Why is Donald Trump Surging in the Polls? And Does it Mean He is For Real? Part One of Two

So now that everyone in the world is jumping on the Donald Trump for President band-wagon, we need to --- wait, no one is jumping on the Donald Trump band-wagon you say? Well then, how can we explain the rising poll numbers and growing political interest for the reality TV star/real estate mogul?

Let's take this one step at a time.

STAYING ON MESSAGE

One thing that has kept 'The Donald' in the political news cycle is his controversial approach to discussing critical issues. His 'my way or the highway' approach to foreign policy issues resonates with conservative voters. Whether you like him or not, once Trump takes a position on an issue, he uses (sometimes irrelevant) facts or statistics surrounding the issue that will appeal to the emotions of the conservative voter. One example of this is when Trump, during his announcement to run for the Republican Presidential nomination, had this to say...

How stupid are our leaders? How stupid are these politicians to allow this to happen? How stupid are they? I’m going to tell you — thank you. I’m going to tell you a couple of stories about trade, because I’m totally against the trade bill for a number of reasons.

Number one, the people negotiating don’t have a clue. Our president doesn’t have a clue. He’s a bad negotiator.

He’s the one that did Bergdahl. We get Bergdahl, they get five killer terrorists that everybody wanted over there.

We get Bergdahl. We get a traitor. We get a no-good traitor, and they get the five people that they wanted for years, and those people are now back on the battlefield trying to kill us. That’s the negotiator we have.

Trump uses this example to outline, in his opinion, the lack of negotiating skills the current commander-in-chief possesses. Is it true? Perhaps. Is he engaging in puffery? Absolutely. But that is what re-branding and building name recognition is all about for someone like Donald Trump.

As long as Mr. Trump can stay on message, he will be a force that Republican candidates must face head on. That being said, there are two questions that arise from the preceding statement. The first is the most obvious, can Trump stay on message? We saw in his announcement speech that there were times when Trump seemed to be teetering on the edge of political doom. He rambled on incessantly and his thought-process seemed scattered at best. While for the most part Mr. Trump was successful in not straying from the script, there were a few slight glimpses into the mind of the real Donald Trump, a mind that we will explore in just a bit.

But before we get to that -- the second question that arises is -- who exactly is responsible for crafting Donald Trumps' message? Did Trump just decide one morning that he would go out announce his candidacy for President and talk about the issues that matter to him? This is doubtful considering the issues that matter to him have no real impact on most Americans. No, the fact is that Donald Trump found advisers like Corey Lewandowski to craft the message and policy positions for him to follow. Not that this is an unusual practice for politicians in America. However, there is one thing that makes his choice to run for President much more interesting based on this theory. What will happen when the real Donald Trump starts to shine through?

His aggressive rhetoric with regard to holding accountable those in the government who don't get the job done is refreshing, and most voters, like me, probably think that since Trump has ran successful private business, that he knows how to handle unproductive employees/departments. He understands the problem with nepotism with regard to the hiring and appointing of top government officials. Personally, I can't see a President Trump appointing his buddy, a horse trainer, to become the top official in the Federal Emergency Management Agency. I just can't. Is this the reason why so many people are now calling for Donald Trump to be considered as a serious contender for the Republican nomination? The answer, is yes and no.

WORLD OF 10 SECOND SOUNDBITES

We live in a world of 10-second soundbites in which we praise attitude and delivery over substance. This is a particularly flawed way of finding the right person to run our country, but nevertheless it is the way our media operates. For this reason, I cannot fault politicians for taking advantage of free press by way of quick advertisements that capture the attention of segments of the electorate in hopes that it will help their overall message resonate enough to bring the voters out to the polls.

Without a doubt, the 10 second soundbite is targeted at low information voters and designed to grab their attention in the same fashion that a commercial for The Apprentice might. Trump's advisers and writers employ the same methods used to sell toys and candy to children. Our society's infatuation with celebrities and their endless personal drama permeates our idea of how political campaigns should operate. We don't want our politicians to be elected -- we want the last person standing after all the other candidates have been eliminated one by one from Survivor island to be the Commander-in-Chief!

PLEASE SEE PART TWO OF MY POST AFTER THE BREAK...

THANKS FOR STICKING AROUND...NOW TO THE REST OF MY STORY...

So without further interruption, let's take a look at some of the more colorful comments made by Donald Trump during his announcement in New York last week.

"I beat China all the time."

Donald Trump minced no words as he heaped loads of criticism on anyone within earshot of the German/New York accented orator. One clear adversary of America, in Trump's mind, is China. Trump claims that America doesn't get any big wins over our international peers like Japan, China, and Iran due to the ineptitude of our current batch of leaders. He calls China out... 23 times...yes 23 times, in his speech, mostly for taking advantage of us by devaluing their currency in relation to trade schemes.

