“Sincerity is everything.
If you can fake that,
you’ve got it made.”
Posted on 09/29/2016 9:56:29 AM PDT by Kaslin
Donald Trump scored a gentleman's "C" in his first debate with Hillary Clinton. She was programmed, like one of those androids from the film "Westworld," spewing out well-rehearsed sound bites, smiling (sometimes condescendingly), and even tossing in a few wiggles. It was all designed to make her look warm and wonderful.
As the saying goes, if you can fake sincerity, you can fake anything.
Trump did best when he didn't focus on himself and this is the pattern he should follow in the next two debates.
As a seasoned debater, who has taken on professors and liberal thinkers on campuses from Harvard, Dartmouth and Yale in the east, to the University of California, Davis in the west, I think I can say without too much hubris that I know how to destroy a bad argument.
Let's start with the race issue. Hillary Clinton slammed Trump for comments she regards as racist. If she tries that again, Trump should extend the road he began to walk down Monday night. He was right to say that his opponent and her party have had decades to repair the racial divide (which President Obama suggested he would do), but that chasm has only widened over the last eight years. Real racism, Trump should say, is refusing to allow minority children in failing public schools to escape them in favor of better ones simply because many teachers' unions oppose school choice and contribute significantly to the Democratic Party.
Trump should take on the issue of poverty and propose a public-private partnership with churches and religious institutions that would be assigned an individual in need of help. These churches then would do all that was necessary to help that person escape poverty, including offering financial advice, access to education or even baby-sitting services so that this person could go to school. Retiring baby boomers could find new purpose in life by helping someone become independent of government programs, which have cost a lot, but have done little to reduce the number of poor.
Trump should ask Hillary Clinton why she thinks government is the answer to so many of the nation's problems when in reality it has too often caused or contributed to this country's ills. She wants to grow government even more, spending additional billions in borrowed money, mortgaging the futures of generations to come. Remember when Democrats decried debt? That was when a Republican occupied the White House.
Again, during Monday's debate, Trump started to make the case for success in business and in life, but he made it more about himself than others. Americans are inspired by stories of people who have overcome obstacles and Trump should not only tell their stories, he should start featuring them in his political ads and on stage with him -- as he has done with veterans. Inspiration has always been the fuel that ignites economic and personal growth.
One subject we didn't hear discussed in the first debate was the Constitution. Hillary Clinton said she believes in a "living Constitution," meaning it is open to interpretation by liberal judges to fit the times. What does Trump believe about our founding document?
On nuclear weapons, Trump needs to embrace Ronald Reagan's view (and that of President Obama) that they need to be reduced, especially in rogue regimes. Talk of using such weapons is irresponsible, though our adversaries must believe we would use them if attacked. The prospect of mutually assured destruction during the Cold War ensured nuclear weapons would not be used. Extremist regimes, like Iran, do not appear to fear a nuclear apocalypse.
Lastly, how about appealing to personal accountability and responsibility in the second debate? Let's hear about entitlement reform, entitlements being the main driver of debt. As I have argued, government should be a last resort, not a first resource -- a safety net, not a hammock.
More than missing emails and Hillary Clinton's character (which is already fixed in the minds of most people) voters want to hear about subjects that will affect their lives. It's about us, more than them. If Trump can close that deal, he is likely to score a "B" in the next debate. If he scores higher, he just might win in November.
He was a fighter and she cheated.......there I fixed>
At the first sign of the moderator helping Clinton, Trump should look him dead in the eye and tell him this: “Please stop trying to prop up Hillary, her 30 years of service to this country have shown her to be quite capable of failing on her own.”
One if the most important ways Trump can prepare for the next debate is to get some rest and relaxation...so ideas will be free to flow into his mind.
Yes and no... Trump has gotten his message out well enough in other ways that even the exchange of last Monday night was enough to show Hillary up as a B.S. artist. However, for the sake of people who “only watch debates” Trump could stand to put on a better offense. This needn’t be fatal for Trump, but it wasn’t as helpful as it could have been.
I've often thought that the phrase "living constitution" should be countered by the phrase "timeless constitution." Because truly, the issues addressed by the American Constitution are indeed timeless issues of human civilization itself, and cannot change until human beings change. Technology and modernization are utterly irrelevant to the timeless power relationship issues addressed in our constitution, and that needs to be said to the public to properly frame respect for the incredible value of the constitution itself - to acknowledge there is none like it in the rest of the world.
Trump’s problem is that he isn’t from the political class and doesn’t have the broad knowledge of political issues to jump to when an opening shows up - when Hillary talks about his “racist birtherism” for instance, he doesn’t know enough to be able to turn to her Alinskyism - to ignore the birtherism and go to her personal attack on him as being “racist” as one more example of liberals’ refusal to talk about the issues and instead try to destroy individuals, and then expand that to why we’ve had such a loss in civility and cooperation in our political life - some practice for the next debate might at least get him pointed in the direction of taking what Hillary throws out and instead of being defensive about it, turning it around to bite her.....
Trump knows that the first debate doesn’t matter. Mitt won the first debate but then couldn’t live up to expectations after that. Hillary won’t be as prepped for the second debate and it’s closer to the election.
Of course I don't except all of them to grow brains, like the Bushes because they lacked brains all along and growing a brain in a wasteland is damn near impossible. But I must admit it is about time some as least recognize the stupidity of their former stance, and somewhat comforting as well.
I am developing the theory that “Crooked Hillary” is not getting the job done. Her voters have already accepted that, including the emails, all the scandals, Benghazi etc.
I think the key is to wake them up to the CORRUPTION. That’s what they have not yet understood.
Start with Marc Rich and walk it forward, how they accumulated a great fortune by selling her Office and future Office.
YES!!!
30 years in politics and the only thing she has accomplished is to make herself RICH!!!
Trump knows that the first debate doesn’t matter. Mitt won the first debate but then couldn’t live up to expectations after that. Hillary won’t be as prepped for the second debate and it’s closer to the election.
BINGO!!!
GO TRUMP!
That is a very good advice.
Exaxtly
exaxtly? What is that? Make that exactly
If someone tries to set him up, he should just say, "that was a long time ago/I don't want to discuss it." Done.
The election wasn't in January, February, March, April, May, or June. The general Election is on November 8, this is when we vote for the electors.
There are many who wait until the last minute to make up their mind who they want to vote for.
Obviously Cal Thomas is not one of those and he is definitely not a NeverTrumper
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