Posted on 07/04/2015 5:26:26 AM PDT by lifeofgrace
The mainstream media is descending on The Donald like buzzards on carrion—and their instincts for a fresh kill are rarely wrong. But don’t discount Donald Trump.
Erick Erickson offered sage advice for the tempestuous-tempered billionaire-cum-politician to stay on offense, but I expect that Trump will rebound very soon.
The “stay on offense” advice works best for politicians, but Donald Trump isn’t one. He’s a unique personality that cuts through American culture like a chainsaw—rough, noisy, and with lots of flying pieces.
Trump’s at his best when he’s talking, and fortunately for him, it’s probably his favorite pastime, other than writing one-page “get off my lawn” letters to media CEOs.
Without attempting to extol the virtues of a potential Trump presidency, mostly because it hurts when I try, The Donald brings some heavy firepower to the race, and could be formidable if he figures out how to deploy them properly.
First, the man has incredible name recognition. Nobody other than Hillary Clinton, who’s got the personality of Maleficent, and Jeb Bush, who with every step becomes a human splinter, even comes close. Remember that we (“we” being the readers of political blogs, who actually use the Internet for more than Facebook, SnapChat and cat videos) are rather informed citizens. If I were to ask RedState readers to name the 28* declared Republican candidates for president, most would get the top 10 right.
We’d even get the Democrats right.
But most of America can’t even name their own Senators. 77% in fact, according to the Benenson Strategy Group, which powered, among other brands, Obama for America. Democrats and their media in orbit around the Clinton Death Star count on this. They don’t need to fight [mc_name name='Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)' chamber='senate' mcid='C001098' ] and Scott Walker and Mike Huckabee and [mc_name name='Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)' chamber='senate' mcid='R000595' ] (et al). They only need to fight The Donald, who makes an excellent stand-in for “Republicans” to the great low-information voter pool.
Second, Donald Trump has money. Not just 1%, old-line, Bush money. Not even Teresa Heinz (as in ketchup) Kerry money, and way beyond dirt-poor Clinton money. The Donald is worth somewhere north of $4.1 billion, meaning if he wanted to, he could fund his entire presidential run, from primary to general (should he make it), with his own cash.
Sure, it would leave him 25% poorer, but who couldn’t live comfortably on $3 billion. Plus, Trump is 69 years old and his kids are grown, so it’s not like he’s got to plan for a long retirement.
Third, Trump has cojones. Big, honkin’, make Chris Christie’s Jersey bluster look like a crying kid whose lunch money was stolen, cojones. He says whatever the hell he wants, and has no regrets saying it. It’s like hopey-changey crack for people who distrust government.
And fourth, the biggest point: Trump wants to run the government and he hates the government. If you can’t make political hay these days by hating the government with a billion dollars to spend saying how much you hate it, you deserve to hide your head in a bag.
The other main line conservative candidates don’t hate the government. They are in the government. Governors, senators, congressmen, all partake in the Kabuki dance of lawmaking. They all know how the sausage is made and pretend that it’s not ugly and filled with pig guts.
Democrats see the masses connecting with Trump and they fear it. They don’t fear the immigrant vote or the Hispanic vote, or even the black vote going Republican. Even if that happens, it’s not enough to win an election—at least if you believe Ann Coulter.
“If Romney had gotten 71 percent of the Hispanic vote, he still loses,” Coulter recently said to Bill O’Reilly. “If he got 4 points more of the white vote, he would have won.”
Trump is going to stay in the race, and hopefully avoid really painful missteps like the birther movement (he will leave that to [mc_name name='Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)' chamber='senate' mcid='P000603' ] supporters and their anti-Canadian campaign). If he does, he’s going to be the magnet for liberal pot-shots. And that’s not a bad thing.
Perhaps the other Republican candidates shouldn’t be so quick to ignore and marginalize Trump. Instead maybe they should build him up a bit, because if the Democrats can successfully take down Trump with his cash, name, and message, it won’t be hard for them to tie the rest of the GOP field to that millstone.
Instead of an embarrassment, Donald might just be the great white hope the GOP is looking for.
*Wait, what? 28 declared candidates, that’s right. But nobody’s ever heard of 10 of them, and another 5 or so are jokes.
BEST LINE OF THE DAY:..... w/ every step, Jeb Bush becomes a human splinter.
The alphabet news hacks are pulling out the long knives on all channels this morning trying to put a death blow to Trump over his audacious (actually true) statements that illegals do bad things for the country. How dare he point out that these illegals who are murdering and raping our citizens need to be removed.
They still refuse to point out the damage and destruction that unfiltered illegal entry into this country is doing. “It’s not a story if we don’t report it”, should be displayed on the top line of the newspapers, and on the scrolling news feed of the propaganda news Enemidia!
Ann Coulter was at her best recently -— maybe even topping The Donald.
At her recent Costa Mesa book-signing, screaming latinos invaded the place-—destroying copes of her “Adios America” book.
Ann was typically sanguine: “Well, at least they’re not out molesting 4-year olds,” she observed.
Very astute assessment of the whole situation. Trump has the Libtard heads spinning because if they can’t Paula Deen somebody with shrill rhetoric they have no clue how to proceed.
The Hispanics and Blacks will not vote Republican in any great numbers no matter what they are offered because nobody can top the Dems on offering freebies.
The Republican candidates should be zeroed in on one thing and that is the Repubolican base and the independents.
“one can live comfortably on $3 billion,”
If one is very, very careful.
also a best line
I like him. I heard his speech. Great. As long as he’s not another Perot. He can bring us all together. As president he can unite our party, not like that long eared galloot Perot.
I’m for him... but cautiously.
He may be a human splinter but that doesn't stop Fox News from keeping him on top so he can be in THEIR poll driven debates.
The White Vote is the ONLY vote that matters. If a GOP candidate “gets” that, they will win — easily. If they pander to the non-existent “Hispanic vote” they will lose once again.
Imagine if Bohner had 15 billion and a huge set of balls like trump.
The democrates would love them both.
I disagree a little. I think Trump will get a lot of blue collar votes, immigrants, etc. He has star power. He is unique in the group. Plus, once the campaign is over and he wins, he can bring the best of our best into his cabinet.
I mean Carla Fiorina would be agreat running mate!!!!!
I think Trump’s best function for the slate of candidates who profess to be conservative is to be that voice of conscience that each won’t be, cannot be or is not yet ready to be. That one voice who says what every sane American citizen knows or should know.
Personally, I don’t think he’ll stay in it, but he has been extremely useful in helping me and other conservatives to clearly see which candidates on our side (supposedly) can walk the walk. For that, he is invaluable.
The most recent effect I see is Rubio’s condemnation. Rubio can suck it as well as the rest who condemn him for his illegal alien remarks.
No, their instincts for craven cowardice are rarely wrong - but in this case, they picked on the wrong guy.
He has star power for some like Rosie ODonnel. They both make me want to puke.
Where is Gil Fulbright on the list of candidates???
It would not surprise me if Trump stole a lot of Democrat votes.
You do know Carly is a DREAMer, don't you?
http://www.ontheissues.org/International/Carly_Fiorina_Immigration.htm
One thing I like about Trump in the race is that it forces some to talk about the current mess we’re in. If not for him, we wouldn’t be hearing much.
Negativity index in one’s own party, not saying I put total stock in it since it is a poll from ABC/Washington Post, it’s still interesting to observe:
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