Granted, most of the speech relating to China consisted mostly of Donald Trump just rambling on about apartments, chinese people (who he likes, along with the Mexicans.), and manufacturing exports. Don't get me wrong, he is correct on many levels when it comes to our tenuous economic relationship with China, I just didn't hear any new ideas from Trump in how to resolve the issue of the Chinese devaluing their currency to gain a competitive advantage in manufacturing.

"I will build a great wall — and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me —and I’ll build them very inexpensively."

This quote reminds me of a courtroom scene from the classic film My Cousin Vinny, where Joe Pesci's character is questioning a witness about the cooking time of grits. His character, Vinny, finally settling into his attorney gig said, "So, Mr. Tipton, how could it take you five minutes to cook your grits, when it takes the entire grit-eating world 20 minutes?"

Of course -- Mr. Tipton responds with a puzzled look, "I don't know. I'm a fast cook, I guess."

So are we to believe that Mr. Trump has discovered a way, using alien wall-building technology, to build a wall more inexpensively then any contractor that has already quoted the government the cost of a border wall? To me, this is a classic example of a politician talking out of his ass -- Trump knows full well that the costs associated with building that wall will be greater than any benefit of security that the wall would provide. But Trump will continue to use that line, because it is exactly what people want to hear. Well, that and the fact that our 'leaders' refuse to have a real discussion or provide real solutions regarding border security.

"The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else's problems."

This little quote is actually quite telling to how Donald Trump's mind really works. He sees America as the shiny mansion on the hill with all the amenities. He sees America as the beacon of hope for all the worlds hopeless, but with no chance in hell they will ever be able to scale his wall. It is small alterations to the narrative created by his puppetmasters, that will in the end bring Trump's numbers back down to reality.

"Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people."

Okay -- So Trump is not far off with this quote. Free trade can be wonderful with the right people running the ship. The problem that we have now is, we have politicians who enact policies that they call 'free trade' -- but are really something altogether very different.

NOW... ON TO REALITY

As I have stated in the past, my concerns with Donald Trump are with his underlying message. When Trump stays on message, he can rally a large segment of the population to his cause. However, when the true Trump starts to shine through, and it already has, he will begin to drop into the second-tier candidates like Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson.

You can pick out the comments or ideas that I am talking about. They will be small one liners that otherwise could easily go unnoticed in the grand scheme of his announcement. Two prime examples are comments he made regarding Mexican immigrants and Iraqi oil.

In his speech he claimed that The United States should have taken Iraq's oil after leaving the country following a decade long military incursion. This may not sound like a big deal on the surface, but when the comment is internalized it provides an image of a profiteer of war and an ironclad imperialist looking to horde resources from the poor. Why? Because we can.

In my humble opinion, this type of thinking and behavior is why many Muslims and non-westerners have grown to despise us over the last century. Another comment that struck a nerve and seemed a little insensitive was the over-generalization by Trump that all the Mexican's immigrating to this country illegally are bad people, and he even went so far as to call them "rapists". Trump quickly back-tracked on the comments and told everyone how much he likes Mexican people, and that he even knows a few Mexicans.

Donald Trump is for real. But don't expect his current popularity to continue as more Americans begin to catch on to his underlying, almost subconscious vision for a feudalistic society in America.


Thanks for your time. Hope you enjoyed.

R.C.S.

a reply to: beyondtruth

He will be likely out of the running by mid next month in July when he has to release his real detailed financial statements.

The Donalds real power is based on his perceived worth which is likely a lot lot more than his real worth. His Ego and his credibility wouldn't be able to take the hit.

As far as I know the Donald is the only one that went after Forbes in trying to demonstrate that he was worth more than what they listed him at.

a reply to: beyondtruth

The real power of Trump is the mockery he makes of the "slick official" candidates which have sunk us into the status quo. He makes a mockery of all of that. If Americans feel that their political system is a mockery, they may just vote in a reality TV star, just because of the comparative honesty he brings to the process. If its a cartoon, its a cartoon. So lets have an appropriate individual for the level of absurdity that's been present in our political processes. I'd vote for him if he stands against some slick Dem who claims change while clinging to the same old status quo powers.

a reply to: tridentblue

Trident. Yes. Your point about voting for him as a result of some of the things that many would consider negative traits, is right on the money. And one of the reasons I wrote the OP.

His candidacy is a bit scary to me, simply because he does have that dynamic, tell it like it is, approach. On top of that, he has retained advisers who have him out there saying the right things. What's getting him into trouble (like most politicians) is when they get excited, go off script, and say things they really feel (but really don't want voters to know.)

