In my piece about Sharpton yesterday, I quoted Sharpton talking about how Trump is hard not to like. I agreed that Trump does have a certain charisma.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2016/02/al-sharpton-donald-trump-is-white-don.html
Tom Brown, not surprisingly had something to say about that. He doesn't find Trump remotely likable.
You know who does like Trump-or at least admire him-and has a lot to say about him? It turns out, Scott Adams. Yes, that one, the cartoonist who does the Dilbert comic strips. LOL.
Adams notes that certain people though don't just dislike Trump but are terrified of him-he notes Ezra Klein who recently talked about his terror that Trump could become President.
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/139119223061/why-does-trump-terrify-people
Not everyone likes Trump. There are some who find him likable and some who find him terrifying. Here is someone after Tom and Ezra Klein's heart:
"Turning to the center and making deals to expand Social Security or cut taxes on the poor is one way of gaining respect. But another might be siccing federal law enforcement on critics, like Woodrow Wilson and A. Mitchell Palmer did. Left-wing critics, organizations, and publications — or perhaps even conservative critics, like those at National Review — might find their tax and legal history gone over with a fine-toothed comb, and slammed with trumped-up lawsuits or blackmail. If real praise can't be found, a silence born of fear is a reasonable second-best."
"I genuinely think this is a real possibility. Trump is petty and vindictive enough to want to do it, and contemptuous enough of legal norms to try and get away with it. Such a possibility becomes doubly alarming when one considers the NSA panopticon constructed under the Bush and Obama administrations. Near-total surveillance of electronic communication is a pretty scary tool in the hands of a normal president, let alone a paranoid bully with a messianic complex. Rather unfortunate that Congress didn't reorganize the security apparatus when I told them to."
"So should Trump get the nomination, I'll be putting together a little kitty just in case I have to leg it for Mexico. If I were you, I'd consider doing the same."
http://theweek.com/articles/606919/how-president-trump-rule-america
Of course, one problem for me here is that Ryan Cooper hates Hillary Clinton and so I more or less dismiss everything says as clearly he is totally warped in his outlook. I'm just explaining how I reason!
Scott Adams argues that what Trump is in fact is a master persauder. It turns out that Adams is also a hypnotist-who knew? He thinks that Trump persuasive tactics are something like hypnotism.
He has written vociferously about Trump since August and boasts that he already saw Trump as having staying power since then.
If you check my archives you will see that I started taking Trump seriously back in July. For the record.
Here is a great summation by Adams of the recent fight Trump got into with the Pope. LOL.
"I could write a long essay about this Pope versus Trump situation, but I think it will be funnier to summarize it instead. What follows is – as far as I can tell – an accurate description of what happened."
1. The Pope criticized Donald Trump.
2. The Pope’s credibility declined.
"If this were fiction, no one would believe it."
"I predict that the Pope will issue a public apology to Trump for questioning his faith, as opposed to his policies. [Update: And here it is, sort of.]"
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/139580016696/the-pope-versus-donald-trump
I should add, Adams goes even further than me. He thinks Trump can win and will win the general election in a landslide. I don't see that though I have been saying for a long time he's got a good shot at the GOP nomination.
This Adams post though is very interesting:
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2016/02/al-sharpton-donald-trump-is-white-don.html
Tom Brown, not surprisingly had something to say about that. He doesn't find Trump remotely likable.
You know who does like Trump-or at least admire him-and has a lot to say about him? It turns out, Scott Adams. Yes, that one, the cartoonist who does the Dilbert comic strips. LOL.
Adams notes that certain people though don't just dislike Trump but are terrified of him-he notes Ezra Klein who recently talked about his terror that Trump could become President.
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/139119223061/why-does-trump-terrify-people
Not everyone likes Trump. There are some who find him likable and some who find him terrifying. Here is someone after Tom and Ezra Klein's heart:
"Turning to the center and making deals to expand Social Security or cut taxes on the poor is one way of gaining respect. But another might be siccing federal law enforcement on critics, like Woodrow Wilson and A. Mitchell Palmer did. Left-wing critics, organizations, and publications — or perhaps even conservative critics, like those at National Review — might find their tax and legal history gone over with a fine-toothed comb, and slammed with trumped-up lawsuits or blackmail. If real praise can't be found, a silence born of fear is a reasonable second-best."
"I genuinely think this is a real possibility. Trump is petty and vindictive enough to want to do it, and contemptuous enough of legal norms to try and get away with it. Such a possibility becomes doubly alarming when one considers the NSA panopticon constructed under the Bush and Obama administrations. Near-total surveillance of electronic communication is a pretty scary tool in the hands of a normal president, let alone a paranoid bully with a messianic complex. Rather unfortunate that Congress didn't reorganize the security apparatus when I told them to."
