Posted on 07/10/2015 4:01:43 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Peggy Noonan spends some ink today (subscription) trying to understand why Donald Trump is suddenly so popular, at least in the polls. She points out that Trump is anything but an ideal presidential candidate, and frankly, barely a Republican. She thinks he “has a low ceiling and short staying power.” In that regard, I agree. He’ll be gone well before anything serious happens.
However, there’s a reason he’s currently popular (just as there’s a similar reason Bernie Sanders is popular on the left). And Noonan gets to most of it as she offers this anecdotal evidence (two working class independents and a Democrat she knows as friends) up to make a point:
They think he’s real, that he’s under nobody’s thumb, that maybe he’s a big-mouth but he’s a truth-teller. He’s afraid of no one, he’s not politically correct. He’s rich and can’t be bought by some billionaire, because he is the billionaire. He’s talking about what people are thinking and don’t feel free to say. He can turn the economy around because he made a lot of money, so he probably knows how to make jobs.
He is a fighter. People want a fighter. Maybe he’s impolitic but he’s better than some guy who filters everything he says through a screen of political calculation.
She points to some other reasons that seem fairly silly, like he’s unserious as a candidate and the country has gotten increasingly unserious (really?). But she also points to something I think most people will agree on – “He capitalizes on the fact that no one in America trusts politicians anymore.” And that’s simply a truth that can be garnered from numerous polls.
So maybe these 3 people’s reasons don’t all pass the smell test. But two of them are what I think really are driving his current popularity. He is not politically correct (which also apparently translates into “he’s a truth-teller”). Most people are deathly tired of political correctness and its hysterical adherents. There are any number of people hungering for someone to stand up and give them straight talk. Someone to address the issues as they should be address without filtering everything “through a screen of political calculation”.
Trump, at least at the moment, fills that bill. He’s saying things that much of the country is thinking or at least wondering about. And they want answers. That, of course, is where Trump will fall short. However, there are many out there very happy with the fact that marginal Republican or not, Trump is making the establishment Republicans very uncomfortable (to the point that they’re trying to find ways to keep him out of debates, etc.). Frankly, they need to be uncomfortable.
Trump will eventually fade. But this lesson needs to be learned by certain GOP candidates for the Presidency. It’s time to quit playing the game by the other team’s rules. It’s time to address issues honestly, forthrightly and without the “filter” that is so obviously present in most statements made by other candidates. It’s time for someone to tell those who whine and object to wording to grow up, act like adults and face the problems our nation faces head on.
And yes, the media and the PC crowd will attempt to marginalize them and pull every identity politics trick in the book to ruin that candidate’s chances. Somewhere, somehow though, this sort of straight talk has got to happen.
If not now, when?
When it is obviously too late?
It isn’t complicated. He’s pointed out the bleeding obvious and stated an unambiguous position.
For this ‘crime’ the full might of the DC swamp creatures has been unleashed upon him.
White bread Peggy is barely a Republican.
RINO Blogger cartel prop up loser candidates like Rick Perry who deserve no limelight.
He’s “trumping” political correctness.
Not sure if it will win the nomination or the fall election, but it sure has gotten a lot of applause from folks who are disgusted with the MSM and RINO approach.
From a conservative standpoint, there is much to like about Trump. The colorful way in which he brings certain needful issues to the forefront of discussion is refreshing. Liberals are appalled, which is typically a nice byproduct of such discussions. However, if you remember 2012, several contenders had their day in the sun only to eventually fall by the wayside. I think that when conservatives eventually focus more on some of Trump’s earlier statements and less on the temporary thrill of the moment (exciting as it may be), Trump’s support will diminish among conservatives. Although his spot at the top will likely be seized by one of the Bush, Rubio, Paul, Walker, Christie group, it is my hope (fragile as it might be) that the top spot will eventually yield to a Cruz, Santorum, Jindal type of candidate.
Enjoy the thrill of the moment. Revel in it. But keep an eye on the long road ahead as well.
I’ll explain it. The right is hungry for someone with a backbone.
i did not read the article but i was just thinking earlier that whoever can stimultae, unleash, and harness the pent up frustration and anger of the silent majority will really have a Force for Good Change at his command.
She and Kathleen voted for Mr. Obama both times, as I recall.
OMG is that old bat still around??? thought she left along time ago...
It’s blindingly obvious that the citizens are fed up with the perfidy of our elected officials who refuse to enforce the laws they passed and took an oath to uphold.
Our country is being overrun with foreigners and we want it stopped.
Trumps says he will.
.
How is it unambiguous? He says he wants illegals to stay? He is a trial balloon to show that the left can win with a liberal candidate if the can con enough people with sounds bites. He represents total victory for the left.
Electing Trump would be the national equivalent of Minnesota electing Jessie Ventura, and Al Franken.
It seems to me that Trump is REALLY setting a great table for Cruz down the line. He is striking gold with his stand on illegal immigration, and Cruz is the only republican who has said Trump is right to focus on this issue. If/when Trump gets tired of this and pulls out, Cruz will be in the position to snag all these voters.
How is he going against political correctness when he wants to ban the Confederate flag, not allow anyone to offend Muslims, not offend gays, allow illegals to stay. He’s done one tiny thing against P.C.: say Mexicans are rapists. Aside from that he is 100% P.C.
That tiny thing seems to be generating a lot of support. Maybe it’s not all that tiny?
“Electing Trump would be the national equivalent of Minnesota electing Jessie Ventura, and Al Franken.”
But it still wouldn’t be the equivalent of electing Obama (twice).
Then what can we do to make sure another candidate, say, oh, I don’t know, maybe .... Ted Cruz get the nomination?
Trump appeals to a much wider swath of the electorate than Cruz, so while conservatives might follow whoever he endorses I am doubtful Cruz can expand beyond that. And it doesn’t look like Trump is going to voluntarily give in anytime soon.
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