Posted on 08/08/2015 12:00:59 PM PDT by Crystal Palace East
In this post, I'm asking a serious set of questions about Mr. Trump. I'm not doing so to put him in a bad light, nor a good one.
It's really very simple. Donald Trump is an American political phenomenon. I, and others, are trying to understand why?
I am not posting this to be positive or negative regarding Mr. Trump. I'm simply asking some questions that are certain to be asked later in any campaign. My intention here is not to start some pro or anti-Trump harangues, but rather to get some serious answers to some serious questions. If anyone wants to get into any flame war regarding Mr. Trump, so be it, but I'm not going to waste my time not Jim's bandwidth getting into some long-winded debate.
I'm simply asking questions, questions I think American voters will want answers to. If anyone objects to the questions, I'd remind them of the old San Donaldson line that said, "When someone objects to your questions, what they're really upset about is the fact that you might learn the their answers to your question."
Also, one final request. Please do not generalize with just one "Trump is Great," or "Trump Stinks" answer.
Thank you for your time spent answering these questions.
#1: Donald Trump is a 21st Century political phenomenon. Why is that so?
#2: If you like Donald Trump, or dislike him, why? (Please be specific.)
3: Forgetting about demeanor and delivery, what Conservative positions/platforms does Mr. Trump have that you like the most.
4: Forgetting about demeanor and delivery, what positions does Mr. Trump have that you like the least?
5: There are other strong Conservatives in the race for the nomination, for example Senator Cruz and Governor Huckabee. Which Trump position or positions are more Conservative than the Senator or Governor? (Again, please stay away from the demeanor or style of delivery, but rather stick to specific policies.)
6: Mt Trump espoused some strong Conservative positions in the debate. Which was most important to you?
6: Mr. Trump has espoused some very liberal policies in the past, especially one that are objectionable to Conservatives. Which of those bothers you the most?
7: Mr. Trump has espoused some very liberal policies in the past, especially one that are objectionable to Conservatives. How sure are you that he is simply not engaging in the political trick of telling the audience what he thinks they want to hear, and why are you sure/unsure about that?
8: Like many politicians, when pressed, Mr. Trunp seemed to have few specifics about his accusations or plans. Does that bother you and why?
9: Mr. Trump has touched a nerve in Americans who feel disenfranchised. If elected, how would he turn that into actual improvement for all Americans, as opposed to simply more angry Americans.
10: In his books, Mr. Trump says he favors saying and doing anything to get an advantage in a business deal. Would that work for him as President?
11: In what some have called vicious personally attacks, Mr. Trump has gone after people who do not agree with him. If President, would that work in DC, or are they simply Sol Alinsky tactics, and if so, would they would work as President, and how?
12: A 3d party candidate would split the Right vote and hand the election to the Democrats. Should Trump run as a 3d Party candidate if he does not get the Republican nomination?
13: Did your opinion of Trump increase or decrease as a result of the debate?
14: Could you please list the leading candidates, ranking them from most Conservative to most Liberal?
15: Assuming Mt. Trump gets the Republican nomination, how would you advise him to attack Hillary Clinton in the general election.
Thank you for your input to this.
This is what I know. The rules of the game has resulted in no one being satisfied by what is happening. We elected officials two years ago making two thirds of the government GOP. Not conservative, but Republican in name only. Nothing has been changed even though we did what we were supposed to. So now the rules are out the window and Trump is in to do our bidding. He doesn’t follow the rules and maybe we can now get what needs to be done accomplished. Zero has been doing this for a while now. Time for a foil.
I am actually wanting CRUZ. Please remember that early on he and Trump had a meeting. Trump also mentioned Palin in positive terms. Let this run it’s course and see what happens with those two facts. If a shakeup occurs so be it we need some rattling of the eGOP cage. CRUZ and Palin have never been part of that cast.
He is far from my favorite candidate, but would Bush have given us
Open, non-existent borders
Beau Bergdahl
Free Taliban
Black Reparations
Encouraging police killers
Doing nothing about ISIS
?
5: There are other strong Conservatives in the race for the nomination, for example Senator Cruz and Governor Huckabee. Which Trump position or positions are more Conservative than the Senator or Governor? (Again, please stay away from the demeanor or style of delivery, but rather stick to specific policies.)
I don't believe that Trump is more conservative than Cruz. But, there are people who see an urgent need to destroy Trump. They want to "Dump Trump" so that they can "Push Bush" for President.
