Trump turns US politics into a (bad) reality show

[umbertino]

Donald Trump may be melodramatic, crude and shameless, but he’s riding high in the polls as he launches his improbable bid for the White House. He has little chance of winning but, before the first TV debate for Republican presidential candidates this week, he’s having a dramatic impact on the race

 

 

Michael Cohen

 

Sunday 2 August 2015 00.04 BST

 

 

 

 

There are 17 people running for the Republican presidential nomination. Ten of them will meet on 6 August in Cleveland, Ohio, for the first presidential debate of the 2016 election.

 

But if you’ve been following American politics over the past week, there’s really only one name that matters: Trump. In the six weeks since businessman, casino owner, reality show star and megalomaniac Donald Trump announced his intention to run for president, his name has overshadowed the “Grand Old Party” (Republican) field. Not only is Trump dominating the polls, but his readiness to say anything and attack anyone means TV producers and political journalists can’t get enough of him.

 

In his now infamous presidential announcement on 16 June, Trump called illegal immigrants from Mexico criminals and rapists – a charge that, rather than apologise for, Trump doubled down on. Since then he has called his detractors “dummies”, “losers,” and “zeros”; he mocked John McCain’s six years in a North Vietnamese PoW camp and even gave out South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham’s mobile phone number after Graham attacked him.

 

If you ever wondered what it would be like if a 12-year-old boy ran for president, Trump has provided you with an answer. He is thin-skinned, melodramatic, petulant, impulsive, loud-mouthed, obnoxious, boastful, crude and shameless and, like many adolescents, he has at best a casual relationship with the truth. He simply makes things up as he goes along, and even when reporters point out that, for example, illegal immigrants are not responsible for a significant amount of crime (a regular Trump talking point) he merely brushes it off or criticises the media for misreporting his words.

 

Indeed, his entire public persona is completely incongruous. Trump is a populist billionaire, married to a former supermodel, lives in a palatial apartment in New York City and yet is adopting the image of a man of the people who will speak unpleasant truths. In a recent focus group of New Hampshire Republicans who support Trump, one of those present said: “He’s like one of us.”

 

But in a party that is defined by a mass of resentments, anxieties and frustrations about the larger cultural and social changes occurring in American society, Trump’s message on immigration and his image as an anti-politician is resonating.

 

Trump is still garnering only about 20%-25% of the GOP vote in polls, but his presence is having an enormous impact on the race for the presidential nomination. Republican candidates were already in a bit of a bind. Since there are so many of them, the organisers of the first debate have decided to limit entry to the 10 candidates who are scoring the highest in public opinion polls. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, neurosurgeon-turned-politician Ben Carson and senators Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are likely to make the cut. But for New Jersey governor Chris Christie, former Texas governor Rick Perry, Ohio governor John Kasich, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum and Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, moving from 1% to 2.5% in the polls could make the difference between being in or out of the tent.

 

Beyond this instrumental challenge there is the added challenge of simply getting media coverage in what has become, increasingly, the Summer of Trump. The result has been a race to the bottom. Perry, who became a political punchline after his dismal performance in the 2012 race, took the high road. He launched a rhetorical attack on Trump, calling him “a cancer on conservatism”. It’s hard to disagree, but this rings a bit hollow coming from Perry who, four years ago, suggested that Ben Bernanke, the head of the Federal Reserve, was potentially committing treason.

 

Cruz took the low road. He got into a public spat with the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, a fellow Republican, even going so far as to call him a liar on the floor of the US Senate. Next he accused Barack Obama of financing terrorism in agreeing to a nuclear deal with Iran.

 

That was relatively tame compared with Huckabee. He took the really low road and said Obama’s Iran deal would lead Israel “to the door of the oven”. It was a horrendous political attack, made worse by Huckabee’s response to condemnation from both sides of the political aisle – he pushed out a web ad repeating the charge.

 

Paul took a different approach to attention-getting. He literally took a chainsaw to the tax code. Going one step further, Graham responded to Trump announcing his phone number by making a web video of him bashing his phone with a baseball bat (I guess no one on his staff told him that he could just change the number and keep the phone).

