I’m serious. I can’t figure out why people say they support him, because Trump is disgusting. And I’m not the only one. I watched the political shows that dominate television on Sunday. A lot of the commentary was simply moaning from the political professionals about how wrong they were about Trump. Each talking head provided a best guess about Trump’s baffling popularity. Only one thing was clear: They don’t know the answer either.
I have listed a few of my “best guesses” here. If you have a different one, write and tell me about it in the comments.
The media made me do it!
One popular theory is that Trump’s outrageous statements attract an outsized share of media attention that makes people who don’t know any better simply respond with the first name that comes to mind when the pollster calls, which attracts more media attention and just encourages Trump to make even more outrageous statements.
It’s a good theory. It appeals to my cynical opinion about how well-informed the average person is. And it explains the initial burst of enthusiasm for Trump. The only thing it doesn’t explain is Trump’s staying power. This has been going on for over five months now. Ben Carson’s momentary popularity was the explosion of an unknown due to media attention. In the previous election cycle, this theory could explain Huckabee, Herman Cain, and Santorum. They all led the polls for a short time. Trump’s lead for five months needs more explanation.
I’m mad as hell!
A few weeks ago, I wrote that this was the reason that Springdale has suddenly started saying “No!” to things. They said, “No!” to the music festival, the Tour of Utah, and a zone change that would probably have passed easily last year. I explained that the reason Springdale started to say “No!” to everything was that the establishment wasn’t listening to the people who live in Springdale. (Note: The establishment does listen to people who own businesses. They often live somewhere else. The people who live here are also the only ones with the right to vote in municipal elections.) The point is that “mad as hell” can be a powerful motivation that can even overpower good sense. For example, Springdale voted down the Tour of Utah twice even though it was obvious from the beginning that the Tour would start in Springdale no matter what we did.
There are big, national, hot-button issues that don’t have any good solution. Issues like immigration, terrorists, and climate change are going to be misery for a lot of people no matter who is elected or what is done. Trump gives people a simple-minded way to say, “I’m mad as hell!” None of his solutions will work. If the country falls far enough into chaos to even try one, it would make things far worse. All they are is a primal scream of anger for about a third of the Republican Party.
Trump talks just like me!
In an earlier column, I wrote that nearly all politicians are as crooked as a dog’s hind leg. I still think they are. So when someone like Trump comes along who talks like the grumpy guy at the barber shop, a lot of people have this sense that he’s actually saying what he means and isn’t lying through his teeth like everybody on every ballot you have seen for thirty years.
Hillary is a traditional political liar. She (and Jeb Bush) play the odds and carefully calculate what will appeal to a segment of voters that will be one percent bigger than the segment their competitors are trying to appeal to. This science of statistical calculation of voting patterns is why so many elections are so close, by the way. Both sides have become really, really good at it, but they can’t both be right in the same election. But they can both be very close to right.
Trump is lying. He’s just telling a different kind of lie. He’s just lying like an entertainer, not a politician. The grumpy guy at the barber shop is the same type of entertainer. They’re both saying things for the reaction they get, not because their ideas are serious. Unfortunately, the grumpy guy at the barber shop and Trump are both completely incapable of running the government. We’re left with the choice of people like Hillary and Jeb who tell us what they think we want to hear or an incompetent like Trump.
Years ago, the Republicans ran Barry Goldwater for president. A few years after that, the Democrats ran George McGovern. Both were far more sincere and honest than other politicians. Both lost in a huge landslide for the other guy: Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, respectively. Winston Churchill, the English prime minister who led England through World War II, had something to say about that. He said that democracy was a terrible form of government. It was just far better than whatever was in second place. My advice is to learn to be at peace in voting for liars. There’s no practical alternative.
Churchill, by the way, lost the first election after the war was over.
How will it all end?
