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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHere’s the Real Reason Everybody Thought Trump Would Lose
Why did almost everybody fail to predict Donald Trumps victory in the Republican primaries? Nate Silver blames the news media, disorganized Republican elites, and the surprising appeal of cultural grievance. Nate Cohn lists a number of factors, from the unusually large candidate field to the friendly calendar. Jim Rutenberg thinks journalism strayed too far from good old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting. Justin Wolfers zeroes in on Condorcets paradox. Heres the factor I think everybody missed: The Republican Party turns out to be filled with idiots. Far more of them than anybody expected.
The 2006 movie Idiocracy depicts a future in which Americans have grown progressively dumber, and eventually elect as president of the United States a professional wrestler, who caters demagogically to their nationalistic impulses and ignorance of science. Only because the film took place in an imaginary world was it possible to straightforwardly equate a political choice with a lack of intelligence. In the actual world, the bounds of taste and deference to (small-d) democratic outcomes make it gauche to do so. But the dynamic imagined in Idiocracy has obviously transpired, down to the election of a figure from pro wrestling:
While it's impolite and politically counterproductive, if we want to accurately identify the analytic error that caused so many of us to dismiss Trump, we must return to the idiocy question. The particular idiocy involves both the partys elites and its voters. The failures of the elites have been the source of analysis for months now. Republican insiders and donors failed to grasp the severity of the threat Trump posed to their party, many of them rallied behind obviously doomed legacy candidate Jeb Bush, or they used ineffectual messages when they did attack Trump. Or, most of all, they simply deluded themselves about the dangers he posed rather than face up to them. I never believed party insiders could fully dictate the outcome of the nomination, but I did expect them to be able to block a wildly unacceptable candidate, and they proved surprisingly inept even in the face of extreme peril to their collective self-interest.
Then there are the voters, whose behavior provided the largest surprise. It was simply impossible for me to believe that Republican voters would nominate an obvious buffoon. Everything about Trump is a joke. His orange makeup and ridiculous hair, his reality-television persona, his insult comedy and overt bragging they are neon-bright signs that he is not (to use a widely employed term) presidential. Trump did not even seem to be an especially effective demagogue. He is not eloquent, not even in a homespun way. He stumbles on his phrases, repeats himself over and over, and his speeches consist of bragging and recitation of polling results so dull and digressive his audience often heads for the exits well before the conclusion.
Snip
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/05/heres-the-real-reason-we-all-underrated-trump.html
chknltl
(10,558 posts)...try to take on the persona of Ronald Reagan. (Seems to me all Republican POTUS wannabes do that anyway).
Jopin Klobe
(779 posts)... "As president, Reagan raised taxes in seven of his eight years in office, including four times in just two years. As former GOP Senator Alan Simpson, who called Reagan a dear friend, told NPR, Ronald Reagan raised taxes 11 times in his administration I was there. Reagan was never afraid to raise taxes, said historian Douglas Brinkley, who edited Reagans memoir. Reagan the anti-tax zealot is false mythology, Brinkley said."
[link:http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/02/05/142288/reagan-centennial/|
elljay
(1,178 posts)You're talking about Saint Ronnie here, and you won't get any of the Republican idiots to believe a word you say about taxes. Remember the Rob Corddry quote, "The facts have a well-known liberal bias."
Bohemianwriter
(978 posts)Only the middle and working class, while cutting benefits for poor families, redistributing those funds to fight a war against the same people while CIA flooded the street with cocaine from a certain Latin American drug lord with ties with CIA.
A policy that the Clinton's more than happily extended in the 90's.
Ultimately creating scenarios like the murder of Tamir Rice.
erronis
(15,328 posts)Between Reagan (and other US policies way back in the 1800's) and the horrors of living in US cities while the crumbling is ignored, or even abetted, by the people that control the world.
Chicago1980
(1,968 posts)Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)he takes on everything that his people want to hear - he flip flops several times a day and nobody notices. Without the media he wouldn't have thrived.
Salviati
(6,008 posts)Jopin Klobe
(779 posts)... and, HA! ...
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)In fact, I thought he might win.
But I am also not a guy who thinks he can predict the future.
I am reminded of Oscar Wilde though. I have "friend" on FB, for example, who think only idiots would ever vote for Hillary (there may also be a few such people in GDP). As the quote goes
I called them crazy, they called me crazy. They outvoted me.
So we call them idiots, they call us idiots. In the end, somebody will be outvoted.
