Posted on 01/21/2016 12:44:29 PM PST by Isara
One of the more bizarre things I hear about Trump, from people who support Trump, is that he attacks liberals with more gusto than anyone else in the field. It’s bizarre because every time I turn around, I hear Trump attacking a conservative Republican. On the infrequent occasions that he attacks liberals, he does so offhandedly and with little conviction. “I would love to run against Hillary because her policies are so bad” is basically all he ever says about Hillary, when he does mention her.
I decided, however, that maybe I was just being fed his attacks on Republicans by the media, and that maybe he really does attack liberals on the stump, and I am just not seeing it because the media won’t report it. So I decided to do an analysis of Trump’s stump speech, as compared to the stump speeches of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who are the only other two candidates who matter at this point. I used as a reference the most recent full stump speech of each candidate that I could find online.
My reference speeches were: this Rubio speech in Iowa on January 18th, this Ted Cruz speech earlier this week in Fort Worth, and Trump’s speech in Myrtle Beach on Saturday. All were between 30-40 minutes long, and all occurred after the race has gotten contentious, sparked by Trump’s stirring of the Cruz birther issue.
Every stump speech during a primary contains four basic elements: 1) Self-promotion (this is not intended to be derogatory, all candidates must explain why they are the best choice and people should vote for them); 2) the policy laundry list (this doesn’t have to be detailed and in fact is generally very broad); 3) attacks against primary opponents; and 4) attacks against the other party. For each speech, I divided the speech into the four categories and noted the amount of time each candidate spent on each. Some other percent was spent on stuff that can’t be quantified (rhetorical fluff), and that’s why the percentages won’t add up to 100% in any case.
However, in order to fairly capture the extent to which the candidates attacked each other and/or the Democrats, I also kept a separate tally of the amount of times they leveled an attack against each other and/or the Democrats during the course of one of their other segments. For instance, one of Rubio’s favorite rhetorical devices is, when he is explaining his own policy to say “unlike Hillary Clinton, who has instead done [X],” where [X] is something very stupid. So I kept that tally as well, and I kept tally of every time the Republicans mentioned their primary opponents (instead of other Republicans in general). In order to count as a reference to primary opponents, they had to reference either the candidate’s name or a well known position they hold or thing they’ve said.
Here’s how the breakdown came out:
Cruz
Total speech length: 30:18
Total time spent attacking his primary opponents: 0:00 (0%)
Total time spent attacking Democrats: 3:52 (13%)
Total time spent on self-promotion: 13:11 (43%)
Total time spent on policy: (38%)
Additional notes: In the course of either the self-promotion and/or policy sections of his speech, Cruz attacked Hillary and/or Obama an additional 8 times, in addition to the 3:52 he spent on his uninterrupted attacks. Cruz made, by my count, one attack against his Republican rivals, which was very mild, essentially saying “The only thing I will say about the fine men I shared the debate stage with is that you know that when I say I will do something, I’m going to do it.” That’s not verbatim, but it’s close. Otherwise the other Republican contenders were not mentioned.
Rubio
Total speech length: 37:11
Total time spent attacking his primary opponents: 0:00 (0%)
Total time spent attacking Democrats: 3:53 (10%)
Total time spent on self-promotion: 11:34 (31%)
Total time spent on policy: 17:17 (46%)
Additional notes: In the course of either self-promotion and/or policy sections of his speech, Rubio made 15 attacks on either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, making his speech nearly as aggressive against Democrats as Cruz’s. Rubio did not mention any of his primary opponents even once, even obliquely. Given that Rubio has been the target of the overwhelming proportion of attack ads thus far this cycle, I found this to be surprising. Rubio’s policy section was also by far the most specific (and lengthiest) of the three candidates.
Trump
Total speech length: 43:43
Total time spent attacking his primary opponents: 4:43 (11%)
Total time spent attacking Democrats: 0 (0%)
Total time spent on self-promotion: 24:59 (57%)
Total time spent on policy: 13:32 (31%)
Additional notes: The sum total of Trump’s attacks on Democrats came in the opening seconds of his speech when he made an offhanded reference to “can you imagine if we had to have another 4 years of Obama? And Hillary might be even worse.” Later in the speech, he said “Obama is the worst negotiator I’ve ever seen, except when he’s negotiating with Republicans, and then he’s the best negotiator I’ve ever seen.” Those were the only negative comments Trump made about a Democrat during the course of his speech. He also is the only one of the three candidates who mentioned any of his primary opponents by name, engaging in a relatively lengthy diatribe about Jeb Bush (for some reason) and another about Ted Cruz.