America has only had to endure constant campaigning for about a year so far. Since we have about eleven months to go now, it’s time to place your bets. Here’s mine:
It will be Hillary against Ted Cruz, and Hillary will win. We elected our first black president in 2008. We will elect our first female president in 2016. Remember, you read it here first.
The only reason Hillary would win over Trump is she will promise a free I Phone6 with free service to all comrades. Trump will say ‘Buy your own phone Homey’ and quit bothering me. You want a helping hand? Pickup that shovel.
It’s obvious Dan Mabbutt really wants a new, free phone.
I don’t even own a cell phone!
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I didn’t say I liked Hillary. (Although she’s not disgusting.) I predicted that she would win.
I’m not in Springdale, but I tend to agree with you. I’m actually closer to Washington DC than many people. I find the oddity that is Trump hard to quantify as the entire political spectrum and the professional writers who do this as their living.
No one’s ever seen a Trump before, and likely never will again. He is immune from being attacked, because he will respond 100x worse and even if he blatantly lies, no one who supports him seems to care. Unlike when Mit Romney said he didn’t care about the 47% that effectively ended his run for president, Trump can say the same or worse and not have his rabid fans care in the least.
This election will come down to the same things it always comes down to. And while Trump gets YUUGE crowds, those same crowds aren’t enough to win the Oval Office. Many go for the entertainment value, and unlike many who rarely attend political events for either party, it’s obvious the show is worth attending, even if 20-30-40% of those attending would never actually vote for him.
My GOP friends would not vote for him, and find the same fears the entire GOP management finds. If Trump becomes the ‘candidate’ it will not go well for Trump, regardless of his bluster or bravado or being a bully. Some assessments is he wouldn’t carry a single state, that the entertaining part of Trump is not even close to what it takes to be POTUS.
He can’t win without women, he can’t win without blacks, he can’t win without hispanics and he can’t win without a viable plan. Saying he’s going to build a wall, or deport hispanics or muslims won’t get him elected. Saying he wants to go to war to fight anyone won’t work and the concept he’s friends with Putin when there’s no evidence they’ve ever met is just more of the non-sense that is Trump.
But in response to the question, he is a clown, he’s an entertainer, he’s funny looking, he has stupid hair he has every trait that are mockable but those who like him don’t care. He curses, he calls people names most of us stopped doing after we reached our teens. He says Hillary going to the bathroom and missing the time deadline by a few min was disgusting. He says if anyone is mean to him, he’ll attack them. seriously?? Being POTUS and he’ll attack anyone mean to him? That means he’ll be mean to some 100,000,000 people? Or more? Will he order the IRS to audit anyone mean to him? Will he have people detained for being mean to him? Will he build gas chambers to eliminate political enemies? There are many scary aspects of the Trump and because we don’t know what he’s really capable of, we have to fear him. And in the end, he will lose, like all the other pretenders have been before him.
Being the President of the United States is a job that doesn’t allow for on-the-job-training. Like his own business, he would never hire a guy working a job to be the president of all things Trump. Being the President is a far more full time job than any job he’s ever had. And ultimately, would be REALLY entrust all business things Trump be run by his family or his staff? Will he divest all things Trump to underlings or his wife or daughter? Can anyone imagine that happening? He is the ultimate power freak, demanding and controlling .. He got off on firing people, but he certainly has fired many others. But divesting is not an option to be president.
Then add in all the things he’s done that were/are illegal, unethical, criminal or worse. How many bribes did Trump or his clones pay to get a building opened? How many things got build with sub-par materials? How many skeletons are in his enormous closets? My bet is they’re all waiting for the day he wins the nomination, assuming he does. And then it will rain skeletons. We can easily imagine all those the Trump has wronged will come out of the woodwork to avenge their point of whatever evil he did. Hundreds? Thousands? More? Sure, the Trump is having fun being the little rich man playing politician, but when it comes down to reality, it takes a politician to win. Trump can’t win. America can’t survive with an apprentice in the white house.
