Is There a Method to Trump’s Madness? ..By George Will

[mystery-ak]

 Is There a Method to Trump’s Madness?
The public is numb to Trump’s scattershot of stupefying statements.
By George Will — August 3, 2016

In the 1870s, when Boss Tweed’s Tammany Hall controlled New York City, and in the 1950s and 1960s, when Chicago’s Democratic machine was especially rampant, there was a phenomenon that can be called immunity through profusion: Fresh scandals arrived with metronomic regularity, so there was no time to concentrate on any of them. The public, bewildered by blitzkriegs of bad behavior, was enervated.

What Winston Churchill said about an adversary — “He spoke without a note and almost without a point” — can be said of Donald Trump, but this might be unfair to him. His speeches are, of course, syntactical train wrecks, but there might be method to his madness. He rarely finishes a sentence (“Believe me!” does not count), but perhaps he is not the scatterbrain he has so successfully contrived to appear. Maybe he actually is a sly rascal, cunningly in pursuit of immunity through profusion.

He seems to understand that if you produce a steady stream of sufficiently stupefying statements, there will be no time to dwell on any one of them, and the net effect on the public will be numbness and ennui. So, for example, while the nation has been considering his interesting decision to try to expand his appeal by attacking Gold Star parents, little attention has been paid to this: Vladimir Putin’s occupation of the Crimea has escaped Trump’s notice.

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http://www.nationalreview.com/node/438649/print

[sinkspur]

It is being poisoned by the injection into its bloodstream of the cynicism required of those Republicans who persist in pretending that although Trump lies constantly and knows nothing, these blemishes do not disqualify him from being president.......Pence is just the most recent example of how the rubble of ruined reputations will become deeper before November 8. It has been well said that “sooner or later, we all sit down to a banquet of consequences.” The Republican party’s multi-course banquet has begun.

The damage of backing Trump will stick to these cowardly Republicans like barnicles to a ship long after Trump has been humiliated in November.

When the party is all that matters, and the rubble of the party lies all around them, what will they have left?

[r9etb]

The damage of backing Trump will stick to these cowardly Republicans like barnacles to a ship long after Trump has been humiliated in November.

When the party is all that matters, and the rubble of the party lies all around them, what will they have left?

It's interesting to compare Clinton and Trump on this score.  Clinton's record of incompetence, criminality, and corruption is continually covered up by a complicit media; and Will correctly describes Trumps "steady stream of ... stupefying statements," which the media are more than happy to pass along.

Of these -- both of which are bad -- I'd say that the Clinton dynamic is far more corrosive and dangerous, as that is the way that dictatorships are born and maintained. 

With a guy like Trump and his supporters, there's no dark corner in which to hide.  With Clinton, there's nothing but dark corners.

[massadvj]

It's interesting to compare Clinton and Trump on this score.  Clinton's record of incompetence, criminality, and corruption is continually covered up by a complicit media; and Will correctly describes Trumps "steady stream of ... stupefying statements," which the media are more than happy to pass along.

Of these -- both of which are bad -- I'd say that the Clinton dynamic is far more corrosive and dangerous, as that is the way that dictatorships are born and maintained. 

With a guy like Trump and his supporters, there's no dark corner in which to hide.  With Clinton, there's nothing but dark corners.

 

Pithy, insightful, and it had a nice payoff at the end.

[Jazzhead]

George Will decries the damage being done to the nation by "Trump's success in normalizing post-factual politics".    A brilliant insight, of course, but it's really a condemnation of Trump's supporters,  who willfully ignore facts in their zeal for cult-worship.

How can any thinking American respect a Trump supporter?   

 

[r9etb]

How can any thinking American respect a Trump supporter?

I tend to avoid the broad brush when referring to people in general. 


There are a lot of moral, reasonable, and respectable people who will vote for Trump, and even support him, for understandable reasons (chief among them being that Hillary is worse and more dangerous).  I don't agree with those people, but neither do I pretend that they've somehow become untouchables.

That said, it's different when we're talking about public figures who line up behind Trump and attempt to excuse his excesses and idiocies.  Those people definitely deserve to be shunned.

[massadvj]

George Will decries the damage being done to the nation by "Trump's success in normalizing post-factual politics".    A brilliant insight, of course, but it's really a condemnation of Trump's supporters,  who willfully ignore facts in their zeal for cult-worship.

How can any thinking American respect a Trump supporter?

I have many close friends who are Trump supporters, and for the most part they are very decent, hard working patriots.  I do't see what they see in Trump, but I have tremendous respect for them, and I certainly would not denigrate them for wanting to change things and stick it to the establishment.

On the other hand, I can think of very few Hillary fanatics who I respect.  In truth, I had more Bernie fans in my circle than Hillary supporters.  At least they had convictions.

[JustPassinThru]

What we are seeing is the result of the insularity and self-indoctrination of the Political Class.  They've become American nobility - no longer selected by merit but by breeding and through credentializing in their largely-closed finishing schools; in their separate-and-unequal government-centric society where all good things come from power and the public purse.

The selection of these two appallingly-unfit candidates are the tangible result, and probably their final act.   One was ramrodded through, against the will of at least half the party base.  This was done in some bizarro interpretation of obligation and debt - and because of the candidate's spouse, who to them, connotes better times.  Certainly more power.

The other was fecklessly opposed in favor of a panoply of ciphers in turn, none of which demonstrated leadership or principles the voter base could identify with or support.  All of them represented more programs, more waste, more interference...MORE LIBERALISM.  Finally, the Party Elites opted to game the system; keep the last standing cipher in to draw off votes until they could get the cult leader, not their choice but malleable and a lifetime backstage player...get him past the delegate-count threshold.

