Posted on 08/27/2015 8:56:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
When pundits call Donald Trump a "know-nothing," they are not just using a historical if pejorative term to describe his immigration stance. They really mean that he appears to know nothing about public policy or governance.
On the charitable assumption that his blustery, content-free stump speech isn't an act, you'll get no argument here. But Trump does seem to know a lot more about politics than many of his detractors, including those critics who are well versed in the finer details of entitlement reform or international trade policy.
Trump's success in the polls has been particularly frustrating for wonky conservatives. How can so many people buy into the business expertise of someone who so often gives technically wrong answers to economic questions?
Worse, why do so many conservatives seem enamored with a candidate who has taken unconservative positions on issues like taxes, abortion, healthcare reform and entitlements — that is, most of the conservative domestic agenda — and in some cases hasn't even bothered to move to the right on them?
Pat Buchanan gave us a hint in his 1992 Republican National Convention speech, when he spoke of "conservatives of the heart" whose political convictions were more visceral than intellectual. "They don't read Adam Smith or Edmund Burke, but they came from the same schoolyards and playgrounds and towns as we did," he told the delegates.
Many Americans, even those engaged enough to identify as liberal or conservative much less Republican or Democrat, aren't systematic political thinkers. They vote for candidates based on who they like or trust. They cast their ballots on the basis of real and perceived self-interest. To the extent that they approach politics in a more ideological or partisan way, it is often through a nexus of loyalties and identity as much as a specific preference for how high the capital gains tax should be.
A lot of conservatism is based on an inchoate sense that something important about the America of old is being lost. Maybe it's because the government is getting too big, or social values are changing, or the demographics are different, or even a feeling that the country's foreign enemies are ascendant. But conservatives haven't always thought it was morning in America.
Mainstream Republicans have capitalized on these sentiments many times. Party leaders from George W. Bush to Sarah Palin have rallied attitudinal red staters. Trump has just taken this identity appeal to the next level.
But in terms of policy, it isn't just that some conservatives haven't read Hayek. They fundamentally disagree with him. At the grassroots level, the American right has always had strong strains of nationalism and moralism. That's not an inherently bad thing, but the modern conservative movement has generally tried to wed these tendencies to a more limited or even libertarian view of government.
Nationalism and moralism can easily be expressed through strong, activist government as well. The platforms of right-wing parties in Europe and the rest of the world are frequently anything but libertarian, even in the loose sense that Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan were.
Trump also understands that many voters across the ideological spectrum aren't looking for a detailed political platform or five-point policy plan as much they want leadership. They want their government, and the people who lead it, to fix things and get things done. They want someone who will fight for them.
All of this annoys conservative intellectuals, who patiently point out to Trump voters that they shouldn't want leadership from someone who supports single payer, or conservative activists, who with increasing impatience try to explain that the right can't be led by a Hillary Clinton/Harry Reid donor.
But certifiably mainstream conservatives, from Andrew Breitbart to Ted Cruz, have employed the fighting terminology long before Trump, with varying degrees of specificity. You knew whom they were fighting — the Left, big government, the establishment, Washington — but they didn't always have the same answer about the ultimate purpose.
Before Reagan, Richard Nixon won two terms in the White House successfully pairing populist, culturally conservative Silent Majority rhetoric with frequently quite liberal policies.
The Donald knows that for many people politics is a team sport. The fans who cheered Brett Favre in Green Bay booed him in Minnesota and vice versa. Trump is trying out for the GOP team and has the marketing experience to sell it. While his pitch may seem crude, with the thrice-married braggart invoking the "great Billy Graham" and calling the Bible his favorite book, but is it that much cruder than the fundraising appeals conservative and Tea Party groups send out daily?
In retrospect, Trump's 2013 appearance at Graham's 95th birthday celebration in North Carolina might have been the biggest tip-off that he was serious about running for president.
When Trump came on professional wrestling broadcasts and trash-talked Vince McMahon, the crowd loved it. He is simply applying the same approach to Jorge Ramos, Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton. The crowd still loves it.
Finally, as somebody whose success comes as much from his fame as his real estate fortune, Trump gets the celebrity culture. Americans are obsessed with it and reality TV has blurred the lines between entertainment and, well, reality.
The citizenry's desire to keep up with the Kardashians and its anger at the political class has proved a potent combination. Many Americans think the people running their government are jokes, self-promoting blowhards with bad, expensive haircuts engaged in pointless political theater.
Why not have a candidate who will:
A.) Pick up issues with significant political appeal that the establishment in both parties won't touch
B.) Treat the system like the joke that it is and
C.) Lampoon the bad-haired self-promoters just by existing?
Trump may be a blowhard, the reasoning goes, but at least he's our blowhard.
This act is probably less sustainable than the entitlements Trump doesn't want to reform, but for a limited time it can be just as popular with its intended audience. The know-nothing may know a thing or two after all.
Somehow, you have forgotten we are TRILLIONS in debt.
TRILLIONS.
We do need a MASTER businessman to dig us out of that hole.
I am certain Ted Cruz will be on hand to help with the Constitutional concerns.
Cruz-Trump or Trump-Cruz. Either way, what a MASSIVE shot in the arm for the United States.
