The sow’s ear has still not become a silk purse
Two NY Times reporters look behind the curtain at Trump Campaign World. It’s not a mellow scene.
Back in June family and friends sat him down and told him he had to get a grip.
He would have to stick to a teleprompter and end his freestyle digressions and insults, like his repeated attacks on a Hispanic federal judge. Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman, and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey argued that Mr. Trump had an effective message, if only he would deliver it.
What “effective message”?
Also, of course, “effective” isn’t the same thing as good or useful or productive or workable.
At any rate, he said ok, but it didn’t happen. He got worse instead of better.
Advisers who once hoped a Pygmalion-like transformation would refashion a crudely effective political showman into a plausible American president now increasingly concede that Mr. Trump may be beyond coaching. He has ignored their pleas and counsel as his poll numbers have dropped, boasting to friends about the size of his crowds and maintaining that he can read surveys better than the professionals.
A guy with big crowds has a correspondingly big penis. Scientific fact.
In private, Mr. Trump’s mood is often sullen and erratic, his associates say. He veers from barking at members of his staff to grumbling about how he was better off following his own instincts during the primaries and suggesting he should not have heeded their calls for change.
He broods about his souring relationship with the news media, calling Mr. Manafort several times a day to talk about specific stories. Occasionally, Mr. Trump blows off steam in bursts of boyish exuberance: At the end of a fund-raiser on Long Island last week, he playfully buzzed the crowd twice with his helicopter.
Then he playfully strafed them with his AK-47. Never say he can’t be a fun guy.
But in interviews with more than 20 Republicans who are close to Mr. Trump or in communication with his campaign, many of whom insisted on anonymity to avoid clashing with him, they described their nominee as exhausted, frustrated and still bewildered by fine points of the political process and why his incendiary approach seems to be sputtering.
Well no kidding. He’s stupid and ignorant and conceited, so he’s never going to be anything but bewildered by fine points of the political process, not to mention the fine points of policy.
A reality show star, bewildered by reality.
Bewildered, in short. Lost. Basket case. It’s over time to call YOU’RE FIRED!
Is it too late to persuade a smarter guy like Bloomberg into taking his place? oh.
How couldn’t they see this coming long ago? Yeah, right.
Of course it’s not Trump’s fault that his numbers are falling. It’s because the system is rigged.
Fine points of policy? He has yet to really define any consistent policy, even in broad strokes. He doesn’t do policy; he only does bluster.
When you stage and intervention with a narcissist, you’ve pretty much guaranteed he will double down and also try to find other ways to displease you. nd criticism makes him see you as an enemy.
Aside from reducing taxes in ways that disproportionately benefit the rich, has he suggested any concrete policy?
The promise to build a wall between the US and Mexico seems rather concrete, both literally and figuratively speaking.
Yep and what conclusions can (did) we draw from analysis of that policy?
@Rob, If that question is directed at my comment, first, I never said that it was a *good* policy, just that it was “concrete”.
Actually, I think a lot of Trump’s appeal is based on the way he does provide overly simplistic, concrete policies, asserting that he can Make America Great Again with straight-forward solutions that all the politicians are missing. Since he’s not a politician, he knows better how to really get things done – just look at how successful he has been in all his business ventures (well, don’t look too closely, but at least listen to him boast about them).
Theo, I was kind of agreeing, but then drawing attention to the ‘quality’ of that one policy.
I don’t really regard any of his other ‘policies’ as such. They are slogans completely bereft of any detail and often unconstitutional. They are useful markers as to his ignorance and disgusting persona however.
Rob, I don’t disagree that Trump is ignorant and disgusting, but I’m trying to get some insight into how he has managed to make it this far (and to decide whether to be terrified of how things will end up, or hopeful that enough people will come to their senses). IIRC, you are halfway around the world. On the other hand, though I do not actually live in the US myself, about half my family lives there (some of whom have Mexican ancestry). I travel to the US frequently, and my home is a mere 900 Km from Washington DC.
Theo, for insight I just look at the people in my own society and those I interact with in other countries. Like you I’m fortunate enough to travel for either work or pleasure a fair bit. I don’t see this as being an ‘American’ thing. Sure there are country specific wrinkles, but as many many people have now noted, the trajectory is very much like Germany in the late 1920’s to early 1930’s. For that matter we see a rise in far right groups and a general shift in political discourse throughout the west that creates ‘others’ and proposes simplistic, nationalistic and authoritarian solutions. Often to problems that do not actually exist.
I’ve yet to see anything that isn’t known, understood and easily explained – except for the fact that people (populations) still fall for it. I think there are actually very few people with crystal clear sense of political strategy or moral strength. Almost everyone else is pretty malleable it seems, which is great when they end up agreeing with me! ;-)