 

This entire process has turned American politics into perhaps the worst reality show ever. It is also an unfortunate reminder of the state of the modern Republican party. While Republican elites have gone to great lengths to present Trump as somehow outside the political mainstream, his views fit squarely within the frame of modern conservatism – xenophobic nationalism, contempt for traditional politics, fetishisation of “authenticity” and dismissal and contempt of “others” in American society. Indeed, the progressive victories of the past few weeks, on Obamacare, same-sex marriage, the taking down of the Confederate flag as well as the rising influence of the Black Lives Matter movement, have likely only intensified these sentiments and helped drive Trump’s support.

 

For years Republican politicians railed against Obama, pledged to repeal Obamacare and stop the cultural shift in American society. They have completely failed. So it should perhaps come as little surprise that a healthy segment of the Republican base has simply tuned them out and rallied behind someone who is the opposite of a politician and “doesn’t care what people think”.

 

Trump’s success in the polls is unlikely to translate to success when votes are cast. There are simply too many Republicans who would never consider voting for him. Beyond that, being good at politics is a skill – one that Trump does not appear to possess. Stirring up some Republican voters and winning their early support is all well and good, but to win the nomination, Trump would need to expand his support, and there’s little indication that he will be able to do that.

 

The impact on the GOP, however, will endure. With so much attention being paid to Trump, lesser-known candidates such as Rubio, Kasich and Paul will find it that much harder to be heard among the din. Trump may kill each of their candidacies off. That would end up helping Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, who though polling in the teens, are clearly in a stronger position than any of the other candidates.

 

The downside is that Trump’s bloviating risks driving the party even further to the right and further tarnishing the party’s image among non-Republican voters. After all, while the presidential election may still be 15 months away, it’s pretty hard to look at the party today and conclude that it should be granted the awesome power of the US presidency.

 

 

Donald Trump speaks to the media after arriving by helicopter at his Trump Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire, which is hosting the Ricoh Women's British Open on 30 July, 2015. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/02/donald-trump-republican-presidential-nomination

[Sentinel7]

No Donald Trump did not turn U.S, politics into a bad reality show.

Washington DC and the Liberal Virus turned the United States into a bad reality show.

 

Donald Trump Just showed up with a big can of Raid and now all the cockroaches are scrambling around screaming OMG we have to stop him before he kills us all.

 

From We the People to Donald Trump --- START SPRAYING DONALD

 

Donald Trump has brought to Washington DC what it fears the most.

Truth and the lack of debt

 

                Lets take back America and make her great again

 

                Scares you and your brethren  don’t it umbertino

 

 

                No Surrender No Retreat and No Compromise

[chess]

The Confused Other 16:

 

"WE HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR BUT TRUMP HIMSELF"...........................................

[balkanbob]

I can see the   way things are going.  Here in Minnesota  we  revolted against  main  stream politicians  and  elected   Jesse Venture   an  independent.  Then the  other parties  started listening to the  people  for a little while. It could   happen in Washington too. .

[TexasGranny]

The author of this article (an obvious liberal shill) needs to pay more attention to the news. The FOX debate is no longer limited to 10, it is open to all candidates.

 

He also ignores the outpouring of support for all of the candidates willing to stand up and tell the truth about the deplorable chaos in our country. Only liberals think

Trump, Cruz, Huckabee, Perry, Carson and Paul took the low road - most of conservative Americans are glad to hear them speak up and call a spade a spade.

 

I find it interesting that he didn't include Carson's statement about Planned Parenthood. 

 

 

 

“I thought they were supposed to be able to get all of these things based on Obamacare,” Carson retorted. “Why do we need Planned Parenthood?”

 

[Bunk]

I can see the   way things are going.  Here in Minnesota  we  revolted against  main  stream politicians  and  elected   Jesse Venture   an  independent.  Then the  other parties  started listening to the  people  for a little while. It could   happen in Washington too. .

 

 You have The diaper wearer too..

