++This afternoon I watched Chris Hedges on the Cult of the Celebrity and him talk about how the Obama brand was damaged. Then Ted Nugent appeared on Infonews to say,"President Obama is a freedom-hating,American hating punk President."
++It appears Obama Hate is in full throttle for a host of reasons--almost all emotional and racist-tinged.
++Then the Donald appears. Watch out. The New York Times did a study which should appear tomorrow that analyzes the language Trump uses and says he is better than the demagogues of old.
++Rachel Maddow made a big deal that Trump has been interrupted ten times by Black Lives Matter and walked off the stage. He had already talked for 50 minutes when he did that. He got clips out of it with African-American students singing "He'll build a Wall, The Wall Will be Tall, and the Wall will protect us all." And e got the woman asking him about celibate Syrian refugees. Only Rachel and democratic websites got Black Lives Matter protesting.
++The Donald shows up in Iowa. While his numbers may be exaggerated,he draws crowds all over the country the size of which dwarfs other candidates, even Bernie Sanders.
++He is the epitome of Chris Hedges "celebrity culture". The crowd is comfortable with the way he speaks and accepts him insulting the other candidates. He is tapering off on the others except his favorite Lindsey Graham whom he thinks is stupid and sits with John McCain like "Their bobsey twins". He keeps ribbing Jeb by reading his poll numbers and stays with his low energy line. That is the new dig at Hillary Clinton. She takes off from the campaign trail and rests. She committed so many illegal acts that the Democrats are protecting her. She is so tired that her ambassador in Benghazi keeps sending her emails but she doesn't have the energy to answer them.
++All is delivered to laughter. The audience doesn't mind what he says isn't true. He can deliver a line.
++They don't care whether he is rich. That means he is not bought like the others. He even talks about Rubio's rich donors and how he will be a puppet.
++He can even lampoon himself with the Wall. Now he is going to build it higher than the Great Wall in China.
++He repeats the right's line that if people in Paris and California had guns the story would be different. He claims he is an NRA me member but his sons are better shots.
++He talks about the United States getting ripped off by everyone. Today it was Japan and China. He works over the crowds feeling of being victims.
++He says that he would fight ISIS first and later deal with Assad. He thinks going after Assad is stupid. He repeats that he warned about the Iraq war and here he talks in a language that makes commonsense.
++He tells the crowd that ISIS is attacking and beheading "their bother Christians" like it is the Middle Ages.
++He tells them that the other candidates spend hundreds of thousands on polls but he just reads the one's printed. He pulls the curtain back on how politicians take their positions using them and then talks about Jeb trying to figure out whether the Iraq War was good or bad.
++He says that he isn't politically correct because he talks without notes and not with a teleprompter like Obama. He manages to get that across better than all the teleprompter jokes by Republicans the last six years.
++He goes strong for almost an hour.Nothing he says fits conveniently into a Fact Check or gaffe machine. He is unfiltered and like the figure the audience knows from television but folksier. He likes the crowd as much it likes him. He feeds off the applause. He could speak forever.
++He makes a virtue that he doesn't speak with a script. You think you are encountering a real person and he is speaking to you. His slogan "Make America Great Again." is repeated periodically throughout the speech and is wildly applauded.
++And he can be candid. He warns the audience that the Democrats have a structural advantage in a national election. Other Republicans don't tell them that. He also talks about the Silent Majority and then critiques the term. He is self-aware.And it is that attribute that makes him effective and dangerous in the general election.
++If you are expecting a Democrats with policy papers,Trump repeats his talking points and then says "trust me".
++Steve Benen wrote early in the Obama years that the Republicans had become policy-less. Trump is the inevitable consequence.
++I don't buy Chris Hedges' take on President Obama but with the Donald "the culture of celebrity" applies perfectly.
++The Donald said that he would erase all of President Obama's executive orders and said President Obama was the worst President in our history. He basically was dismissive of Obama and didn't rant about him like Cruz and Rubio.
++Trump did an analysis of what happens when he is attacked. He worked through Rick Perry, Scott Walker,Jeb. He chided people like George Will who without his glasses would look like an idiot. Glasses was a motif in this speech.
++He is an effective speaker even if you don't like what he says because it is too simplistic. Remember the Republicans getting hysterical about Ronald Reagan hand the prospects he would win the presidency. I remember they had to have small gatherings to reassure people. And no,they didn't believe he could be President.
++Trump is a less canned candidate than Reagan. Reagan ran with his little note cards he had created over decades. The antidotes were always the same. People forget he was almost effeminate and that made him less threatening. Reagan had his own political history which the Donald speaks about in his interviews. And he was a real actor.
++I used to practice something that Reagan did . He never left a room filled with people with his back to anyone. It's an art but one learned from movies.
++The Donald knows media and he knows the American audience which has changed over the years. The other Republican candidates don't. The camera does nothing for Cruz. Rubio does sweat too much as the Donald always mentions. Carson looks like he's own drugs. The Donald is the only generating energy.
++Howard Fineman did a piece in the Huffington Post about how Hope is lacking in this election. He quotes Chris Matthews that candidates that project the sunny side win. But maybe not this year.
++The Donald has already said the "American Dream Has Died." He already warns that we are one election away from being a third world country. But it seems to me he conveys energy--which in this year's election is a positive.
++The GOP establishment is nervous as they were with Reagan coming on the national scene. They don't know where they can put the hooks into Trump.
++We can write about the demographics but they won't kick into 2020 when 90 million millenials will be of voting age. Unless the Democrats can motivate the Obama coalition,this might get tight.
++How do you actually combat Trump? None of the Republicans can. He made fun of John Kasich's ad likening him to a Nazi. But he does it in a way you have no idea about its content.
++The New York Times and the Washington Post are beginning to go after his lies. But they also went after Reagan's exaggerations. The excuse is that it is to make a larger point. Like African-Americans are freeloaders but I can'y say it. So the Post and Times reader tut-tuts about this but the average voter ignores them.
++And the GOP has picked up that the Donald is a tweeter and a proficient one while the others aren't. Rubio and Cruz, younger candidates don't even have their social media operation up and running.
++Trump has spent .22 million on television ads, Jeb has spent $30 million.Jeb is polling at 3% while the Donald is over 30%. Now Jeb is going to make 30 minute ads with his SuperPac money to re-introduce himself. So of you can't stand 30 seconds of Jeb, how are you going to like him better as 30 minutes. Aargh!
++This election doesn't seem to be following the rule books. So be warned,the Donald is not a passing fancy. Remember when he was going to quit and that his polls would drop.
++Watching him tonight. I still fear a Ted Cruz over the Donald.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment