I'm not sure I agree with this, but it's an interesting theory anyway.
Trump is promoting Trump.
Next year we’ll learn his real game...
Go Trump Go! Let’s Make America Great Again!
There is also an interesting set of right wing entitlements like farm subsidies that go far beyond what you can imagine, lots of people collecting out in my rural area albeit small amounts.
Along comes a dictator who promises to restore the culture, Amerixa's leadership in the world, the good paying industrial jobs, and keep the entitlement gravy train going. That person would easily beat any candidate that the left promotes.
“Trump is gaining ground on his competitors not for what he says — which clearly is intended more to provoke tempers than stir genuine debate”
What he says can provoke tempers or debate, and most choose to have their tempers provoked. That is not a failing that can be assigned to Trump, it is a method of evasion chosen by his opponents and critics to avoid debate.
“The field is wide open for a Republican candidate who recognizes the value of a bold leadership style, but who couples it with a more serious understanding and presentation of solutions befitting an American President rather than a Latin American Strongman.”
How did the “Latin American Strongman” metaphor being applied to Trump in order to explain his appeal, and to smear his appeal, and to de-legitimatize his appeal, all of a sudden appear as an established concept being played out? Yes, a very pro-American leader who arises and shows strength is all of a sudden a budding banana republic dictator. I wonder why such perceptive analysis was never done on Obama.
No, but maybe he can find him.
Easy way for the other Republicans to silence Trump: Come out AGAINST illegal immigration.
But so far, they seem to have a MUCH BIGGER problem with Trump than they do with the 30 Million Illegals, or the death of the woman in San Francisco.
Carnival strongmen are all fakes, it’s all angles and props. So yeah, he is.
If by “strong” they mean:
“One man with courage is a majority.” Thomas Jefferson
then the answer is `yes’.
If they are suggesting he’s a Mussolini or Obama-like potential totalitarian, then I would have to say ‘no’.
But considering that “undocumented immigrants” are the elephant in this living room, this second libelous insinuation coming from the MSM shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Under the tepid leadership of the Obama Administration, the United States appears to bow before strong leaders abroad, from Moscow to Havana to Tehran. Faith in America around the globe ebbs with each new “deadline” given Iranian negotiators in Europe. Every ISIS atrocity is played out repeatedly in social and mainstream media, and heightens fears of a “lone wolf” attack here at home. We indeed are in a time of fear and uncertainty.
Is the time ripe for America’s version of the Third World “strongman”? Will we see the arrival of a “macho” leader, riding in on a white horse with sword drawn, to rally a citizenry frozen in fear and uncertainty? Has this strongman already arrived? Is it Donald Trump?
Since first announcing his intentions to run for president last month, Trump has dominated the headlines with inflammatory rhetoric followed by blustery refusals to apologize. While most pundits believed (hoped?) Trump’s brash behavior would doom him to remain at the bottom of the presidential pile, his poll numbers continue to rise. Last week, CNN reported only he and Jeb Bush held double-digit support among GOP voters.
To Mainstream Media pundits, for whom isolation within the Beltway has dulled any sense of the pulse of the nation outside of Washington’s political aristocracy, Trump’s surge among conservative grassroots makes little sense. To them, the measure of a candidate’s viability is their performance as a “talking head” on Sunday shows; or their willingness to sit for fluff interviews in which no real questions are asked and no real answers given. And, while most candidates would jump at the chance to kiss the rings of the Establishment media, Trump understands the road to the grassroots does not go through D.C.; and in this understanding, Trump plays his hand to perfection.
As The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs noted recently, “Donald Trump is appealing to people . . . who hate politics, who hate politicians. [S]omeone . . . who they view as a straight-shooter, someone who’s different and fresh.”
In other words, Trump is the anti-politician politician; the classic “strongman” but in civilian, rather than military garb.
While candidates like Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, and Chris Christie have struggled to find a voice that resonates beyond their core supporters, Trump is bullying his way to the top using a tone and style reminiscent of the Latin American “strongman” leader. In typical “strongman” style, Trump is employing a dual combination of strength and simplicity -- through his unapologetic style of campaigning and the comfort of policy solutions simple enough to broadly fit people’s preconceived notions of how to fix America’s problems. The combination of the two creates a visage of confidence, which compared to the weak vacillations of the Obama Administration, evokes a powerful emotional reaction to the point where Trump’s patently unserious political posturing is overlooked.
And this is what has the media so confused; they can only focus on the content of his speeches, not what people are taking from them. Trump is gaining ground on his competitors not for what he says -- which clearly is intended more to provoke tempers than stir genuine debate -- but for what his tone and demeanor symbolize. As Willem Dafoe noted in the movie “Boondock Saints,” it is all about “symbology”; and how Trump’s GOP adversaries respond to his symbology matters a great deal.
Rather than egging Trump on with petty insults, or attempting to engage him in a fruitless debate -- both of which serve only to create a media spectacle the Left is more than willing to provoke – GOP candidates might want to take at least a few notes.
Republican voters clearly do not want another candidate who will go to Washington and simply perpetuate the Establishment culture by playing the same games that have left America’s problems to fester at home and abroad. Voters yearn for a candidate whose default position is not to play defense and back away from every challenge -- whether at our own back door regarding illegal immigration from Mexico, the continued expansion of ISIS in the Middle East, or a federal court system usurping power from both the legislative and executive branches of government.
The field is wide open for a Republican candidate who recognizes the value of a bold leadership style, but who couples it with a more serious understanding and presentation of solutions befitting an American President rather than a Latin American Strongman.