[jg1]

Donald needs to extinguish all the illegalalian liberal voters before obama magically .makes them all legal.

[Markinsa]

EXCLUSIVE — PALIN: TRUMP STUMPS MEDIA KINGMAKERS

by SARAH PALIN31 Jul 2015

 

 

What a hoot to watch pundits clutching their pearls and whimpering for smelling salts aghast over the latest “shocking” thing Donald Trump said, while The Donald ignores them and continues to soar. Silly kingmakers just don’t know what to make of this. Well, we do!

 

The elites are shocked by Trump’s dominance, but everyday Americans aren’t. Everywhere I’ve gone this summer, including motorsport events in Detroit full of fed up Joe Six-Pack Americans, the folks I meet commiserate about wussified slates of politicians, but then unsolicited, they whisper their appreciation for Trump because he has the guts to say it like it is.

 

Trump’s unconventional candidacy is a shot in the arm for ordinary Americans fed up with the predictable poll tested blather of squishy milquetoast career politicians who campaign one way and govern another. But it’s not just how Trump says it, it’s what he’s saying.

 

Trump has tapped into America’s great populist tradition by speaking to concerns of working class voters. He talks about fighting to bring back our factories. When was the last time a candidate talked passionately about reclaiming our manufacturing base (and knew what he was talking about)? What other candidate chooses American workers over the multinational corporations donating to their campaigns? Who other than Trump is talking about the dangerous trade deficits deindustrializing America and stealing our jobs? The old Arsenal of Democracy that allowed us to win World War II is now such a distant memory that we can’t even build the parts for our own military equipment – we need China to manufacture them for us. How can a great nation maintain its greatness without a manufacturing base? Or without secure borders for that matter?

 

Trump focused in on two major populist grievances: the loss of working class jobs due to awful trade agreements, and the unfair competition for those jobs – along with security threats – due to the flood of illegal immigrants pouring across unsecured borders.

 

Now throw in Trump’s candor about “winning” and you understand why his message catches fire. As General Patton said, “Americans play to win all the time.” But those of us outside the Beltway can see that America isn’t winning. Our enemies laugh at us. Our friends can’t rely on us. China is outpacing our military superiority. Putin thumbs his nose at us. ISIS seizes territory our sons and daughters fought and died to liberate. Iran gloats over the idiotic and ultimately catastrophic nuclear deal the White House caved on. Our friends in Israel shake their heads at our betrayal.

 

Trump diagnoses our problems as incompetent leadership. Who can argue with that? How many politicians promised to secure our borders? So, why aren’t they secured? How many politicians promised to grow American jobs? So, why did they vote for Obamatrade? Is it any wonder that Americans are telling status quo politicians, “You’re fired”?

 

For everyday Americans the beauty of Trump’s candidacy is that he’s not a politician. There’s hope the guy who wrote “The Art of the Deal” can finally close the deal on all the broken promises of career politicians. Maybe the man who actually builds things, big things, can rebuild America’s entrepreneurial spirit with government put back in its proper place.

 

The average American doesn’t ask for much. We want security and the freedom to prosper. Many politicians are now offering solutions for security, but what about our prosperity? Trump boasts about his wealth, and average Americans cheer him on. This is the secret the chattering classes will never get. Americans don’t begrudge wealth honestly earned. We celebrate it! Trump made his money the old fashioned way with brick and mortar. He built big buildings and proudly stamped his name on them. He actually created jobs – lots of them. Like so many great American entrepreneurs, Trump has the flair of a showman but the sensibilities of an ordinary guy. He may be a billionaire, but refreshingly, there’s nothing elitist about him. He’s saying to the average Joe, “I worked hard and I succeeded and I want you to also.” That’s the fabric of our national character woven by work ethic and dreams and drive. That’s America!

 

It’s no surprise pundits and politicos are determined to destroy a candidacy they can’t control or shape with their mere words. Expect marginalization of anyone speaking well of Trump’s efforts. He’s a threat to the permanent political class. Non-traditional candidates always are because when they’re in touch with the people, they show their guts and just do the right thing. They go rogue — and take flak from all sides. Some of us have the scars to prove that.

