Posted on 07/13/2015 7:06:08 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Las Vegas — It’s the height of political fashion to bash Donald Trump, and I’ve done my share. It’s harder to understand his appeal, but it’s absolutely necessary if we are to come to terms with the political times we live in.
Anyone who watched Trump’s speech to 2,000 attendees of FreedomFest in Las Vegas on Saturday could easily lampoon his bizarre, meandering, and egomaniacal delivery. But by the time he left the stage, a big chunk of the audience approved of him, and many expressed a willingness to vote for him.
“Trump was upbeat, and, unlike other candidates, he’s a man of action,” Barbara Carter, of Las Vegas, told me after the speech. She is considering voting for Trump. A former resident of Wasilla, Alaska, she was a fan of Sarah Palin’s when Palin was mayor there. She says that both Palin and Trump cut through the politically correct rhetoric of our day and speak plain truths. When I pointed out that Trump never presents any evidence for his charges that the Mexican government deliberately sends rapists and killers to the U.S., she agreed that both Palin and Trump “may have been pushed onto the national stage before they were ready.”
Kate Wright, a writer from Los Angeles, isn’t a likely Trump voter. But she says that the GOP establishment has underestimated the depth of contempt that many conservatives have for the party’s leaders in Congress. “Trump scored big when he said the GOP in Congress complains about Benghazi and the IRS scandal but then seems to forget about them,” she told me. Presidential candidate Carly Fiorina echoed that same theme today when she said on ABC’s This Week: “People are angry at a professional political class of both parties that talks a good game, gives good speeches, but somehow nothing ever really changes.” She has elsewhere noted that Trump benefits from conservative resentment of a media double standard that lets extremists such as Al Sharpton and socialist Bernie Sanders get away with inflammatory statements.
“Trump hits a nerve when he talks about crime by illegal immigrants in Arizona,” Don Edwards, a retired economics professor from Surprise, Ariz., tells me. “He demonstrates that the issue has been ignored because of political correctness, and so he is there to fill the vacuum.” Nonetheless, Edwards isn’t close to considering Trump for president. “He’s economically wrong and uninformed. . . . [He]answered a question on the Federal Reserve by swerving into one-liners about the debt.”
But even some attendees who know enough to be wary of Trump’s Patent Medicine prescriptions are impressed by him. “He is forthright, clear speaking, and he shows leadership,” says Lloyd Nirenberg, a Californian who has a Ph.D. in science and runs a company specializing in rocketry. “I’ve been so disillusioned by other candidates. He is refreshing to listen to.”
Other people I spoke with in Las Vegas said that while Trump is a very entertaining speaker — “He’s like watching a train wreck; you know you shouldn’t look, but you do anyway” — he will probably hit a natural ceiling on his support. They noted the mean streak that lies just under the surface of every speech he makes. He opened his speech by emphasizing that the FreedomFest hosts had to apologize for a scheduling misunderstanding, which made them “semi-honorable” in his view. He then alternated between insulting companies he’s done business with and proclaiming: “I’m a nice guy, really.”
But he reached his low point during a truncated Q&A session with the audience. Roberto Salinas, a respected free-market economist from Mexico, told Trump he was insulted by his remarks about Mexico and asked if he would build walls around every state to prevent criminals from crossing those borders. “I was waiting for this,” Trump snapped. “Did the government of Mexico ask you to come up here and say this?” He then cut off Salinas’s response and called for a wall across the entire southern border. A happy warrior Trump is not.
Donald Trump is not the “rodeo clown” depicted by columnist Charles Krauthammer and others. He is the P. T. Barnum of American politics, a brilliant self-promoter who knows exactly what he’s doing and who changes his opinions constantly to match what he thinks audiences want to hear, much as Barnum used to switch out circus acts between towns on his tour. Barnum, incidentally, entered politics late in life and served as a state legislator and mayor of Bridgeport, Conn.
But even the great showman who was able to fool so many people sometimes went so far out on the edge that he fell off. In the 1850s, Barnum inserted into his shows an elaborate hoax in which he fooled audiences with a weed that would supposedly turn black people white. Some said he even came to half-believe such a thing was possible. Angry customers eventually forced him to drop the hoax, after costing him much business.
Like P. T. Barnum, Donald Trump might well believe everything he is saying in the moment. But, with his Las Vegas speech, Trump showed that while he can attract an audience, he, like P. T. Barnum, lacks the discipline and charm to pull off the Big Sting.
— John Fund is national-affairs correspondent for National Review Online.
Did you just threaten that poster?
Not personally, regardless, but -
my “needs” comment was directed at whomever the title was quoting.
I watched this exchange only minutes ago on YouTube.
Roberto Salinas was rude and obnoxious. He made a speech before the audience, and Trump, insisted he ask his question. He didn't wait for an answer, instead tried to speak over Trump. Then he tried to start another speech, and Trump cut him off.
John Fund, even you surprised me. I thought you were above presenting a lie as the truth.
But these guys are “journalists” not just DNC propagandists.
Pardon me but are Jeb Bush, John Boehner, and Mitch McConnell talking about securing the border? Are they speaking out about criminal illegals? Haven’t they had some ability to do something about this at some point in their political careers?
Your a strong Trump supporter?
Trump, the Unhappy Warrior, Woos Angry Voters by Telling Them What They Want to Hear
Trump, the Unhappy Warrior, Woos Angry Voters by talking about What They BELIEVE!
Corrected.
Not really. I DO like that someone isn’t toeing the PC line and is boldly stating truths that need to be spoken.
I view Trump as a snowplow.
Cruz definitely has voiced support for Trumps’ views on immigration. The others, not at all.
Google Cruz statements on trump since you don’t seem to have paid any attention.
I said this several weeks ago about Trump:
“Tour de Force”
To take that many people and talk, just like you and talk, not ‘political’ speak, makes people relax, listen, understand....
Trump is not campaigning for money, he’s not owned by anyone, he is ‘one of us’ and he talks TO us, not AT us, he talked about NBC, Univision, and we understood what he said...
When he talks about ILLIGIAL IMMIGRANTS, we know what he is saying to us...
I am really liking this guy, and you can bet the GOPe, and the demonRATS and everybody else that thinks he’s a joke, are going to do anything and everything to smear him, and guess what, we ‘normal, everyday’ people are going to grow into a bigger crowd and we are going to listen to what he is TALKING to us about....
He tells people what they want to hear? And... how does that differ from ANY candidacy?
Trump speaks to Truth Seekers by telling them the Truth.
As long as it doesn’t interfere with book sales, he is good with Trump’s views.
What’s Cruz polling? 3-4 percent. Ground swell of support! That may not get him in the first debate.
was going to say- anger was/is good when it was coming from obama’s mouth, especially when its against George Bush...not so much now...
liberalism thy name is hypocrisy....
I don’t want a candidate to tell me what I want to hear. I want to hear what they really think. With Trump its hard to know what he really thinks because he’s changed direction so many times.
I’m a real pain in the ass for the campaign issue calls.
When I look at John Fund for some reason I think of a scene from the movie Deliverance and the words “squeal like a pig”.
I’m not sure why, maybe it is because the scene is about a group who believes they are in control of everything but find out that turns out not to be the case?
Key quote:
But she says that the GOP establishment has underestimated the depth of contempt that many conservatives have for the party’s leaders in Congress.
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