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.
Yep, I am also into rage. I raised 3 boys and busted my butt working.
Whatever I think is not infantile.
It is full blown adult anger at getting stiffed. I refuse to surrender.
Salon is a place for true nutcases. Bite me, Salon.
Why can’t Conservatives just realize they’ve been beaten and shut the he!! up and cow down? #sorewinners
Sean Illing wrote this.
Sean Illing?
Maybe he should compete with ellen and start the Illing Degenerate Show.
Typical liberal gibberish. Trump's laid out more specifics than Obama ever did (and no, "hope" and "change" aren't specific ideas).
Shouldn't Salon and other libs start kissing our ass then?
Seems they only kiss up and respect infantilized rage types..... Occutards, BlacklivesSplatter, raging feminazis... etc...
I’d rather lose to an enemy I can oppose than an enemy who is supposed to be on my side.
That works. William Wordsworth wrote: "The child is father of the man."
Trump isn’t perfect, but he is a winner.
He’s not the kind of guy that would trade Bergdahl for five top level Terrorists.
He seems to be an American, unlike our president.
He is easily terrified.
Married to his boyfriend by now.
“He rarely makes sense and he never bothers to explain himself”
Trump does whatever. If his opponents can’t mount a defense then they deserve to be rolled over.
We won’t know until election time how stupid voters are.
“Black Lives Matter” is all about calm, reasoned discussion.
Poor Illing! He’s in WAY over his head. What’s happening is WAY beyond his comprehension.
What city will team sharpton-obama burn next?
I love it when a Cruz supporting Freeper keeps posting anti-Trump screeds written by others. Why waste our time with such rather than deeply examinig the candidates self professed positions so as to help each other start focusing on the best candidate?
Nonsense! It took years and years of betrayals to wear us down to the point of not believing anything a GOPe pol says. The author needs to climb out of his crib and see the world outside sometime.
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