And it's not necessarily LYING per se, but some of the comments that he made such as Mexican's being rapists, or that we should have taken Iraq's oil. To me, those small seemingly insignificant comments are really what gives us the best look at how he would operate as President. Trump is an imperialist with an idea that we can bring back American exceptionalism and that every other country in the world will eat that up again. But that's done and gone. It's never coming back, and that is something that conservatives are just going to have to deal with.

a reply to: beyondtruth

I don't agree with his conflict with Latinos. My sense is that Latinos are Americans, period. And I've gotten in trouble for it. My opinion is that Trump should change his stance on that: Native people should have homes in native lands. This is their home as much as it is ours. But any political discourse that tends toward tasteful cocktail parties Jon Stewart would not make fun of, while broadly implementing absurdist BS, like the last few administrations, is vulnerable to the Trump effect: All things in nature that are dangerous mark themselves as such: Bees with their black and yellow stripes, poisonous frogs with their bright colors. Given the dangerous qualities of a president that stands only for corporatist interests, he should be marked with Trump hair. He should be marked with the absurdism of a reality TV president. The people see it in their hearts, the need to mark presidents of absurdity as absurd, and thus Trump. He's stronger in this race than the vast majority knows.

The possibility that Donald Trump could possibly become POTUS must certainly scare the living crap out of many on this orb, most of which are our enemies, adversaries and many of the mouth service airheads that hold high offices presently in the U.S.

They basically will not know how to deal with him, and that is power. He is a no-nonsense Alpha type that can be really unpredictable. He will also farm out areas not in his expertise to those he feels are qualified and trusted to handle situations under his management. This is what leaders do.

He would be like Ronald Reagan on steroids.

I am not qualified to say that he would be a good choice for POTUS in the overall, for many other reasons, but I do believe he has the intelligence and intuitive savy to lead.

Someone has to accept the torch and take care of deferred business. In light of what is going on in this world, and the capabilities of others that have thrown a hat in the ring, I cannot see anyone even close to the kinds of no-bull# decision making capability that will be required to deal with the incredible tasks at hand.

I do not fault Obama, he inherited a rat's nest and kept our heads above the water line. We need to move forward from here. IMHO but with an urgent need for action.

I could be wrong, but this thread reeks of somthing like a paid poster.

Pladuim

a reply to: charlyv

That's exactly the appeal. All these guys have presented this front of control and "sensibility", Trump represents the possibility of breaking all that, bringing things far more down to earth. I can't say what it would look like, but I can say the appeal is there. Trump is closer this election than he has ever been.

I've become so dissilussioned with politics that I kinda want Trump to win just because I feel it would be comedy gold for SNL and late night talks shows. Maybe he could do a good job, I don't really know. I've kinda stopped paying attention to politics because people, myself included, get so heated and passionate about it, yet nothing ever seems to change at all.

It's no secret that Trump is a narcissist (he has every single one of the nine traits and characteristics, along with the behaviors consistent with NPD) which means he has Narcissistic Personality Disorder and narcissists never, ever make good leaders. He's not in it 'for the people', he's in it 'for the power'...the power he will surely abuse. Arrogance is not a virtue. Trump is one big bowl of wrong who blames everything on everyone else and takes no responsibility or accountability.

Mark my words, if he is elected/selected POTUS he will destroy the country and blame everyone and anything but himself.

a reply to: charlyv You are kidding, right?

a reply to: rollinondubs run, yes, is comedy gold. Win is a nightmare for the entire planet. Don;t kid around like that.

a reply to: beyondtruth He is really just a not very smart guy that has a tv show and some money. Otherwise he is comical and a caricature. The thought of his actually being President is terrifying.

originally posted by: reldra
a reply to: charlyv You are kidding, right?

I could not be more serious. The status-quo does not work anymore. This country needs to be run like a business. Business tolerates no fluff.

I think it is important to note, Trump is not surging in the polls. He surged in one poll and is sinking others. His over all poll ratings according to RealClearPolitics that averages all polls has Trump dropping from a 4.5 in May to a 3.2 at the end of June.

a reply to: Pladuim

Nerp... Been a reader here for some time... Just recently created account to post.

originally posted by: charlyv

originally posted by: reldra
a reply to: charlyv You are kidding, right?

I could not be more serious. The status-quo does not work anymore. This country needs to be run like a business. Business tolerates no fluff.

Running the country like a business is a very bad idea. Businesses seek to encourage people to buy their products, and they charge the highest price they can. Think about this in a world where governments can mandate purchases of items that they set the price for as they call it a tax.

Running the government as a business is a worst case scenario.

Running a country like his businesses? Pile up a bunch of debt and file bankruptcy 4 times? Sounds like every POTUS dream and likely his strategy.

I can just see it -- Donald Trump: "Bailouts for Everyone!"

a reply to: interupt42Donald has already released his finance statement several days prior to him making his announced run for the POTUS. IMO I believe he is the correct person for the job. We do not need a politician for the POTUS. We need a business man/ women in charge. Politicians will continue doing what they do best. Speak a lot of the right words, but do not carry out what they say. I believe Donald will do what he says, if he becomes the POTUS.