Myself, I don't see what is so idiotic about supporting Trump. Consider the choices they had. Is Trump a worse choice than Cruz? Not by a significant amount that I can see. Is Trump worse than Rubio or Christie or Jeb? Is he worse than Fiorina? I was not one of those people who followed the campaign. I certainly saw no point to watching the debates for an election I would not be voting in.
Here's the other thing. Even if I did watch the debates and learn about all the candidates and thought one or two were significantly better than the others....well, er, I am perhaps not QUITE as conservative as the average Republican primary voter (alright no comments from the peanut gallery). So in the end if I call them idiots for not supporting Kasich over Trump then basically I am just calling them idiots for having a different viewpoint, different values than my super intelligent (if not genius (lol)) self.
What is kinda scary is this (anecdotally) My sister had a Bernie sign in her living room (courtesy of their 22 year old daughter). Her father in law said "I like Trump. He's got some good ideas."
The scary part. He's a long time Democrat. He's not an idiot either.
ProfessorPlum
(11,272 posts)what "ideas" does Trump have? He only has a bunch of "outcomes": We will win, America will be stronger, get rid of immigrants, other countries will bow to our will.
He doesn't have any plans for how to achieve these *lofty* goals, and no brains to do so. He is a completely empty shell, devoid of even knowing what he doesn't know.
the fact that non-idiot Democrats can project "ideas" on to him, as if he has any, is frightening.
whatthehey
(3,660 posts)But every time I've pinned down such a "surprise" Trump supporter's reasons it's always come down to white male fragility and discomfort at loss of unchallenged privilege.
I say this as a white male and nobody's but a rabidly RWNJ Trump fan's idea of a SJW. I fully understand theere are exceptions by the boatload. I'm sure there are a few black female lifetime Dem Trump supporters if we look hard enough, but I'm pretty sure most new Trump fans are in the first mold.
wcast
(595 posts)Times are changing, and much faster than many Whites have even imagined. After almost 400 years of being the majority culture, and looking down on all minorities or undesirables (by their definition), they are now being visited by a host of ills that they have long associated with the underclass while judging them as inferior and deserving of their circumstances.
Modern problems that affect Whites are looked at sympathetically. There is now a "heroin epidemic" because it now affects mostly Whites, even though heroin has been an issue for decades. Legislators are scrambling to bring relief in the form of legislation designed to provide anti-overdose medication and not charging individuals who contact law enforcement when overdoses happen. Juxtapose that to what happened during the crack epidemic in inner cities.
This is just one example of many circumstances that have troubled those outside the majority White culture for years and have now become suddenly of top concern to the White majority and legislatures.
The sad thing is Trump supporters are still looking for others to blame, whether career politicians or immigrants. And when all is said and done, they will still back the Republican agenda that really got them in the predicament they are in.
Egnever
(21,506 posts)Or maybe because there is a Heroin epidemic.
beveeheart
(1,370 posts)Your friend must be devastated.
I can't imagine losing a child.
beveeheart
(1,370 posts)but is devastated all the same.
wcast
(595 posts)It is only now that Whites are twice as likely than AA's and 3 times as likely than Hispanics to OD that politicians are getting behind doing something about it.
Reread my post instead of having a knee jerk reaction to what you think I said.
Response to wcast (Reply #40)
Egnever This message was self-deleted by its author.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)women to men. Historically heroin use has been equalized between whites and African Americans, the percentage of users was about the same, now it is mostly whites. Mostly suburban white women who started using prescription drugs as opposed to mostly urban males who started off with heroin itself.
Another shifting factor is age, users are older now than in the 1960's....
As shown in Figure 2, heroin users who started their opioid abuse in the 1960s were primarily men (82.8%). In contrast, the rate of women seeking treatment has increased in recent decades, such that, in our sample, by 2010, there were nearly equal numbers of male and female heroin users seeking treatment. The ethnicity of heroin users seeking treatment also showed a marked shift from nearly equal white to nonwhite ratios in the 1960s to a dominance of white users (90.3%) by 2010 (Figure 3). Looking at age-related trends, as shown in Figure 4, we found that the mean (SEM) age of heroin users seeking treatment was 16.5 (0.3) years when they first began abusing opioids in the 1960s. The mean (SEM) age at initiation gradually increased over time to 22.9 (0.4) years in the decade starting 2010.
http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1874575
Also, there is just more of it than before, aside from the demographic details the sheer number of users is much higher.
