Posted on 12/25/2015 11:29:59 AM PST by Mariner
In a recent op-ed -- "If Trump wins the nomination, prepare for the end of the conservative party" -- the always articulate George Will expresses the angst many establishment (and some not-so-establishment) Republicans feel about their frontrunner:
If you look beyond Donald Trump’s comprehensive unpleasantness — is there a disagreeable human trait he does not have? — you might see this: He is a fundamentally sad figure. His compulsive boasting is evidence of insecurity. His unassuageable neediness suggests an aching hunger for others’ approval to ratify his self-admiration. His incessant announcements of his self-esteem indicate that he is not self-persuaded. Now, panting with a puppy’s insatiable eagerness to be petted, Trump has reveled in the approval of Vladimir Putin, murderer and war criminal.
It's hard to dispute Will's analysis, as far as it goes, but it only goes so far. No doubt The Donald exhibits some of the traits of an inferiority complex, but the real question is, so what? As Joe E. Brown says to Jack Lemmon at the end of Some Like It Hot, "Nobody's perfect."
All the Republican candidates have their flaws, as does, in spades, the woman far at the front of the Democratic pack, described almost twenty years ago by William Safire in one of the most prescient op-eds ever as a "congenital liar."
But my interest here is not in detailing everyone's weaknesses -- I like to remain friends with people -- but, as a Christmas present to the angst-ridden, to try to explain how Trump's flaws can be turned to the advantage of Republicans and conservatives. This is particularly important if, as appears highly possible, he wins the nomination. What do we do about it?
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
It's OK if Cruz supporters want to post their hits on Trump on this thread if they want.
Not that they need my permission.
It's also OK if the Trump supporters want to weigh in and say "I told you so".
I just ask that anything you post be directed at the candidates and not on another. After all, it's Christmas and we have a long, hard slog ahead of us next year.
Oh, I would have mentioned some other candidates but it doesn't look like any of them are relevant anymore.
It’s a two-page article at the link.
Well I believe in teamwork. Both Trump’s and Cruz’s pictures aren’t fully developed yet. Both are improving. Trump has the appeal to Democrat crossover votes that Cruz has yet to show, however the GOP may or may not take this into account if Cruz noses past Trump in GOP primary votes. (I’d hope it would, however, if it really wants to win.) Not making the ticket would still leave Cruz viable as another potent factor in the American scene, and Trump knows it well. Trump’s the possibility guy, he doesn’t believe in lasting enmities for their own sake.
I can’t think of a good reason to read an article by those scumbags at PJ Media.
Then Trump would be surrounded by focus groups, polling companies and consultants...as well as reading the results from a teleprompter.
In reality Trump is comfortable in his own skin.
Georgie is a leading member of the MDSM
(MDSM = Mentally Discombobulated Screaming Media for those in Rio Linda)
it’s funny
Kind of what I have been getting at, but from a different angle. Donald has long been proposing "Let's make a deal." If conservatives don't even TRY to answer that proposal with something more constructive than catcalls... well they really only have themselves to thank, or blame, for the results. Thank the good Lord for fellows like Jeff Sessions who have taken this Trump proposal at face value. When this happens, we get magnificent, if not perfect, manifestos out of Trump. If Trump takes a good idea but goes the wrong way with it, he needs to be steered the right way. The age for expecting perfection out of the box is gone, if it ever had been here in the first place. What are we going to do with the Trump. I hope it's more than thinking we can only throw him over the transom the way he is now. He talks as though he's flexible. Like Simon says (pun intended)... take advantage of that.
I thought for a minute they had Trump confused with obama.
Does Trump have his faults?
Yes.
Can Trump beat Hillary?
A billion times over.
I have read all of Trump's books, enjoyed them because they showed me a different side of me...
I will never be the billionaire in dollars that Trump is and don't want to be, but thru his writings I am a billionaire because I see the good things in life, The American Dream...
Obuma, Clinton, Bushes have taken that American Dream away from us, plunged us down to the bottom of hopelessness, worry, frustration, and anger...
We have a man, no he's not perfect, but this one man can bring back the American Dream for all of us, it might not be all the money in the world, it might not be the home on the sunlite hill you've dreamed about, but what he will bring us is hope again, being able to attain our lives, relieve some of the worry we have, and release the anger we are feeling...
Those are the things Trump has taught me reading his books, have hope, have courage and take on a little more than what you think you can, and you will make it...
Duh, I thought that we evaluated merit by individual content, not by creating cults of personality. The only personality we can count on to always be right is Jesus — and the only one to always be wrong is Satan. Everyone else is in between.
Self pity makes for poor box office.
We've had enough of self-pity. Just like how in 1980, Americans were tired of Jimmy Carter's message of America's "inevitable decline" and "malaise."
The answer is obvious. The solution to conservative angst over Trump is simple: stop criticizing him, co-opt him.(emphasis mine)If you want Donald Trump to be your friend, if you want him to be as conservative as Ronald Reagan, love The Donald to death. He will be your friend for life. And he will do what you wish, mostly. Praise every conservative statement out of his mouth and ignore the rest. It will probably change anyway.
Trump, by some accounts, simply kept an empire; but at the worst we can still say he did not squander it. And the USA problem today is one of squandering. Through Barack Obama, the USA threw away so much. A fellow who knows how not to squander, is the fellow we need today.
“If Trump wins the nomination, prepare for the end of the conservative party”
What conservative party? The GOP hasn’t been conservative in ages.
Well, I thought he meant the rest. I.e. lead Donald along the conservative road, and the rest of his thinking is likely to fall into line too.
Dude, you're over thinking it. Go read Huff Puff Po and evaluate their crap by "individual merit."
There was a CNN report that stated that they estimated Trump had made 9.6 billion in revenue last year and employed more than 22 thousand people.
This is not "simply keeping an empire."
Trump is in the position to speak the Reaganesque optimism to Obama’s Carteresque pessimism.
Sometimes I see those blind squirrels get acorns.
I am not overthinking; you are underthinking.
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