I have been asking myself what draws a person to support Trump. After reading this blog, I have some things to say.
we’re gonna negotiate the greatest trade deals you’ve ever seen!
He does not pursue this further, but it doesn’t matter. Once the emotions are engaged, people would not hear it if he did.
We’re gonna turn it around we’re gonna turn it around fast, we’re gonna become rich again, we’re gonna become great again!
This is like a balm to an angry poor person. Never mind this is what many of these people are tired of thinking we have heard and not gotten for eight years. They are all sucking it in from a new person because they see that he is personally rich.
We’re gonna take care of Social Security, we’re gonna take care of Medicaid and Medicare … O.K.?
Again, no explanations. None needed. He lulls the seniors and the poor, and that last “O.K.?” elicits an agreement from the audience and secures their loyalty instead of what should be happening during this season. We should all care about how this is going to be done, especially those of us who are users of these systems. Anyone who is angry at Obama should deeply scrutinize the new candidates as to how they intend to implement these lofty promises.
He consistently paints pictures about Mexican immigrants “pouring across” bringing drugs and crime. Do you remember the bus-loads of children that were hoarded into detention camps? Lots of five-year-old drug lords there. How, exactly, are we going to finance this wall he is so fond of? That is another thing he never addresses. It doesn’t matter to the people following him. It is enough that we will have it.
On Hillary: after discussing his thoughts about teleprompters… “No reading speeches.”
Hmm… Perhaps he should be watching some additional Hillary coverage. That 12 hour stuff in front of the hearing committee certainly did not include teleprompters. That is, of course, not part of her campaign rhetoric. But as part of my voting activity, I am watching all candidates activity during the entire season. I do not only care how they comport themselves during their rallies. I care how they handle their current positions, how they handle their relationships with those who do not support them, how they handle their losses, etc. All of this tells me how they will behave in office if elected, because the likelihood is that during their tenure in office they will have to engage with foreign dignitaries who do not support them and even some who fully oppose them; and they will have to handle America’s losses; and we will stand by as they handle their personal affairs which are in the public eye.
We built an unbelievable company with very low debt, the greatest assets, by the way, speaking of Florida, DORAL. We love Doral, in Miami, hundreds of acres, owned by Donald Trump.
This is also a consistent tactic. He brags about his ownership of property in every city. Does it impress people? I am left wondering if he cares much about or has any respect for anything he doesn’t own or didn’t build. He constantly denounces anyone who doesn’t agree with him or do things his way as “not good people,” “not the people who made America great.” But our founding documents have language declaring that all [men] were made equal. America is a land made by diversity: diversity of opinions, diversity of religious views and practices, diversity of races, diversity of abilities and careers, diversity of sexualities, and even diversity of economic positions.
A few final notes are in order. This blog post is brilliant, just laying out Trump’s quotes. But it is important to point to the inconsistencies in that speech.
We’re gonna strengthen our military, we’re gonna knock the hell out of ISIS.
This kind of statement attracts a certain type of person to follow Trump: a person who is terrified of Isis. However, it is followed by the most inconsistent strategy I’ve ever heard:
You know what we’re gonna do? We’re gonna go one by one, we’re gonna go step by step, and we’re gonna solve our problems, and we’re gonna solve ‘em fast.
If you solve problems step by step, you do not solve them fast. You solve them methodically, and that is generally a slow procedure. It takes time to plan and effort to know what you are actually facing; and if there is one thing I have observed about Trump’s speeches it is that he does not seem interested in working out peaceful negotiations or in bothering to know the other person. He is interested in destruction; and I am not convinced that ISIS would be the only casualty.
We lose on everything. We don’t win anymore, folks. We are gonna start winning like you’ve never seen anything win before. We have all the cards. We have the cards!
If we have all the cards, Mr. Trump, then why are we losing? Are you communicating to your followers that you are the only one who knows how to play the game? That is not a psychological trick I am ready to fall for.
Now, with all of these countries we’re spending money. Somebody said our military budget is 10 times higher than anybody else’s. But that’s because we’re taking care of the whole world.
He goes on to propose that other countries should start paying us for our protection. I am sure this got the audience emotionally wound up. What a great business man! That would solve our debt problems.
There is only one problem. In order to accomplish such a great thing, one needs to be able to form favorable relationships with these countries’ leaders and convince them that this is a good idea. I am not convinced that Trump can or will do this. Remember, these countries are already getting our protection in exchange for something from them. If we take it away because they won’t pay us, what is the implication of that? The implication, I think, could be quite serious.
Perhaps his listeners have also forgotten by this point that we are going to be expanding our military. How is that working out? Are these payments going to be big enough to handle that expansion cost? Perhaps we need to be looking at some proposed business plans. We are all stakeholders here.
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