"So should Trump get the nomination, I'll be putting together a little kitty just in case I have to leg it for Mexico. If I were you, I'd consider doing the same."
http://theweek.com/articles/606919/how-president-trump-rule-america
Of course, one problem for me here is that Ryan Cooper hates Hillary Clinton and so I more or less dismiss everything says as clearly he is totally warped in his outlook. I'm just explaining how I reason!
Scott Adams argues that what Trump is in fact is a master persauder. It turns out that Adams is also a hypnotist-who knew? He thinks that Trump persuasive tactics are something like hypnotism.
He has written vociferously about Trump since August and boasts that he already saw Trump as having staying power since then.
If you check my archives you will see that I started taking Trump seriously back in July. For the record.
Here is a great summation by Adams of the recent fight Trump got into with the Pope. LOL.
"I could write a long essay about this Pope versus Trump situation, but I think it will be funnier to summarize it instead. What follows is – as far as I can tell – an accurate description of what happened."
1. The Pope criticized Donald Trump.
2. The Pope’s credibility declined.
"If this were fiction, no one would believe it."
"I predict that the Pope will issue a public apology to Trump for questioning his faith, as opposed to his policies. [Update: And here it is, sort of.]"
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/139580016696/the-pope-versus-donald-trump
I should add, Adams goes even further than me. He thinks Trump can win and will win the general election in a landslide. I don't see that though I have been saying for a long time he's got a good shot at the GOP nomination.
This Adams post though is very interesting:
"The Master Persuader filter, of which I blog, says Trump’s success is based on his persuasion skills. But the more common 2D narrative is that Trump has name recognition and a winning policy with immigration, at least for the Republican base."
"So, is Trump’s success in the campaign because of his powers of persuasion, or is it a combination of name-recognition plus having the most popular view on immigration (for Republicans)? I’ll help you sort that out."
"Trump isn’t a lifetime politician. So as a thought experiment, imagine someone else with name recognition – let’s say actor Rob Lowe – and imagine him running for president with Trump’s immigration plan. How’s that turn out in your mind?"
"Right. Train wreck. The media would eat Rob Lowe for breakfast and regurgitate him for lunch so they can eat him again. Rob Lowe is a talented and good-looking guy, but he wouldn’t last a minute in a cage fight with the press, much less the other candidates."
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/139172970011/policies-and-name-recognition-trump-persuasion
When you think about it, there is truth in this. Name recognition might get you in the door but you can still fall on your face-in fact, the bigger you are, the harder you fall. Think about Clint Eastwood and yelling at the empty chair in 2012.
This was absurd and seen as such. Because he was so well known this didn't somehow become less absurd. If anything, it became even more absurd.
Trump then clearly has some skills beyond simply name recognition. How many non politicians could compete so successfully in this arena?
"Pick any other famous person who – like Trump – is NOT a politician, and try the thought experiment again. Better yet, pick any of the current Republican candidates and imagine them swapping policies with Trump. He gets their policies and they get his. Now wait a month and tell me who is ahead in the polls."
"Still Trump."
"If John Kasich had Trump’s policies, would Kasich be leading the pack? Would I be blogging about him?"
"Probably not."
Actually the best proof of this is despite Kasich's framing himself as the most reasonable GOPer in the room, Kasich actually supports building a wall as well and in 2010 was arguing against birthright citizenship.
"Part of Trump’s persuasion talent involves picking the right policies not only in terms of popularity but in terms of how he can influence that conversation. Trump looks for simple, visual anchors, such as his wall idea. He picked an idea that has legs, guarantees him all the available television time, and for which no one can flank him to his right. None of that is by accident."
"Trump’s policy choices were available to all the candidates. Trump did the best job of picking a winner from the bunch. That is part of the skill of persuasion. As a persuader, you learn to pick your opportunities. Trump can’t change everyone’s mind about everything. But he can sell the hell out of a wall. And later he can soften his position on deportation if needed. We even expect it."
"Compare that to Ted Cruz’ strategy of convincing people that he loves Jesus more than they do. That strategy only takes you so far. From a persuasion standpoint, Cruz painted himself into a corner that he probably can’t get out of in the general election. Trump did not, even though you think he did."
"That talent stack is so strong that Trump could make almost any basket of policies sound good to the public. In fact, he could have run as a Democrat, taken Bernie Sanders’ entire platform, and be leading the polls on that side."
"Ridiculous, you say?"
"If Donald Trump ran as a Democrat, on a platform of universal healthcare and free college tuition – paid entirely by corporate tax-dodgers and China – he would absolutely be leading on the Democrat side."
Actually one thing that has been noted is Trump's 'opportunistic' nature and his generally non-ideological core.
There are all these clips of him praising Hillary Clinton to the Heavens in the past. He has taken all these liberal positions in the past. He is capable of more or less arguing 180 degrees from what he said 5 years ago-heck, he can just as well do this about what he said 5 minutes ago.