 

Thankfully, Americans are on to the media’s games. The politics of personal destruction has lost its shock value. We have serious problems in this country. Ferreting through old divorce records and playing gotcha with past misstatements are just stupid distractions. Shouts of, “But he donated to Democrats!” won’t sway Trump enthusiasts. The man built a skyscraper in New York City – of course, he had donated to Democrats. If he was building it in Salt Lake City, I’m sure he would have donated to Republicans. “But he changed his mind on positions!” Reagan had been an FDR Democrat. Should we hold that against him or be grateful he saw the light?

 

Itty-bitty pundits thinking it’s clever to mock Americans’ opinions are finding the joke is on them. Cozy in their seat of judgment, blowing each other’s horns, protected by a glass screen. Ask yourself: just who ARE these windbags? And what do they build? Towers of paperclips? Lists of Twitter followers? Trump’s supporters are delightedly defying pithy prim “opinion makers” who think Americans are incapable of choosing our leaders without their dictates. The more the spotlight-seekers smear Trump, the more popular he gets. A friend emailed, “Tell those smart alecks bashing Trump on TV, ‘I love him because YOU hate him!'”

 

The GOP establishment would do well to listen to these voters and quit dismissing them. Reagan understood these blue-collar salt of the earth Americans. That’s why they gave him two landslide victories. If you want to win again, GOP, you need these good people.

 

Anticipate more battering and bashing storms around Trump. It’s still very early in the game; folks are keeping their powder dry with candidate support but are quite happy Donald Trump is in the race. More power to you, Donald. Here’s to “Making America Great Again”!

[MyLadiesDaddy]

BREAKING NEWS HEADLINE

 

ITALIAN STALLION DINARIAN  TRY'S TO TURN DINAR VETS 

 

INTO A LIBERAL PROPAGANDA MACHINE. 

 

Not very nice when people tell lies about you, is it?

Edited August 2, 2015 by ladyGrace'sDaddy

[10 YEARS LATER]

Sentinel7 NAILS IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!        

[Jaxinjersey]

Thanks Mark!

 

Now THAT's a woman!  And if that doesn't turn you on, go listen to Hillarious!  What a contrast in honesty, intelligence, and spirit...

 

I still wish she would get back into the race!   Go Sarah!

[ocdude]

The author of this article (an obvious liberal shill) needs to pay more attention to the news. The FOX debate is no longer limited to 10, it is open to all candidates.

 

He also ignores the outpouring of support for all of the candidates willing to stand up and tell the truth about the deplorable chaos in our country. Only liberals think

Trump, Cruz, Huckabee, Perry, Carson and Paul took the low road - most of conservative Americans are glad to hear them speak up and call a spade a spade.

 

I find it interesting that he didn't include Carson's statement about Planned Parenthood. 

 

 

No, Granny. Only the top ten will debate. The rest will participate in an "also ran" debate afterwards.

 

  http://insider.foxnews.com/2015/07/28/how-will-10-candidates-fox-news-gop-presidential-primary-debate-be-selected-bret-baier

[dog53]

Bad reality show?

I think its a great reality show. 

Im loving it. 

[10 YEARS LATER]

Dog53 - my sentiments exactly !! Bring on the clowns And let slip the Dogs of [political] Warfare.

 

I hope Trump unleashes on these politicians big time. Like or hate him and allot of people hate him because he has no Political Correct BS wanna say this or that to get votes. This country has been screwed and he knows it !!

 

Americans have been bent over for decades and he's calling it like the way it really is. Who else is there, Jeb Bush ? Really ? Cruz, Huckleberry, or any of the rest of the bought and paid for "GOP" candidates. You get any one of those in the WH and its the GOP brand of the Liberal Wing of the Political World.

 

Pretty obvious "BIG MONEY" wants Jeb Bush - lets see if its Jeb in the WH and Obama running the UN . . . shall we ?