Conclusion:
It’s pretty obvious that the media is actually capturing Trump’s schtick pretty accurately, which is that he spends most of the time talking about himself, some smaller portion of the time talking about “policy” in vague ways, and the remainder of the time attacking his fellow Republicans. I have been watching Republican stump speeches my entire life and it was jarring to see one that included so little material about Democrats at all.
It’s especially bizarre since Trump is the unquestioned frontrunner. Any other candidate at this point in the race would be pretending that his Republican rivals did not exist, and gearing up his general election attack against Hillary and/or Bernie. This not only would help for the general election, but also would cement an air of inevitability about Trump as the nominee.
I don’t know what Trump’s motives are for engaging in this tactic (although I have my theories) but it’s just patently false that he’s out there leveling the most effective attacks against liberals you’ve ever seen. Not only is he not leveling effective attacks, he’s not leveling attacks at all. The only people Trump is interested in attacking right now is other Republicans.
Maybe that has to do with the fact that that's who he's running against right now, eh?
Most of the Republicans in Congress DESERVE TO BE TRASHED because they have ceded Control of Congress to Reid & Co.!!! The Repubs couldn't go nuclear to ensure Syrian 'refugees' get background checks? WTF!!!!!
Me thinks this person hasn't watched a single Trump speech. The above quote is total BS.
Trump is an FDR/LBJ Democrat running in the Republican primary.
That’s why he doesn’t attack Democrats, he has more in common with them than he has with Republicans and even less in common with conservatives.
A Cruz supporter posting a thread not only attacking Trump but all his supporters, right after we were asked kindly to stop. What a surprise. /s
1. Trump did an effective job attacking Hillary after she called him sexist. So effective that she ran away from it and you’ve forgotten.
2. Trump attacks only in retaliation. Hillary only attacked once and recently.
3. Trump has single-handedly taken on the liberal and RINO press, taking no crap from them and dishing it out even better. You ‘forgot’ about that as well.
4. It’s a primary. Those attacking him first are Republicans. duh!
5. But better than anyone, Trump has reminded us about the debt, about stupid leadership, and bad deals. That is taking on this administration and a RINO congress.
In Trumps speech in Tulsa Ok yesterday, I noticed Trump spent a LOT of time attacking the media and referring to the current administration as “Stupid”.
>>Why would Trump fight the Rats in the Primary season?
I don’t understand their logic at all. The fact that Cruz doesn’t have the stomach to fight Trump (who is beating him) is further proof that he is totally unequipped to fight the Clinton Machine and Leftist Media in the election. He seems to labor under a delusion that the election will be settled by a cleanly-run debate where his alleged “epic mad debate skillz” will come into play.
Yawn, voting Trump. I want an Alpha male to come in and destroy the Uniparty establishment and all the PC nonsense. He is the one period.
Trump put them back in play with a couple of sentences.
Just wondering, who won the contest of who was best to take on the Clinton machine on that subject, Cruz or Trump?
Just wondering your opinion......
From the format, one is led to believe that this propaganda rant is a scientific experiment.
Another day. Another Cruzbat claiming some complaint of his is ‘proof’ of something.
I don’t believe it for some reason. I don’t care how the candidates feel about each other I care about what the candidate states about the issues. Period. And I don’t mean calling them “stupid.”
They should have their sites on the presidency and going full bore on progressive communist policies including child sacrifice (pre-born genocide) should have been done from the beginning. Making America great again has nothing to do with Rubio or Bush but HOW he is going to reverse the policies that the current administration have put in place causing years of damage and the DOJ lynch mob have promised would be irreversible.
THAT is what I want attacked full bore.
Isn't that what we have now?
And lose the primary and you never get to fight in the general.
Cheese and crackers, where do you nincompoops come from?
I think it is time for ALL of us on this site to be VERY grateful for either a Trump or Cruz win!!! All of this fighting amongst us is very disturbing!!!! We all SHOULD believe either one is better than the bitch Hillary!!! WE should ALL know all of this nasty back and forth will not change anyones mind and is creating NOTHING but animosity amongst us!!!