As soon as these people get rid of Trump, they will go after Cruz. So, right now, Trump is sort of functioning as a blocker for Cruz. I think Trump is performing magnificently. If he can hang in there long enough, he will be taking a lot of arrows that would otherwise be fired at Cruz. The longer Trump is around, the more Bush's weaknesses are exposed.
Go Trump and Cruz!!
Trump may turn out not sticking around as a candidate and that doesn’t necessarily pose a problem. He might be a secular John the Baptist to Cruz’s Jesus.
From a debate standpoint, there was virtually no debate. The Fox crew were on some sort of mission, if not an outright ego trip. They hogged much of the airtime, by directing often long queries against carefully isolated two-somes; obviously with greater hostility towards some candidates than others.
From the standpoint of oratorical techniques--I am a lifelong student of oratorical techniques--Rubio & Huckabee used their time rather well; so to a slightly lesser degree did Cruz & Carson. But none of the candidates had sufficient opportunity to show their rhetorical abilities, because of the ego or mission trip of the "moderators."
Also, for reasons of the same constraints, none of the candidates had much of an opportunity to develop any points with meaningful clarity--None!
Now, my personal bias from the start was in favor of Cruz and Trump, so I certainly appreciate Donald's ire at the way he was handled. But he needs to master two arts, which have served successful candidates throughout American history.
He needs to know when to use ire as an effective weapon & when to hold back an open display and effectively understate his displeasure with the choice of words that show he also has grace. (This can often be a very effective way to actually transfer the ire that you feel to a listener or supporter, who will feel the anger that you are suppressing by the understatement. Hollywood uses this concept endlessly to create emotional impact in movie dramas.)
Secondly, Donald needs to get a bit of Celtic lilt into his remarks, coupled with a Reaganesque smile. Again, this is a technique for stroking emotions. It is important, because ultimately most politics is driven by emotion.
Donald is completely right that there is no time to be "politically correct"; but for the same reason, it is essential to be as effective in reaching a multi-faceted, multi-emotion driven, audience, as possible.
One other note. It is very, very doubtful that Mrs. Clinton will be able to get the nomination. Democrats have no more loyalty these days, than do those on the Republican left--and she is rapidly becoming an embarrassment on a number of fronts.
“In his books, Mr. Trump says he favors saying and doing anything to get an advantage in a business deal. Would that work for him as President?”
I think you answered your own questions. To put it more simply, Mr. Trump thinks all is fair in love and war and is not above lying to get what he wants. We already have a president that does that. How has that worked out for us so far?
No, I do not think someone who is a skilled liar is someone who I would want for POTUS.
I’m not saying I dislike his positions, but I’m afraid Trump is the flavor-of-the month.
A lot of romances, political and sexual, die at the end of the Summer.
I would give my last dime to work for a Cruz-Palin ticket.
Possibly, by softly letting in so many welfare-dependent foreigners that they permanently tilted the country to the liberal extreme.
Don’t kid yourself about Trump. He’s popular with plenty of young people who are as tired of PC as we are.
I’m no fan of him running third party, but if he did, he’d steal a LOT of voters from BOTH sides and especially the middle.
I say this with an eye on the world we will be in next year more than the one we are in now. It will be VERY different.
Trump knows this too.
Here’s what I think. You are part of a group doing opposition research on Trump. Before you can come up with a plan to take him down you need to know his appeal to so many voters. Your questions are designed to do just that.
Don’t know about others here but I am not interested in helping out the opposition.
Truth is a long wearing “flavor.”
A “Trump Party” could look a whale of a lot more serious than either modern Democrat or modern GOP.
Can you document that he has ever included dishonesty in that?
I’m talking about the future, not the past.
TOTALLY AGREE with your well thought out post.
Trumps “last angry man” act hid his points completely for most voters.
Hillary will not be Dem candidate. The Dick Harpoolian interview on MSNBC last Sunday was a message to all mainline Dems. Get off the sinking SS Hillary while you can.
When Harpoolian speaks, mainline Dems listen, and he was certainly not on TV without being the messenger from the DNC and th Big Dollar Dems.
"We [have] to destroy Barry Goldwater Donald Trump as a member of the human race."
The original quote is from Nelson Rockefeller's public relations head, Stuart Spencer.
This was not a debate, this was a farce.
The very last thing they wanted to do was give Trump the floor for any specifics.
Sorry, wrong.
Too bad you couldn’t answer the questions. Would love to have known your answers.
Heeeeeeeeeeeeere, viking kitty kitty kitty
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