In other words there may well be a large amount of elasticity in the policy positions he can take.
If I disagree with Adams on the general, I'd say this is where the locus of difference is:
The elephants in the room are race and gender. I’m the same race and gender as Trump, so I see no risk of him discriminating against people like me. But to women and minorities, he probably seems unpredictable, unsympathetic, and powerful. That’s the scariest combo.
"So, is Trump’s success in the campaign because of his powers of persuasion, or is it a combination of name-recognition plus having the most popular view on immigration (for Republicans)? I’ll help you sort that out."
"Trump isn’t a lifetime politician. So as a thought experiment, imagine someone else with name recognition – let’s say actor Rob Lowe – and imagine him running for president with Trump’s immigration plan. How’s that turn out in your mind?"
"Right. Train wreck. The media would eat Rob Lowe for breakfast and regurgitate him for lunch so they can eat him again. Rob Lowe is a talented and good-looking guy, but he wouldn’t last a minute in a cage fight with the press, much less the other candidates."
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/139172970011/policies-and-name-recognition-trump-persuasion
When you think about it, there is truth in this. Name recognition might get you in the door but you can still fall on your face-in fact, the bigger you are, the harder you fall. Think about Clint Eastwood and yelling at the empty chair in 2012.
This was absurd and seen as such. Because he was so well known this didn't somehow become less absurd. If anything, it became even more absurd.
Trump then clearly has some skills beyond simply name recognition. How many non politicians could compete so successfully in this arena?
"Pick any other famous person who – like Trump – is NOT a politician, and try the thought experiment again. Better yet, pick any of the current Republican candidates and imagine them swapping policies with Trump. He gets their policies and they get his. Now wait a month and tell me who is ahead in the polls."
"Still Trump."
"If John Kasich had Trump’s policies, would Kasich be leading the pack? Would I be blogging about him?"
"Probably not."
Actually the best proof of this is despite Kasich's framing himself as the most reasonable GOPer in the room, Kasich actually supports building a wall as well and in 2010 was arguing against birthright citizenship.
"Part of Trump’s persuasion talent involves picking the right policies not only in terms of popularity but in terms of how he can influence that conversation. Trump looks for simple, visual anchors, such as his wall idea. He picked an idea that has legs, guarantees him all the available television time, and for which no one can flank him to his right. None of that is by accident."
"Trump’s policy choices were available to all the candidates. Trump did the best job of picking a winner from the bunch. That is part of the skill of persuasion. As a persuader, you learn to pick your opportunities. Trump can’t change everyone’s mind about everything. But he can sell the hell out of a wall. And later he can soften his position on deportation if needed. We even expect it."
"Compare that to Ted Cruz’ strategy of convincing people that he loves Jesus more than they do. That strategy only takes you so far. From a persuasion standpoint, Cruz painted himself into a corner that he probably can’t get out of in the general election. Trump did not, even though you think he did."
"That talent stack is so strong that Trump could make almost any basket of policies sound good to the public. In fact, he could have run as a Democrat, taken Bernie Sanders’ entire platform, and be leading the polls on that side."
"Ridiculous, you say?"
"If Donald Trump ran as a Democrat, on a platform of universal healthcare and free college tuition – paid entirely by corporate tax-dodgers and China – he would absolutely be leading on the Democrat side."
Actually one thing that has been noted is Trump's 'opportunistic' nature and his generally non-ideological core.
There are all these clips of him praising Hillary Clinton to the Heavens in the past. He has taken all these liberal positions in the past. He is capable of more or less arguing 180 degrees from what he said 5 years ago-heck, he can just as well do this about what he said 5 minutes ago.
In other words there may well be a large amount of elasticity in the policy positions he can take.
If I disagree with Adams on the general, I'd say this is where the locus of difference is:
The elephants in the room are race and gender. I’m the same race and gender as Trump, so I see no risk of him discriminating against people like me. But to women and minorities, he probably seems unpredictable, unsympathetic, and powerful. That’s the scariest combo.
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/139119223061/why-does-trump-terrify-people
That is, I think, what will ultimately be Trump's undoing.
Yeah, I think Adams is smoking the good stuff on the general.
ReplyDeleteAnd although Glenn Beck is vehemently anti-Trump, IMO, it's precisely because of people like Glenn Beck that Trump is able to do well in the first place. Here he is again, having another tizzy fit:
http://www.mediaite.com/election-2016/glenn-beck-america-will-undergo-violent-revolution-if-we-elect-hillary-or-rubio/
The bit about Trump siccing the government on his critics is exactly what Erick Erickson fears. In fact, if Trump is elected, the one thing I hope he does do is deport Erickson back to Sweden because clearly he's not a real American with a name like that. Erickson should feel very miserable in cold atheist Sweden, where nobody cares about Jebus.
ReplyDelete