I think Trump knows little or nothing about policy, is unaware of his ignorance, has no political experience and would make a terrible President. I also think he is playing the clown now, creating ridiculously low expectations, and plans to raise his game at a later moment. Older vids of the guy show him in a more thoughtful mode. That doesn’t mean he has the chops to be an effective public diplomat either with Congress or with foreign nations.
The fact that he knows nothing about policy will not phase fans of the conservative electronic media. They don’t really value competence or expertise that much. You get the idea that they get their car fixed at their barber and have their mechanic perform brain surgery. The GOP’s far and away most experienced candidate is polling at about 4%. And he’s even governor of a swing state!
I think there’s something to the NLP interpretation though, whether or not Trump has studied such techniques (I haven’t). Trump talks like he has ADHD, which gives the impression of idiocy. But he has a certain verbal instinct for what works on reality TV and what does not, unlike most people and most politicians (thank God).
To see this, consider Scott Adam’s latest post. CNN asks Trump to comment on the Pope’s latest critique of capitalism. That’s a trap, albeit a mild one. Trump could evade, which looks evasive. Trump could engage which on television looks like, “Trump-capitalism-corruption”, given realistic attention spans. Now skilled politicians know that when you answer a question on television, you don’t answer the question asked but rather the question you wished they asked. That’s press conference 101. Newt Gingrich cracked the code by recognizing that the real way to answer questions during a debate format is to… turn everything into an attack on the media. The crowd loves that.
But Trump operates on a even higher level. Much higher. Trump says, “I’d say ISIS wants to get you. You know that ISIS wants to go in and take over the Vatican? You have heard that. You know, that’s a dream of theirs, to go into Italy.”
Wait whuh? Scott Adams: [INDENT][INDENT]Do you even remember the question anymore?
Now compare the wattage coming from these two thoughts:
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A boring discussion about corruption in capitalism. ([CNN]’s question)
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A mental picture of ISIS taking over the Vatican.
No comparison. Corruption and capitalism are mere concepts that have no visual appeal. The ideas are important yet inert.** But an ISIS overthrow of the Vatican is so visual you wonder why it isn’t already a movie.** And that visual is all anyone will remember of that interview in a week.
Do you still think Trump’s clown act is random?
Read more: http://blog.dilbert.com/post/127158474091/anchors-away#ixzz3jPk4oAPe
[/INDENT][/INDENT] Emphasis added. Trump has terrific television instincts. He’s also wholly unqualified for the Presidency.