A
Bohunk68
(1,364 posts)available to keep the private prisons full, police confiscation coffers stuffed, the usual suspects who stand to lose dollars.
TonyPDX
(962 posts)Of course those criminals wouldn't be nearly as compliant and manageable as cannabis users.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)there was a "heroin epidemic" before 2007.
Pakid
(478 posts)believe that Trump will bring back the good jobs that we lost. Of course some people also believe in unicorns. No accounting for beliefs.
hollowdweller
(4,229 posts)That's why Fox News and O'Reilly and Limbaugh have always been so popular.
That's why even though Trump deviates from party orthodoxy they love him.
The mistake conservatives made was that they thought the grassroots agreed with GOP ideology.
We democrats have always known they voted their fears and prejudices over their pocketbooks.
Trump allows them to vote their pocketbooks and their fears and prejudices.
As long as the person was labeled a republican, was a big blowhard and bully the grassroots would elect him even if he favored NATIONAL HEALTHCARE.
Look at OBAMA his healthcare was mostly a republican based plan but they voted against it because he was a DEMOCRAT.
If Trump had proposed a similar thing they would have all been pushing it.
Anger and swagger, and bullying tactics draw GOP voters.
erronis
(15,328 posts)Them loves them some mavericks.
Them don't know that this orange flop head is just a preppy boy trying to talk and walk the stuff.
Them don't care since flop head says words that antagonize the mysterious powers-that-be.
Them want flop head to rule their little world.
Them may get it.
Up the @ss.
AgerolanAmerican
(1,000 posts)TPP.
Trump opposes it, as do almost all non-elected Democrats.
Clinton was one of the primary people who brought it into existence.
TPP is a really fucking big deal. Like REALLY BIG.
Also, going to war is a pretty big deal too. I'm 100% certain beyond any doubt that Clinton will start at least one war, and possibly as many as five, in a single four-year term as President. If given two terms she could hit double digits. This is not a fantasy, it's based on her record of starting wars as Secretary of State. Hell, it seems to be one of the few things that evokes genuine happiness from her. There's millions of innocent lives that I potentially have to callously write off to vote Clinton.
Trump might takes us to war. Or he might not. He certainly doesn't seem to get off on it like Clinton does.
Meanwhile, the things that we would normally expect from a Democrat - the top of the list being looking out for the average Joe, the working class, the middle class - are not present with Clinton. She is decisively on the other side of that fight. On issues of financial repression, she sides with the banks every single time. And she sides with the corporatist profiteers on all other financial issues as well.
Not to mention, choosing Clinton is basically choosing to end the Democratic Party as we know it, leaving the working class with zero major-party champions. Which might be an improvement in the truth department over one that doesn't really mean it - at least we know where we stand - but isn't an improvement in any other way.
Trump... well, who the hell really knows? He's literally like a roll of the dice.
The decision between Clinton and Trump is not a clear cut one even for the most loyal Democrat. Given the guarantee of ruin and misery that Clinton represents to the 99%, more people than not are probably going to choose to roll the dice, to give themselves a chance of a better outcome.
hay rick
(7,636 posts)I believe the deficiency that draws people to Trump can be lack of intelligence OR lack of paying attention OR a lack of common decency.
In the last 3 months I helped a candidate for the Florida legislature knock on 700 doors to ask people to sign petitions to get her on the ballot. I also volunteer with the local party at the office and events like the county fair and various festivals. Based on those experiences I can verify that a lot of Democrats and "independents" are also attracted to Trump. Their reasons are various, and mostly bogus in my opinion, but that doesn't change the uncomfortable truth.
Elmergantry
(884 posts)Are those who thought trump couldnt win the nomination
sofa king
(10,857 posts)According to NPR itself, in 2015 NPR held its annual correspondents meeting and held a poll to see who thought which of the dozen-plus Republican clowns would win the nomination.
Only Flatow picked Donald Trump. Why?
Science!
Flatow, formerly of the Kraftwerk-themed PBS show Newton's Apple and now presenter of NPR's Science Friday, knows a thing or two about idiots, as they have assailed him and his science-based shows every week for decades.
I don't know if he's offered a detailed statement on why he picked as he did, but we can guess that observation played a huge role. He knows better than most that it is the stupid people, driven by belief rather than facts, who are the politically motivated activists. He surely guessed that it would be those stupid people who would gravitate like moths to flame around Trump's incandescent hatred.
