Posted on 06/06/2016 11:28:31 AM PDT by LS
I have been ruminating on Trump's success with the media for many months. Why don't things "stick" to Trump that would doom other candidates?
The latest "controversy" with insisting that a Hispanic judge may have an agenda finally clarified this for me.
First, if one believes anything the Left says, then we MUST believe that everything is seen through a prism of race and class and gender---otherwise why even have a "wise Latina" on the USSC? Why would she bring anything that a "wise" Pole, or a "wise" Fiji-an, or a "wise" Navajo wouldn't bring? The Left is hoisted on its on petard with this. Having argued for preferences, quotas, special appointments for decades, now they cannot with any degree of seriousness claim that such people are NOT biased. So Trump is right.
Second, though, is more important, namely how does Trump get away with being right? Other Republicans are turned into quivering blobs of Jello under the accusation of "racism." I think the answer can be seen in Trump's tactics going back to the announcement of his candidacy.
When faced with a charge---as we all know---Trump doesn't back down. He repeats his assertion (with Tom Llamas, for example, "The guy is a sleaze." Then he gave details, then he repeated the phrase again). But what happens next is key. Normally the drive-bys would hammer, hammer, hammer until they had an apology, a retraction or even total destruction.
The difference with Trump is that he is already on offense with the NEXT statement (no, not "outrageous," just often true) and they are forced to reacquire the target. It reminds me of the "Predator" movie, where the Predator had this camouflage shield that distorted the visual field all around him.
Thus the helpless media is whipsawed: do they stick with the "old" charge and continue to push it? If they do, they will already be outside the news cycle of the "new" charge. It's the Trump Heimlich: he forces them to upchuck the last story. So, after the Hispanic judge dustup, Trump tweets about Muhmmad Ali, about "his African-American" supporter, and so on, all heavily ladled over with new attacks on Cankles.
This is another of his brilliant tactics. Not only does he fire back on the original charge, not only does he REPEAT the original charge, but he always finds a way to work in a) the media's culpability ("where is the reporting on Hillary's e-mails?") and b) a new attack on his opponent.
Trump gets a "three-fer" every time they attack. He gets to slam the media; point out in public how they are biased; AND get in new attacks on Cankles.
We knew early on that Trump was different, but I think once some of these techniques are appreciated, we'll see just how different he really is.
Thank you so much for that article!!!
Democrats are targeting the 3rd grade or illiterate and below demographic as well as the Ruling Elites
Trump is winning by essentially rebuilding the 21st Century analog to the 1980's Reagan Coalition.
LS, you should write more.
Your product is well-received.
I still don’t fully trust him. But I’m damn sure gonna vote for him!
I just love the fact that he fights back against the MSM, democrats and slimeballs. The GOPe officials and elected reps prior to Trump appearing on the scene were tepid in response to attacks from the left, while us citizens fumed for a strong offensive punchback. Trump represents a wall against our enemies, in more ways than one.
I think a lot of it is that most Republicans probably in private just say, “Yes, I know I’m right on this, but there’s no point, the media will have the last say”. And then they slink away. Trump says no, I’m going to fight this thing out until both sides of the story get told.
Now, it must be admitted that Trump comes into it with some advantages that no other Republican has: (1) he has like 20 million people following him on social media, which means he can probably communicate with more people than the MSM can, so his story becomes the dominant one; and (2) he’s well-known outside of politics, so people have lots of data on which to base their estimation of him outside of the political context.
Whether his approach could be replicated by a typical Republican who’s unknown to the average person, I dunno. But glad that Trump can.
Plus the speed of the response. Shorter than a poll driven OODA.
As you have said, at first Trump will make a statement which is either oblique or only partial, leaving out a small but important detail.
It sounds outrageous and the press takes the bait and runs with it.
Then after Trump has the full attention of the media klieg lights, he and his spokespeople and surrogates insert the missing element which makes the original statement truthful and complete.
In the case of the judge, the missing piece of the original statement was that the judge is a member of the La Raza Lawyers of San Diego, a radical group that is in favor of illegal immigration.
The judge kerfuffle seems to also have some new elements to the standard Trump strategy to get earned media.
We know that Trump and Gingrich exchange emails throughout the day so it is highly unlikely that Trump would undertake a new stratagem for earned media without keeping him informed, particularly if Newt might play a role in making the new statement ever more outrageous thereby garnering even more earned media.
And there we have Newt on Fox News Sunday because of this very issue. More earned media.
And to wrap it all up, we have the op-ed of the first Hispanic-American Attorney General saying, in essence, that the judge's heritage might be a problem for Trump.
As this story develops, I have been wondering if Newt coordinated with McConnell and Ryan to further fan the flames of outrage and get even more attention to the issue.
If Trump and Newt and the RNC and other Republicans who express loyalty to the cause work together in the General Election, it will be very frustrating for the Democrats.
As a final note, one can see how Trump uses The Art of War to great effect.
Poor Hillary.;-)
If CONSERVATIVES attempted to take a course on how to run for office, they would be paying top dollar for acquisition of the DVD set ‘SEE TRUMP RUN!’ In running for office This Time, he is showing first hand how to do so. Are any of the high intellects taking notes? This is a lifetime of lessons shown at no charge. History in the making, and history to ponder when the left changes history (as they are want to do).
The curtains that Trump is drawing open is stunning, the press, the government, the foreign countries, candidates, and of course the Butcher of Benghazi...
This is something that they will be teaching in political science for years...
GO.TRUMP.GO!!! ALL THE WAY TO THE OVAL OFFICE!!!
Ditto. You are the adult supervision.
Yes, Trump turns any publicity he gets into a double-whammy.
The heated discussion over the Mexican judge gives him a chance to reinforces his pledge to build a wall! <>p>On election day, the voters will forget about the judge deal, but will remember Trump's pledge to protect Americans jobs and security by building a wall.
The wall is so crucial to Trump's campaign, it can't be overstated because it's both a security and a jobs issue that no other candidate has been willing or able to drive.
Sure, Cruz adopted the policy, but you would never quite sure of his sincerity. For Trump, the wall is everything -- or close to it.
Yeah, LS should be a writer!
For those who don’t get the joke, click on LS’s member page to see an impressive bibliography of his titles.
Trump is well aware of what he is doing. This man does not make gaffes. They are intentional counter-charges using the methodology of the left. Whites cannot sit on juries that judge blacks, white judges can’t judge blacks or hispanics etc...and so by extension, a hispanic judge who is a LaRaza member, cannot judge his Trump U case.
This is another shot of the Trump battering ram against the walls of the left, and the things that the left has already said.
It is so brilliant that it went over the heads of the mediots, and most politicians/commentators.
Bfl... and looking forward to it! :-D
I loved how Trump kneecapped some media type that day, just before he lit into the judge. Some media type spouted something at Trump. I don’t know if it actually was Llamas; could have been. Trump just gave him a look, and said, “I’ve seen some of YOUR work. You’re a real beauty!” And then he continued on without missing a beat.
Great piece. Trump understands the MSM - he knows that you must never back down one inch in the face of their insidious attacks or you surrender the advantage and moral high ground.
I think Trump set himself up to win the Presidential race the first time he uttered just these three words: “Build that wall!”
And what clinched it was that at the time the mainstream media didn’t grasp what he’d done and didn’t stifle those words.
Donald Trump is able to distill complex issues and scandals into terms that any 4th grader can understand
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