Posted on 09/25/2015 11:14:04 AM PDT by Steelfish
Four Easy Steps for Beating Donald Trump by HENRY OLSEN September 25, 2015.
The Republican elites are all in a Twitter titter about whether Donald Trump can be defeated. They needn’t worry. Beating Trump will be as easy as counting backward from four to one.
Four bankruptcies, three wives, two parties, one big problem for America. That six-second tagline to an ad sums up why, when the chips are down, the Donald’s getting fired. This mantra will take Trump down because his appeal rests on trust. Voters angry with elites for various reasons trust that Trump will have their backs in office. But the 4-3-2-1 line of attack shows why exactly the opposite is true.
“Four bankruptcies” will shake Trump’s support among the key Republican faction, the establishment conservative. These voters tend to be small-business people and middle-range executives, and nothing is more important to them than stability of character. Their businesses and careers depend on being able to count on employees to come to work, contractors to pay their bills, and bosses to treat them fairly.
Trump’s bankruptcies are poison for these voters because they were all strategic moves that threw people like them under the bus. When the chips were down, Trump sacrificed his business allies to keep his millions and start over. Nothing will scare a small-business person or an executive more than the thought that there but for the grace of God go I.
“Three wives” are also, at heart, about trust rather than morality. To be sure, Christian conservatives looking at Trump should worry about a man who has twice been in violation of Jesus’ prohibition (Matthew 19:5–9, if Mr. Trump would like the Bible verse) against divorce except in cases of sexual immorality. But women in general will also be turned off by Trump’s romantic antics. They might well wonder whether his relationships with women are a positive indication that he will he be faithful and attentive to their political needs through thick and thin. The story of Carolyn Kepcher reinforces both lines of attack. A brainy, beautiful blond, Carolyn was the real breakout star from the early seasons of The Apprentice. But according to press reports, Trump could bear no one but himself gaining public adulation, so he fired her in favor of his daughter, Ivanka. The lesson was clear: Anyone can be fired if it helps The Donald.
Repeat after me: four bankruptcies, three wives, two parties, one big problem for America. “Two parties” points out for loyal Republicans and movement conservatives alike that Trump treats parties and policy positions like toys to be used and discarded at his pleasure.
He’s been a Democrat, an independent, a Republican, and briefly sought the Reform-party nomination for president in 2000. He’s been pro-choice and pro-life, pro-Clinton and anti-Clinton, pro–single payer and anti-Obamacare. There’s neither rhyme nor reason for his shifts: The only thing that explains them is his constant pursuit of the one thing that really matters, the glory of Donald Trump. All of these facts add up to one big problem for America.
Most of Trump’s backers believe that the biggest thing wrong about America is that no one in government is working for them. But Trump isn’t the elite guy who’s switched sides, he’s the elite guy par excellence whose pursuit of his own wealth and fame leaves everyone else in the dust. He’s not only not the solution to America’s problems, he’s the biggest embodiment of those problems.
Trump will still have his backers after this barrage, but someone who has risen fast can also fall fast. About one sixth of the GOP electorate has gone from disliking Trump six weeks ago to liking him now. This soft support is the difference between an annoying but harmless Trump sitting at 15–18 percent and a terrifying Trump sitting at 30–35 percent. These lines of attack will remind soft supporters exactly why their initial instincts about the Donald were right.
Repeat after me: four bankruptcies, three wives, two parties, one big problem for America. Say it enough times, and soon we’ll be talking about who among the remaining contenders can fill the big man’s shoes. —
Henry Olsen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and the co-author of the forthcoming book The Four Faces of the Republican Party: The Fight for the 2016 Presidential Nomination (Palgrave, November 2015).
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/424613/donald-trump-defeated-four-steps
Quite frankly, nobody really knows anyone else’s positions. Seems Trump has put more out there than the rest.
I would like a full position paper on immigration from Cruz. If he has one.
You are correct, sir.
That's like the nerd that when losing would take his ball and go home. Have you ever had ANY friends?
I bet Trump will win.
Another poster mentioned that maybe the dems don’t really want it this time. Let the GOP win and blame the GOP when it all comes out.
Whoever gets in is going to have a massive disastrous mess to mop up.
The dems don’t really have anyone and the gopers are pushing ¿Jeb?
Maybe neither side really wants it.
Agree with your sentiments re: Carson except you left off the part about him being rabidly anti-Second Amendment
Wait a minute...National Review is satire? s/
Ah! I forgot that one.
I get so frustrated when people are fooled by Carson’s ‘soft spoken’ religious crap and don’t look at his record.
He’s HORRIBLE.
bfl
I know. Carly too. My thoughts are: Trump/Cruz or Cruz/Trump. Otherwise I stay home.
Conservative media: FR, Drudge, Rush, Hannity, Levin, Savage!
Olsen, you are a POS scribbler hooked on publisher’s welfare.
Exactly my thought too .. we’ve already been over this territory .. what is it the DemocRATS say, “This is OLD NEWS” ..???
Rubio’s ears are way too big for his head. Christ he looks like some 16-year-old eagle scout in a suit.
The Republican elites are all in a Twitter titter about whether Donald Trump can be defeated. They needn’t worry. Beating Trump will be as easy as counting backward from four to one. Four bankruptcies, three wives, two parties, one big problem for AmericaIf only you peons had a nuanced, well-educated understanding, like your betters at National Review. /s
Listen to your enemy when he tells you his order of battle. Then use it to destroy him.
They don't know who he is talking to, like Cruz, Carson, Generals, Senators, Representatives, his people...
It's not the way this election game is played, it's always been about their rules, their people, on and on...
And now that we have shown today we mean business with Boehner being booted out, and Trump still going up in the polls, they are brain fried, so the only thing left for them is to slander, lie, do anything to try and get people's attention, except now that is getting really tiring and we aren't reading and when we do, they don't like what we say...
We aren't watching t.v. like we used to, we aren't reading papers like we used to, we are free to do whatever we want on the internet and they can't push their agenda anymore...actually I'm loving every second of this election....
" the most thorough vetting of our candidates possible” means the certain destruction of all viable candidates. The Democrats will see to that, if they can. You need not trouble yourself over the possibility that we will elect a Republican Obama.But it certainly is true that we have come down a long way from when it was an issue to some that Jane Wyman had divorced Reagan, to the point where two remarriages is no biggie. And from when Sir Walter Scott, refusing bankruptcy and even the charity of rich friends, made it his life’s work to pay off his debts after a financial reversal.
One FREEPer put it this way:
Me no care. Me want wall.
Very good observation, Michael.
A man on the moon? We can't do that.
Protect babies in the womb? We can't do that.
Close our borders? We can't do that.
Cut government? We can't do that.
Are you on the right website?
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