That makes Ira Flatow the smartest guy in the room at NPR, and it makes people like me a little bit dumber, for refusing to take the America's epidemic of stupidity as seriously as it deserves.
TonyPDX
(962 posts)the few remaining liberal thinkers there have learned a thing or two about republicans. None of it good.
Dustlawyer
(10,497 posts)to Hillary. They started off giving him huge amounts of free airtime and have kept it up ever since, virtually guaranteeing that he would beat the other Republican crazies. We would be so scared that we would all turn out to vote for Hillary. I think that they underestimated how a lot of people feel about Hillary though!
For the record I will be voting reluctantly for Hillary, Trump is not prepared at all. Both will sell us out to Wall Street, Big Pharma, insurance industry and the MIC, but at least Hillary knows how government works outside of bankruptcy court!
That is how the game works.
But in the end they will get the president they want even if they have to steal it.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)Who knows. The whole thing is so freaking weird, if we eventually find out that Hillary's camp and Trump had struck a deal before the primaries, it wouldn't surprise me...Weirder things have happened in US politics.
UtahJosh
(131 posts)I'd love to hear some political stories that are any stranger than that.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)It was so clearly rigged in advance. The Brooks Brothers riot is just one bizarre aspect of that rigging.
If someone had told me before that election that a major party candidate could so obviously steal an election and then have the Supreme Court support him in the theft, I never would have believed it.
HughBeaumont
(24,461 posts)Crossing state lines to incite a riot and interfering with the recount process of a National Election.
Yet . . . not one arrest.
Curiouser and Curiouser . . . . or not.
I hear most of them have jobs in Repub think tanks now.
Jopin Klobe
(779 posts)... then, with George W. Whatshisname, it was obvious that the country had been lost to the idiot rich ...
... without our bonding together and not letting the propaganda "get" to us, we will lose this time with many, many more criminal elements ensconced within our beautiful country's system ...
... Bernie is the only chance we have ...
BumRushDaShow
(129,376 posts)with the help of the RW talk radio that the GOP bigwigs nurtured, funded, and refused to challenge.... because Trump voices their platform in an entertaining, albeit, idiot-loving way. He basically codified the GOP's "anti-Southern Strategy", effectively negating Lee Atwater's call to "code talk" and dog-whistle the racism, sexism, and other bigotry that defined their policies and world views, and let it all hang loose in all its rancid glory. So now almost 50 years after Atwater, the circle is complete, as the GOP base is tired of masking their true nature. They felt that they had become too "politically correct" (an oxymoronic term that they coined), and Trump could eloquently ditch the masquerade on their behalf.
Behold the monster they created.
certainot
(9,090 posts)i'll bet poling would show 75%+ of trump voters are regular or semi regular talk radio listeners and it is astounding that there's no polling done to consider that linkage
since its content - the patterns of repetition etc., are completely and stupidly ignored by the left i did some simple math to help quantify the effect of talk radio on the country.
at a cheap $1000/hr x 15hrs/day x 1200 stations, rw talk radio is worth 4.68 BIL$/ year or 390MIL$ /month FREE for coordinated global warming denial, pro republican wall st think tank propaganda, free market deregulation bullshit, swiftboating, and the hate and fear used to get people to vote republican.
that's about $4MIL/station per year with an average of over 20 stations per state.
that's what took atwater national, and 25 years of that alternate reality is what trump is riding
that's why he beat the PACs - they couldn't compete with that
BumRushDaShow
(129,376 posts)Nay
(12,051 posts)propaganda machine, even if you think you think voter education should work! It doesn't -- not in the face of the tsunami of RW radio hate!
Rex
(65,616 posts)They picked the most uneducated person they could find and I don't mean school smarts. I mean uneducated in the world around him, for such a traveled individual - Trump sure does come across as never having left his undisclosed billion dollar bunker, in his lifetime.
Why is that?
modestybl
(458 posts)... or maybe just lazy.
world wide wally
(21,754 posts)He is a bad billionaire (having gone bankrupt 4 times and having his father and rich friends bail him out)
He is a bad tv star. (He can't act to save his life)
He is a bad decorator (just look at his buildings and interior design)
He is a bad public speaker (He just repeats bullshit over and over)
He is NOT a builder (He simply hires people to do EVERYTHING for him and then gives his stamp of approval)
He is a bad comedian (He is really not funny if he were in any other position)
He has a 3rd grade vocabulary.
