Posted on 06/29/2019 10:25:40 AM PDT by Sir Napsalot
Time magazine’s July 1 issue, with its “respectful” cover photo of Donald Trump looking “presidential” — for which the magazine was "scorned" — features a provocative interview with the headline quote: “My Whole Life Is a Bet.”
Within the interview, one “Trumpian” statement stands out because it defies traditional political logic: When Time asked whether he should reach out to swing voters, he said, “‘I think my base is so strong, I’m not sure that I have to do that.’”
I was intrigued and confounded by the president’s bravado when supposedly he is running for president of the United States, not president of His United Base. In a country so polarized that the middle has virtually disappeared, shouldn’t Trump at least pretend to reach out to swing voters? He could even position that effort as a patriotic move for the well-being of the nation. My strategic advice would be to try a little unification instead of division. But since his “Whole Life Is a Bet,” Trump is betting that his base will carry him to victory and to heck with the rest of America.
Perplexed by this strategy, I reached out to some well-known Republican presidential consultants and gleaned fascinating insights and perspectives....
The last national GOP political consultant who spoke on the record about Trump’s base-only strategy is Rick Tyler, now an MSNBC political analyst … He was communications director for Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential campaign until February 2016 when he was dismissed after a headline-making video controversy regarding Marco Rubio’s campaign. ...
Tyler is critical of Trump’s strategy:
“It was swing voters who made the difference between Trump winning and losing in 2016. Swing voters decided the outcomes in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. ...Trump giving up on the voters who made him president is a strategy for losing.”
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
[Is the writer really that big a nitwit to take the statement literally. (Yeah, probably). It’s a bit of braggadocio.]
It won’t be Trump who needs converts, in 8-12-16 and more years, it’ll be the Republic, or we’ll lose it.
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I recently skimmed a polling article (forget the pollster) that showed only 25% of the country is die-hard ‘liberal’ (prog).
I think the recent quarantine of T_D has brought more millenials/GenZs over to Trump’s base. Even truncated, there are “I just joined after years of lurking and will now vote Trump” testimonials.
Never forget “consultants” & “strategists” are always looking ahead to the next election/the next crop of candidates as clients. Some of the responses sound like tactical pivots. These guys are all Ronin.
I share your concerns. We need to spot, vet and support the future candidates who have convictions and love for the Republic and then support them.
This populist/nationalist counter-revolution is global and there are between 14 and 16 (my last estimated count, so there may be more)countries who have recently defied the pollsters and conventional wisdom to elect strong nationalist leaders who are not the aggrandizers of the 1930s, but patriots looking out for the best interests of their people.
As always they are idiots because they benefit greatly by Trump’s base coming out in hoards.
I’m with you on that.
Yep. That’s the way I see it.
Trump has delivered on his promises and has the economy rolling for the first time in over a decade.
The Democrats on the other hand have gone completely insane.
He should coast to an easy victory.
I hope to heck that Trump can get a second term. But the growth of the third-world voting population, primarily Hispanic, means that it’s game-over very soon for the GOP on a national basis. When (not “if”) Texas becomes blue-state “Tejas” it’s adios forever for the GOP in the Electoral College. (especially since FL and AZ are undergoing the same Hispanic transformation) The party of Reagan will have the same chance nationally that they have today in his invaded/defeated California, namely zero.
Trump’s election was supposed to slow the invasion/destruction, but for various reasons, it has not had any such effect.
Trump may, on the basis of incumbency and a great economy, squeak out a second win, but beyond that, the raw power of massive demographic transformation will be decisive.
/pessimistic-realistic rant
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