They did it.  It's a disaster now and will be further, no matter who wins and no matter what the winner does.  Neither of these individuals is another George Washington.

The nation will be horrifically wounded; perhaps destroyed; and we can lay the blame on the Political Elites - who no longer have time or interest in the principles which founded America and made it a world power and beacon of freedom.

[Jazzhead]

To clarify - I respect the basic policy themes of the Trump campaign.  I may not agree with them, but Trump's messages of opposition to globalism and immigration,  the erection of protectionist walls and withdrawal from a leading role on the world stage are all legitimate alternative policy positions.

But I do not respect anyone who supports Trump the man for President.   I've said before that the GOP should adopt some of his message but REJECT THE MESSENGER.   Trump is, to me at least, quite obviously insane and utterly unfit for the office he seeks.   As Will says, he's normalized post-factual politics, and for that I cannot respect him or his supporters.   He's an existential threat to the nation,  and I will do what I must to defeat him and his post-factual supporters.

For me, there can be no reconciliation.   

[r9etb]

The nation will be horrifically wounded; perhaps destroyed; and we can lay the blame on the Political Elites - who no longer have time or interest in the principles which founded America and made it a world power and beacon of freedom.

It's a lot more complicated than that.  The elites certainly exist, but they thrive primarily because normal people (me included) are no longer involved in the political process in any meaningful way.  Partly that's a result of an increasingly centralized/federalized government; partly it's because we're too busy leading our lives to go to all the meetings; and partly it's a lack of honest information from the media and the politicians; and I think that cycle feeds back on itself so that the problem becomes worse over time.

Normal people are understandably frustrated and angered by this, which explains both Trump and Bernie Sanders' campaigns.

[massadvj]

What we are seeing is the result of the insularity and self-indoctrination of the Political Class.  They've become American nobility - no longer selected by merit but by breeding and through credentializing in their largely-closed finishing schools; in their separate-and-unequal government-centric society where all good things come from power and the public purse.

On top of everything else, they laid bare the soft underbellies of both parties.  That the Democrats are populated by nutty commies, and the Republican by racist nationalists.  The Democrats were able to install their establishment standard bearer in spite of the base, whereas the Republicans succumbed to the riff raff in the audience with their pitchforks.  I happen to think the riff raff is being played like a violin, but the fact is these people were able to force their will on what has been up until now the "grown up" party.

[JustPassinThru]

On top of everything else, they laid bare the soft underbellies of both parties.  That the Democrats are populated by nutty commies, and the Republican by racist nationalists.  The Democrats were able to install their establishment standard bearer, whereas the Republicans succumbed to the riff raff in the audience with their pitchforks.  I happen to think the riff raff is being played like a violin, but the fact is these people were able to force their will on what has been up until now the "grown up" party.

Explain that.

WHO in the Republican side is RACIST?  Or even, nationalist?  That's the frikkin' PROBLEM - they want a DISSOLUTION of national boundaries and national sovereignty.  They pretend to want tariffs - a horrible idea on the face of it, witness Smoot-Hawley - but they don't really.  But they recognize the "good" that will come of that - more government and more tax money.

The Party Elites are mostly interchangeable.  There is racism distinguishing the two sides - THEIR side, with their antiwhite racialist assertions; with all the self-loathing secular Jews over there.  Republicans are more-directly focused on money, and what fun they can have spending it.

[JustPassinThru]

It's a lot more complicated than that.  The elites certainly exist, but they thrive primarily because normal people (me included) are no longer involved in the political process in any meaningful way.  Partly that's a result of an increasingly centralized/federalized government; partly it's because we're too busy leading our lives to go to all the meetings; and partly it's a lack of honest information from the media and the politicians; and I think that cycle feeds back on itself so that the problem becomes worse over time.

Normal people are understandably frustrated and angered by this, which explains both Trump and Bernie Sanders' campaigns.

This is true.  If you want to write of the fall of America, you could fill an encyclopedia-sized series of bound volumes.

I'm giving the Cliff's Notes version.

[r9etb]

WHO in the Republican side is RACIST?  Or even, nationalist? 

To the extent that they're still Republicans, I think you'll find a whole host of them over at TOS -- they're one of the big reasons I left.

[EasyAce]

The nation, however, is not immune to the lasting damage that is being done to it by Trump’s success in
normalizing post-factual politics. It is being poisoned by the injection into its bloodstream of the cynicism required
of those Republicans who persist in pretending that although Trump lies constantly and knows nothing, these
blemishes do not disqualify him from being president.

As when, last week, Mike Pence reproved Barack Obama for deploring, obviously with Trump in mind, “homegrown
demagogues.” Pence, doing his well-practiced imitation of a country vicar saddened by the discovery of sin in his
parish, said with sorrowful solemnity: “I don’t think name calling has any place in public life.” As in “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz
and “Little Marco” Rubio and “Crooked Hillary” Clinton?---George F. Will.

Bull's eye.

[Oceander]

Ohh goody.  So numbness and ennui are now the primary political values of the GOP.  How pathetic.  The people who lap this junk up have some serious issues, issues they should be addressing on the psychiatrist's couch, not the voting booth.

[Fishrrman]

r9etb wrote above:
"Of these -- both of which are bad -- I'd say that the Clinton dynamic is far more corrosive and dangerous, as that is the way that dictatorships are born and maintained..."

One of the best reasons to vote for Trump I've yet to see posted here.

Thank you!

Addendum:
Of course, you'll reply that you never -meant for- your words to be an endorsement.
But, once posted, they stand on their own. Too late now!