So what does this all mean?
In the words of Bill Maher
. The American people are stupid!
fasttense
(17,301 posts)He sounds like a Palin with pauses at the end of thoughts. Why do Americans like such ignorant sounding fools?
dchill
(38,518 posts)Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)lpbk2713
(42,766 posts)They must work really hard at it.
sorefeet
(1,241 posts)should also have a mental evaluation. I mean an unbiased thorough exam. By several shrinks. When you are going to turn a nut loose with the nuke button. This guy is off his rocker and it needs to be vetted. We have already had some unstable wackos Nixon, Bush, Raygun (dementia).
lpbk2713
(42,766 posts)but it would be of great value to make the same evaluation
apply to those who could be a heart beat away.
MynameisBlarney
(2,979 posts)In the "No shit, Capt. Obvious!" file.
That the GOTP is slap full of morons has been plain as day since early 2000.
Doitnow
(1,103 posts)in the party and the other half are talking heads on MSNBC and CNN who are stupid enough to carry Trump all day and all night.
Way past time for everyone to start searching the web for alternative news sources. They are there.
IDemo
(16,926 posts)Hard to imagine such a thing, huh?
Zambero
(8,965 posts)Nothing succeeds like success. Anything else is a small potatoe.
hibbing
(10,107 posts)Egnever
(21,506 posts)What were their choices? All of them were garbage.
The republican party has been courting racists for decades. At some point it was inevitable for the racist asshats to become a large enough block to be able to affect party politician selection. We had plenty of clues it was happening with the tea party starting to primary long standing republicans.
Combine a shrinking portion of the electorate with racist dog whistles over decades and Trump becomes inevitable in the republican party.
That does not mean he has any chance in the general, but going forward we should expect to see trump like candidates wining all sorts of things in the republican party. In fact we had already been seeing them for some time.
Nay
(12,051 posts)are, but it didn't happen overnight. Not only was Trump inevitable, all those other loons who ran were inevitable, too. The crazed theocrats. The anti-abortion nuts. The conspiracy-theory black guy with a good education. The clueless scion of a former President. The bootstrappers. Teh stoopid allowed them all to prosper.
Who else is there in the Republican Party? Some of the base has run for the exits and some of their politicians are now Dems, to our detriment. In fact, you could make a case for a deliberate or inadvertent stealth takeover of the Democratic Party by Republicans. It's easier than forming another whole party. Cheaper, too. And everybody gets to vote Republican no matter which party they vote for. Win/win!
What was so, so, so unusual about the Republican primaries was that the anointed one, Jeb, turned out to be such a non-entity that everyone, not just Republicans, was aghast. How was Jeb even vetted? Did the big boys think, during the cat fight that was obviously coming up, that Jeb could possibly hold his own? Why?
Both Republican and Democratic voters can be forgiven for thinking that Trump seems like the best of the bunch. He is. He would be unlikely to rule as a theocrat, for example. For another example, it truly is impossible to discern whether he believes in his own bullshit, so you can't depend upon that. He's a total unknown, which may seem preferable to the 1% asslicker you KNOW is going to fuck you over and has said as such.
Add to that the complete disillusionment of the entire public in the whole election process -- hinky election antics (it's been 15 years--why hasn't this been fixed?); the crappy economy; the raping of the middle class and poor; etc., and you get an election where unusual candidates have a chance to shine. This has been that election.
Egnever
(21,506 posts)If Cruz was the nominee many would be saying the same thing. How did this crazy person get the republican nod....
To man they were all flawed deeply.
Logical
(22,457 posts)Roy Rolling
(6,928 posts)ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)I overestimated them.
mdbl
(4,973 posts)plants love electrolytes.
sendero
(28,552 posts)... "I don't get it" brigade spouts off.
It doesn't matter what Trump says because nothing any of them says means jack shit.
Why wouldn't people want to elect a dumbass that might do some good instead of an intelligent liar that is clearly working for the interests of the 1% only? It really is not as complicated or unreasonable as the "journalist" camp want to make it out to be.
Everyone things HRC is going to walk all over Trump. I wouldn't bet on it.
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)redStateBlueHeart
(265 posts)Wouldn't be THAT stupid. I guess I underestimated the number of xenophobic, nativist, gullible people in this country.
Nay
(12,051 posts)that most of them dog-whistled their way in. And some of them dog-whistled their disdain for women, which unfortunately appeals to lots of those big manly men .
