Given his political history, Trump may be the only Republican candidate that doesn’t believe his own bullshit. Cruz and Rubio are honest in their beliefs which is not necessarily a good thing. I suspect President Trump may be a moderate - or at least as close as a Pub can get to moderate. Which leads me to
Trump is a pragmatist. He may realize that the only way for a Republican to have a chance of being President is to pander to the base in the primaries (deport all Browns, shoot Muslims in the face, Obama is Kenyan for “anti-christ”, etc.) and then swing sharply to the middle after getting the nomination.
I so badly want to see Presidential Apprentice to pick the VP. “Sarah, you’re fired!”
I hope that 1 and 2 are the reality, but I don’t have confidence in that. Just because his campaign promises are bullshit doesn’t mean that what he really wants to do isn’t bullshit also. I love the way he’s shaking things up, but I can’t see myself voting for any of the big 3 candidates (which sadly could be big 4 or more, just because Trump is dominating the GOP right now doesn’t mean that will hold out over time).
C: “Donald, I seem to recall at my last birthday party you mentioned LIKING Mexicans”
T:“Mexican food! You were serving fajitas!”
C:“That’s not how I recall it”
T:“Ok, maybe Salma Hayek was part of the conversation as well”
C:“Oh yeah, that was it. Her dad was Lebanese, you know”
T:“No kidding? Didn’t know that”
C:“That was a fun party though”
T:“Yeah, thanks for the invite”
Moderator:“Excuse me candidates, if we can get back on track. The question was about the federal minimum wage…”
I actually think 1 and 2 might be true, but that only scares me because I think the big step three in his head and heart is, if elected, to simply use the office to create an America that’s even more favorable to himself and his cohorts. Obviously, that’s been a frequent theme in politics, but I think Trump might actually be effective at it – and “smart” enough to keep himself legally protected.
I genuinely think the guy sees the country as a big money-making machine, and he is concerned solely with making sure the output nozzle is comfortably tucked into his pocket.
No, he’s not solely concerned with that. He’s also concerned with making himself the center of attention and feeding his already-overinflated ego. And that’s much worse. Most of what he could do to enrich his bank account would require the cooperation of Congress, and could be undone once the nation and government came to their senses. But there are plenty of things a President could do unilaterally to get attention, some of which could not not be undone.
Here is why I would vote for Trump. If I were drunk as anything and had just snorted a fat rail of blow off a hooker’s cleavage, I might just think “hell, let’s just shake up politics, forget everything I know about what is right or honest.”
There are reasons to vote for Trump. They just aren’t very good ones.
You’re forgetting the final component of Trumps motivation, namely to punish those that he thinks have slighted him, and when you’ve got the entire military and economic might of the United states backing you up, you can punish them hard.
Heh… heheh… yeah… um, hey Don, you know all those things I’ve been calling you? Bozo, Captain Combover, sphincter-mouth… you know it’s all in good fun, right?
The only way I think this might be true is that a belief in bullshit implies some time spent reflecting on whether it’s true. Trump, to the extent that he’s ever reflected on anything, seems to believe any old bullshit that comes out of his mouth. His belief system seems to be, “I said it, I believe it, that settles it.”
Do you have any reason for thinking he believes something other than his bullshit?
If that’s true, then he’s running a very dishonest campaign and I have no interest in voting for someone like that.
I have no way of knowing how Trump will actually govern because he has no experience and no record. I can only go on what he tells the voters. I know all candidates bullshit and make promises they can’t keep. But Trump’s bullshit sinks to a new low IMO. At least when Ted Cruz says something moronic you know he actually means it, which is a good thing because then I know to stay the hell away from him.
Trump thinks the crowds are cheering him on in support of his outstanding position. It’s more like a crowd that gathers when someone is threatening to jump off a bridge. They aren’t there because the like the jumper.
That is as easily as delusional as any Trump supporter you imagine. Get a grip on reality, he is speaking and connecting with actual people. The people cheering aren’t all doing it ironically. Ignore this at your peril.
It is a shame so many moderate or liberal intellectuals on here and other forums are afraid of Trump for being a conservative Republican, or dare I say a racist fascist, when there is evidence that shows him as a true Independent or a Progressive or a Liberal Republican or a Conservative Democrat or just a capitalist businessman/entertainer with no political identity.
We are talking about someone who was with the Reform Party and is buds with Jesse Ventura and Howard Stern.
Both The Washington Post and National Review label him as a populist.
Absolutely. They’re cheering him because he has the audacity - and the wherewithal - to tell the established, boring (to boring minds) system to go to hell. Trump doesn’t care that his TV show is toast, he doesn’t care that his pageant is in the shitter, he doesn’t care about much of anything. He’s a damn billionaire with a hot wife, and he’s on top of the world whether you like it or not. He is to 2016 politics what Steve Austin was to 1996 pro wrestling. He’s playing the anti-hero bad guy and they’re eating it up.
Will it work long term? Beats me. This is pretty much unprecedented, at least in the US. Even Schwarzenegger had a veneer of thoughtfulness and responsibility. Trump has cut that cord entirely, and shown absolutely no shame. Trump is riding this thing as hard as he can, and that succeeds with a certain slice of the population. It’s no accident that his strongest source of support is among high school dropouts.