A Winning President is Better Than a Presidential PresidentAmerican Greatness, Aug 9, 2018, Glenn Ellmers
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Historians can debate whether Trump is indeed a genius playing 3D chess, or instead just a very lucky blowhard who lurches from one victory to the next. But it’s hard not be impressed by three really daring strategies that represent what Machiavelli might have called “new modes and orders†in American politics. These original and unorthodox techniques could not have been pulled off—indeed would never have been conceived—by any of the more conventional candidates. In Trump-like fashion we can use three bold, exclamatory phrases to describe these strategies:
Stuff it! Every presidential candidate claims to run against “the Establishment.†So what? Trump ran as the anti-expert. Big difference. Most people aren’t really sure what “the Establishment†is anyway. [...] Trump capitalizes on this brilliantly. He fumbles and bumbles and brags and often seems to get mixed up as he talks. But no one cares, because even if his phrasing is sometimes inelegant, he will boldly say things that no one else dares to utter. What he lacks in eloquence, he makes up for in moral clarity. He means what he says. He talks like a bartender not a banker or a lawyer. He may not be right all the time, but he’s honest and blunt and, and thinks for himself. We know where he stands on the issues. Holy cow! Imagine that. [...]
Flaunt it! Trump is not an expert, because experts are stuffy bores who live a disgusting, parasitic existence telling people what to do: consultants, economists, professors, financial advisors, journalists, etc. Trump is an entrepreneur and a tycoon. He doesn’t “consult.†He is successful, and he wants everyone to know it. He made his money building things, not just running his mouth. [...] Trump is jamming down on the plunger with his big gold watch and poofy hair. And a lot people love it (some secretly). Again, no one else would have taken this approach. Indeed, any other Republican politician would have been horrified, and many still are. That’s why they aren’t in the White House.
Bring it! This is the biggest stroke of genius of all. In chucking the bullshit respectability of fake expertise and false modesty, [...]
Trump is willing to be unpresidential to win. He is willing to use what Machiavelli called the beastly arts—the virtues of the lion and especially the fox, which is expert in spotting traps. By implication, this includes setting traps—one of Trump’s great gifts. A politician who uses the way of the fox is willing to “stoop to conquer.†Again, this makes him unique among Republicans, who generally care more about themselves—their meretricious dignity and prestige—than they do about their country. But a winning president is better than a presidential president. That’s one lesson his rivals still don’t understand.
And it’s why he will keep winning.
More:
https://amgreatness.com/2018/08/09/a-winning-president-is-better-than-a-presidential-president/