So, who out of the 16 or so candidates could they rationally vote for even if they tried to be rational? None of them. Which one is the candidate for the non-stupid voter?
redStateBlueHeart
(265 posts)n/t
rladdi
(581 posts)will fix their issues they have concerns about. Well Trump will be the downfall of America, he will destroy this nation. If you look at all the crazies who is supporting him and now the people he is hiring to help him with his administration, its scarcy.
The GOP allowed the Tea Party to control them, now it Donald Trump. The GOP has not true leader or intelligent politicians to run them. It is a lost party.
But I look at the Republican controlled states and those voters are getting exactly what they elected. ignorant governors who are failing them.
And the Washington politicians say let the states have control, move it from Washington. That is insane.
Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)Damned few of them had a ghost of a chance, Kasich being the most obvious.
The mass of 17 egos, most of whom refused to admit they had no real chance to win, created the Trump Singularity. He swallowed up all the other egos and now threatens to suck us all into a Trump Black hole.
egalitegirl
(362 posts)Whoever made wrong predictions should stop claiming "everybody" erred.
Marr
(20,317 posts)The Republican base is fed up with their party's establishment, which they've come to realize has an agenda quite apart from their own. For decades, they've been paying them lip service during campaign season, then devoting their actual governing time to servicing big banks and international conglomerates.
Is racism a big factor in support for Trump? Undeniably, yes-- but that's been part of the GOP sales pitch for more than 50 years now. Is Trump an idiot? He certainly seems to be. But is he any more idiotic than GW Bush?
jayschool
(180 posts)Who else has a hankering for some Brawndo? It's got electrolytes!
lunatica
(53,410 posts)HuckleB
(35,773 posts)Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)JEB
(4,748 posts)What will be our excuse if we choose wrong?
Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)Thankfully, that doesn't look likely to happen.
JEB
(4,748 posts)Almost something to kinda believe in.
CobaltBlue
(1,122 posts)CobaltBlue
(1,122 posts)Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)their leg shakes, they pee on the rug, etc etc?
Trump figured that out with the GOP base. It's not abortion, or naked boobs on teevee, or people saying "happy holidays", or whatever other bullshit crap their party poobahs have tried to keep them distracted with over the years- not that they don't care about those things, but Trump realized there's something they care about way MORE, and they've figured out that their leaders are speaking out of both sides of their mouths on the matter- namely, immigration.
For several obvious reasons (demographics, electoral reality, big business liking cheap labor that is paid under the table, etc) the establishment of the GOP has tried to have it both ways on immigration for a long time. And Trump showed up and called bullshit on it- doesn't matter whether he "really" believes the crap he says (I suspect the only thing he really believes in is Trump, Trump, and more Trump) or that his proposals are ludicrous AND offensive.
What matters is, he found the magic spot to scratch the dog.
Nay
(12,051 posts)wife/wives are gorgeous models and act like Stepford wives, put in their place by the head of the household who holds all the money. There are an unholy number of men out there who'd LOVE to be in Trump's place in order to pull off this little "lord of the manor" trick with the wife and kids. Read the MRA boards and just grok the anger there.
And you're right -- it doesn't matter what Trump says, really; it's the EMOTION he arouses in the base that has put Trump over the top. That's why he can get away with saying anything. It's the emotional connection that is crucial in his win. And I will say that Clinton will probably have a hell of a time beating him in the primary. The American public, through decades of slick advertising methods, have been taught to react viscerally and emotionally to products of every kind. A presidential candidate is no different.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)I have no doubt that there's an element of his support that is retrograde on everything from gender to race (to put it mildly), to be sure-- and clearly there's also an element of "he's refreshingly un-PC"... I mean, there is a certain aspect of shock entertainment value when everyone goes "you can't say THAT" and dude comes out and says it anyway.
But, really, top of the list, above all else? Immigration. That's why he's gonna be the nominee.
ericson00
(2,707 posts)is the fuel that feeds Trump and energizes Republicans! Is Chait iching to get Trump elected?
killbotfactory
(13,566 posts)no one should be surprised The Donald won.
Jackie Wilson Said
(4,176 posts)steal the election.
By steal I mean he will utilize the fact that approximately 4 million black and student americans wont be allowed to vote to steal the WH.
We are in for great pain, all of us.
Chemisse
(30,816 posts)5 Scientific Studies That Prove Republicans Are Plain Stupid
http://reverbpress.com/politics/proof-republicans-are-stupid/