Trump is a blow hard and a fake.
Such a person needs a foil.
“...First things first. Beat the GOPe...”
Hmmm, you raise an intriguing point Let’s see here...
Bob Dole (Mr. “GOPe himself”) praises Trump and Attacks Cruz.
Don Trump (Mr. “NYC Values”) praises Trump and Attacks Cruz.
You’d think Trump and the GOPe would get along better. Oh wait...
Ah, yet another trump hit piece from all-establishment, all-hate-trump, all-the-time erick erickson and redstate.com, which I’m proud to say i was banned from weeks ago for DARING to disagree with darling erick erickson. They’ve now banned so many people, almost no one ever comments there anymore and therefore probably almost no ever reads it anymore as well.
At any rate, it’s important not to forget that only a few weeks ago, Trump singularly upset the whole election apple cart!
Trump set the national agenda by opposing illegal immigration and bringing up other issues that the GOPe and their allies desperately wanted to avoid, and now they can’t.
The GOPe was not prepared for this, and as a consequence they don’t have a clue about what to do, hence their almost universal collapse into a pile of quivering jello, flip-flopping like a bag of Mexican jumping beans dumped on a hot griddle.
Trump has exposed those who pretend to be conservative but are really just fronts for big money establishment campaign donors who purchase their candidates with campaign “donations”.
Trump, by actually being a real man, has exposed the other candidates (Cruz excepting of course) and their allies for the weak little sniveling sellouts that they really are.
Trump’s vociferous truth-telling and fearless neutering of the kommie media have been the catalyst that triggered a massive revolt amongst conservative voters who are infuriated at the GOPe Congress doing absolutely ZERO to stop Obama’s agenda, and suddenly the GOP RINO leadership is in full blown panic mode and in full blown retreat, and the SMALL conservative House contingent smelt blood in the water, took heart, and charged in against a weakened, frightened and paralyzed GOPe leadership, and Boehner was taken out as a sacrificial lamb.
Trump is absolutely correct when he says that without Trump in the race, everything would be same-ol’, same-ol. The Joyful Tippy-Toes Turtle would be creeping closer to the finish line, Boehner would still be safely ensconced as Speaker, and there would be no mention of illegal immigration are any of the issues surrounding it by any politician in either party, other than possibly how critical it would be to pass immigration “reform”.
The media are loath to make the connection, but it’s obvious that the Boehner resignation was yet another falling domino, toppling due to the Trump Effect, because Trump’s unabashed truth-telling and fearless neutering of the kommie media triggered a revolt amongst the great unwashed GOP masses which emboldened a few conservative Congress critters to grow a few pairs.
And our nation wouldn’t even be having ANY of these conversations about illegal immigration and the myriad of other Obammunist issues destroying our country if it wasn’t for Trump. Instead, we’d simply be debating which RINO, GOPe squish would be least likely to be stomped by Hillary, and the GOPe would once again be exhorting the “base” about how critical it is for us to once again vote for the “lesser of two evils”, that is, vote for the GOPe side of the Uniparty coin.
And do note that ALL of the oligarchs and plutocrats are frightened to death of Donald Trump because the billionaires and millionaires can’t buy him like all of the other politicians they routinely purchase, because Trump doesn’t need nor want their money, and the kommie media is frightened to death of him because he isn’t afraid of them either, the bottom line being that Donald Trump can not be controlled by the rich and powerful or the corrupt media, so for anyone who is truly for campaign finance reform and wants to take money out of politics, voting for Trump is the only reasonable choice.
President Trump is really the last hope for this country: if he can’t undo any of the damage wrought by the Obammunists, the U.S.A. is done.
So least we forget, the above, and much more, are called “The Trump Effect”.
The good news is that Obama seems to be well aware of the situation. His comments have led me to believe that he understands how the economy works on a comprehensive level. He has also surrounded himself with very competent people, and that’s the mark of a strong leader. I have conï¬dence he will do his best, and we have someone who is serious about resolving the problems we have and will be facing in the future.To me that is very good news.
What the hell? He doesn’t attack liberals for a pretty simple reason....he IS a liberal.
Not rocket science.
Hank
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