Posted on 09/09/2015 2:34:13 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Jeb thinks he can beat Trump by attacking his liberal past. He clearly doesn't understand the nature of this beast.
I wrote two months ago that Donald Trump is a mirror image of the conservative psyche, a perfect distillation of the Tea Party id: No ideas, no substance – just bluster and fiery platitudes. Everything that’s happened since has confirmed my initial suspicion. Trump has continued to repackage shopworn stupidities and beam them back at his audiences, and conservatives can’t get enough of it.
If you’ve followed Trump’s ongoing spat with Jeb Bush, you’ve probably noticed that Trump is winning. And the reason is simple: They’re fighting on Trump’s terrain. Trump’s appeal is mostly psychological. He rarely makes sense and he never bothers to explain himself; he just demonizes brown people and tells anxious white people that he’ll make their country great again. Because he’s tapping into something deep and dark, the specifics never quite matter – it’s the tone that counts.
Trump’s tough guy shtick has made Jeb a soft target. Trump’s latest jab comes in the form of a brief Instagram video. Like everything else Trump does, the ad is completely devoid of ideas. It is, however, oddly brilliant, and exactly what you’d expect from a reality TV star like Trump. Spanning a few seconds, the ad shows Jeb discussing the intricacies of health care policy while a supporter sleeps behind him. Against this backdrop, the narrator says, “Too much energy? Need some low energy? Jeb, for all your sleeping needs.”
The message is clear: Jeb is a limp dotard who lacks the vigor to make America great again. This plays nicely into Trump’s campaign narrative, which feels like a massive exercise in megalomania and overcompensation. Trump basically stands behind a podium and tells people two things: He’s incredibly awesome and everyone else can stick their political correctness up their ass. Is it any surprise that his ad essentially casts Jeb Bush as the protagonist of one of those “Low T” commercials?
Jeb’s response to Trump so far has been mildly amusing. He appears not to understand what’s happening to him, or why Trump, despite having nothing concrete to offer, is winning this exchange. One of Jeb’s longtime advisers, Mike Murphy, now the chief strategist for Bush’s super PAC, said that “He [Jeb] has faith over time in the people and the power of his ideas.” John McKager Stipanovich, a Florida lobbyist and close Bush friend, struck a slightly different note, arguing that “Donald Trump epitomizes everything Jeb has spent his political career trying to prevent the Republican Party from becoming.”
As best I can tell, Jeb’s strategy is to engage Trump (so as not to appear meek) without adopting Trump’s tactics. At a recent campaign stop, Jeb countered Trump by emphasizing his political stamina: “The ‘low energy’ candidate this week has only been six days, sixteen hours a day campaigning with joy in my heart.” He also released a video last week that highlighted all of the liberal positions that Trump has taken in the past.
Here’s a bit of unsolicited advice for Jeb: You’re missing the point. Trump supporters (read: the conservative base) don’t care if you’re campaigning with “joy in your heart.” Nor do they care if Trump once identified as a liberal. And they certainly don’t care about the “power of your ideas.” What Trump understands (and what Bush clearly doesn’t) is that the people flocking to Trump are doing so because they don’t give a damn about policy or substance or facts. They want to hear someone tell the establishment that it’s full of shit, and Bush is the establishment. Trump may not have ideas or political acumen or a basic sense of decency, but he knows what alienated conservatives want to hear – and that’s enough.
Trump’s success (and Jeb’s decline) shows how easy it is to openly infantilize the conservative base. You don’t need ideas to win over Republicans anymore; you simply have to reflect their paranoia and frustration, with as much bombast and superficiality as possible.
Donald Trump gets it, Jeb Bush doesn’t – and that’s why Trump is winning.
Yeah, because the GOP should take advise from Salon. LOL x 1,000!
Wait, is Salon saying Jeb has ideas? lol.
LOL!
The liberal fascist “ideas” are to avoid substantive debate at all cost.
Their “ideas” can’t stand the light of day.
Why do you think liberal talk radio has never worked?
Ideas won't work when dealing with the infantile minds of Salon. It is like arguing with a duck. It simply has no capacity to comprehend.
A baseball bat judiciously applied is more the sort of argument that they can grasp.
I love it when the people who vote for government control and cradle to grave care (in effect voting for lifetime parents) refer to the folks who prefer independence as, infants.
Conservatives are apparently hot headed when they are not cold-hearted. Well according to the progressive control freaks that cold heartedly endorse the killing of infants and scream with firey passion at demonstrations.....
Another case of routine liberal projection.
Another conservative writer attacking us... Sticks and stones son, sticks and stones
Do people actually pay money for Salon magazine? Well, we know the libtards do have a mindless base out there....maybe them??
Rational people here in the US have plenty to be angry about, and Trump is the only candidate who looks like he's in tune with that so far. Plus, his anti-PC approach is damn refreshing!
I will never, never warm to Bush’s ideas. He is dead to me as are all of them outside of Cruz and maybe Trump if he is the last one standing. I won’t waste my vote anymore...
Yes, rage is the reason.....bout time.
Shouldn’t this be written in Arabic?
OP is an anti-trump poster. So, even Salon gets clicks for it.
Salon, crap.
Could the conservative infatuation with Trump have something to do with the fact that liberals have swung a wrecking ball into this country? Poll after poll shows that Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction. Trump is offering another more constructive direction and its resonating with many people. Trump’s popularity is a response to liberal failures. Salon just doesn’t get it and won’t admit it if they did.
Don’t tell anyone, but Trump s base is quite broad. Just like Reagan’s.
Looks like I wasn't able to read past the first sentence, I stopped right there. Not being able to get past the first idiotic line is typical when I try to read an article published by salon.
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