in the past.)
Yes, it is clear the high-placed cabals which run the conservative media complex in this country have decided that TRUMP is too much of a threat for daring to speak in favour of Social Security and against free trade.
This is exactly as nonsensical as your “Exactly what it says on the tin” answer to my question about the meaning of “kuckservative”. What in the world are you talking about?
I mean that in this scenario regardless of what one thinks of our friend the Donald, he is the lesser evil in the battle to destroy the hold of fusionist conservatism in our country. To put it in very simple analogical terms Trump is Stalin and the Republican Establishment is the Third Reich.
Low maybe because it hasn’t had legs, but Fox is probably going to keep this thing going. Afterall Trump just didn’t run scared from Kelly, in essence he’s said NO to Murdoch/Ailes…they ain’t going quietly into that good night. Afterall this shitshow is more about ratings than it is caring about Americans. As long as people talk about the no show the more stability Megyn has in her job.
