i’m not really a fan of the whole “alpha vs. beta” terminology that you find amongst the younger crowd these days, but in this case it’s a good way of describing why Trump is getting traction with people.
Trump is alpha.
the rest of the GOP field is beta.
people respond to “alpha” qualities positively. even if the “alpha” is a jerk or not well informed, you know what he stands for because he’s not afraid of offending anyone by speaking his mind. he just doesn’t care if people don’t like him. this is part of the reason women are attracted to “alpha” men. Trump’s personality and willingness to be his own man are what people are responding positively to. he’ll be a disasterous candidate in my opinion, but so long as the rest of the GOP field is full of betas, it’s his nomination to lose.
the problem is that the beta men (and Carly) in the rest of the field are desperately needy. they need to be liked. they need to not offend. this turns off women. it also turns off men. betas seem weak and unsure of what they really believe or unwilling to express an opinion outside of the mainstream. in short, they are not their own men. they bend and contort to what they think others want them to be.
this is why i think Trump could pull lots more women to voting for the GOP this time around. he could also pull lots of low/no information voters into the election this time around. i still want Cruz to be the nominee, but unless Trump stumbles, it’s his race to lose. the good news is that he’s likely to stumble lots of times between now and the nomination next summer.
ever go to a bar where a local famous athlete happens to also be? you see all the women in the bar vying for his attention, and all the guys in the club trying to become his friend. that’s Trump right now. the rest of the GOP field are the guys standing together (by themselves) along the wall grumbling to themselves, “what’s he got that i haven’t got?!”. if they want to get noticed, they need to act more like Trump. in this regard, what Jindal did was a good first step for his own campaign. at least he now looks less wimpy than the rest of them.
not a perfect analogy, but i think it helps explain some of what’s going on so far.
Because he faces a field that (other than Cruz, Santorum, and on some days Walker) wants to pretty much dissolve the borders and who won't oppose Islam.
I would like Cruz.
Walker was my candidate before he started stumbling leftward on immigration. Santorum is way past his use by date.
I can hold my nose and vote for Trump.
Jindal sounded as though he was TRYING to sound like Trump—especially the remark about the squirrel on Trump’s head.
It was: “Listen to this! I can insult Trump! Did you hear that one? Look at me!”