Putting A Constitutional Lawyer(Ted Cruz) in charge just might save the day...
I say MIGHT because (democrats) will not go away..
AND........ Democrats and RINOS LOVE THIS FARM.. being Judas Goats as they are.
constitution left the barn. Obamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh proves it. get over it. it’s gone. no one under thirty even knows there is a constitution. old racist white guys made it up.
"OUR" blowhard?
You can have my part - he's all yours...
Trump is a lifelong liberal Democrat who decided that to run as a Republican he had to morph into a Republican. And he is. He’s slowly but surely adopting most of the positions of the Republican establishment, with his own various unique weird twists.
He doesn’t want to defeat the establishment Republicans because he disagrees with them so much. He wants to defeat them so that he can become the Republican establishment.
This is it exactly.
Bttt
Oh I like that.....he’s our Braveheart!...
The effort to tie ones current thinking to thinking that occurred years ago is the oldest trick in the book. I know for a fact that my thinking about matters has changed over the years. To pin someone down because of what they said years ago is for the fools stupid enough to believe it.
Even BRAVEHEART"!!!
This is getting insane....
Pied Piper is more like it...
I think we have a vehicle. It’s a vehicle that can only succeed if we all get on board now and start peddling. The establishment cannot be finessed, it will only surrender to overwhelming strength. The people have chosen, it’s time to roll. Trump is not perfect, but he is electable.
I think Trump has had the epiphany. Palin likewise put the fear of God in the established order because THEY KNEW if she ever got her hands on the steering wheel the drag race would be over. Same here. Trump is a wild card, and he is therefore persona non grata.
More great pics, thank you Bon mots
Okay, then you seem to think there’s a good chance...
...he loves Obamacare.
...he doesn’t really care about our veterans.
...he doesn’t really care about our national debt.
...he doesn’t want to rebuild the military.
...he thinks Obama and company did a great job on the Iran negotiations.
...he really doesn’t care about abortion.
...he really doesn’t object to common core.
...he really wants the Department of Education to dominate education from Washington, D. C.
...he really doesn’t care about illegal immigration.
...he doesn’t want to build a wall.
...he doesn’t think our trade deals are bad.
...he doesn’t care if we are energy independent.
...and on and on it goes.
Seriously?
You don’t trust him at all?
What is that distrust built on, the trust-ablity of folks like President Bush, who stabbed us in the back as often as not?
It’s a carp shoot no matter who it is.
And as for Cruz or the best whoever that is, how do we get them past the Democrats and Moderate Republicans who vote with us in the primaries?
It has been since 1984 that we haven’t elected a Conservative in nomination process. Want to try again this year and see how it works out, until it’s too late, and we have to wait another four years?
Should we just plan now not to participate again next November?
I’m not voting for the run of the mill Lefist like Bush. He won’t even tell me he’ll do what I want. So it’s a given he won’t. At least Trump cares enough to lie to me.
I’d rather find you he’s a liar, than vote for someone who tells me up front he’ll sell out the nation.
I respect liars more than traitors.
A lone voice of sanity?
Thank you. I was beginning to think I was on DU
If he'd lived in the 1800's he've been a traveling snake-oil salesman...
Come to think of it, ...
Was he Scots-Irish too?
He's Bravehart and Patton, all in One. With Trump, you get a fiver:
Beltway Politicians - BAM!
MSM - BAM!
Jeb - BAM!
Hillary - BAM!
Obama - BAM!!
Take That!!!
P.S. Middle English had a verb bammen "to hit or strike" (late 14c.).
He's gone bankrupt more than once - and most of his "successes" come from donation bribes to politicians, on both sides of the isle. And he's proud of it - even bragged about making a donation to Hitlery for a favor he wanted = "and I got the favor!" he proudly announced. And NO ONE said a word!
Not the kind of businessman I'd want running the country.
We do need a MASTER businessman to dig us out of that hole.
Wrong Jenny... we need the constitution restored..
thats the key... and reduce federal government to match it..
MERELY reducing the size and scope of the federal givernment with send business into sharp spiral upwards.. quickly..
with every “set” of restrictions(laws) resended more business will return and new ones created..
with every agency disbanded or severely curtailed freedom will be released on all the people... once again..
with prosecution of government WRONG DO’ers hope will again bloom.. in a NEW Justice Department..
THE thing WRONG with America is the RAPE of the US Constitutional principles NOT EFFICIENCY..
You can never make Socialism efficient no matter what..
First step restore the Constitution and ABOLISH ANYthing that don’t match..
The president can only deal with the Executive Branch..
BUT even that could take two terms..
With a Constitutional Justice Department ALL House members and Senators will be watching their backside..
Causing some to come forward and RAT the wrong do’ers to save themselves..
A good businessman IS THE LAST THING America needs.. right Now to fix things.. to fix Washington D.C.
TRUMP will can only make things worse..
An efficient federal government is not what needed now.. later of course.. not NOW..
Example: to build a new kichen it is sometimes wise to gut the room.. and start over.. thats whats needed.. NOW..
According to the US Constitution.. not some businessman’s business conniving...
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