The clown car may have a few more miles, but it will eventually blow a tire, spin out and burst into flames. And then, lets all hope the Trump moves to somewhere far away in disgrace. Not even the Adelson or the Kochs want to touch him. Trump is toxic. They know it. They won’t get involved because they see a loser when they look in his direction. The biggest GOP powerbrokers hate him how can he win?
Exactly, he can’t. End of story.
I’m confused. You write, “in response to the question” then you write a long list of reasons NOT to like him. Good reasons! But that isn’t the question. The question is, “why do people say they support Trump when he’s SO disgusting?”
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I’m sticking to my prediction: Cruz against Hillary and Hillary will win.
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But here’s a refinement. One reason why Hillary will win is that Trump will be rejected by the GOP powerbrokers (You’re right. They do hate him.) and he will run an independent campaign which will suck off enough support to make the GOP candidate lose even if it was Saint Reagan come back from the grave. Trump will do this because his goal was never to be elected. It has always been to stay in the headlines – and running a third party campaign will do it.
Sounds to me like the GOP establishment/ good old boys are worried they have to work harder at staying at the bar with the Donkeys. It’s not suppose to work that way, is it?
The same thing happen when Reagan cleaned house. Bottom line it’s no longer a 2 party system.
I don’t like Trump either but he’s certainly shining a lite on the boys making deals at the bar.
And the Opinion writers? It give them something else to write about instead of working hard.
I like to cite the 1860 election as a historic parallel of what might be happening now. Before 1860, the two major parties were the Democrats and the Whigs. (“Whig” might sound like a funny name today, but they elected several presidents.) In 1860, the country was more polarized than even today. The Democrats, for the most part, stood for slavery and the Whigs stood for nothing. They tried to “have it both ways” and could never decide where they stood on the issue of that day.
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The Democrats survived (they became a completely different party after Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act, however) and the Whigs disappeared. The moral of the tale: Standing for something is better than standing for nothing, even if it’s the wrong thing.
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And you’re right. Trump makes it easy!
I’m not certain what you stand for Mr. Mabbutt. All I’m hearing is you don’t like Trump’s hair and he can’t hold his tongue , Hillary’s pant suit doesn’t look all that bad and Cruz is well, not black enough to matter. I do hope however, you have a Happy New Year.
I like Trump’s hair! I have never written one negative thing about it. (If you’re referring to the art at the top, it’s your conclusion that it looks bad, not mine.)
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And both Trump and I share an inability to hold our tongue. We only differ in the things we choose to shoot our respective mouths off about. Therein lies the answer to your inquiry. Trump appears to hate Mexicans, Muslims, John McCain, President Obama … absolutely anybody who criticizes him.
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I, on the other hand, welcome criticism and the only thing in the list above I have any negative feelings about is John McCain. Thanks for submitting your criticism. I sincerely appreciate it.
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And I hope your Saturnalia was joyous too.
Prediction – It will be Hillary vs. Trump – without a doubt. At that juncture either candidate will have a shot at the Presidency. Donald Trump is not stupid. He is a master communicator. He is also an icon. His behavior and comments at times are outrageous, obnoxious, and deemed by some as revolting. This is especially true for the media. BUT the caveat is the AMERICAN PEOPLE are disgusted by the mainstream media – especially the endless line of pundits spewing absolute garbage – i.e. repeating the same thing and analyzing minutia to a point of overkill… In a clear sense, the coercive nature of media political coverage is so obvious even the dumbest of the dumb cannot miss it. The reason Trump is popular is people are sick of the media coercion. Let’s see: Kelly of Fox looooooooooves Marco Rubio; Rachel Maddow looooooooves Hillary; Rupert & Co back Ted; Democracy Now folks like Bernie; nobody likes poor ole Rand Paul apparently; and Dr. Carson is not a credible threat to anyone’s agenda, so he’s ok. I think the popularity with Trump is that he PORTRAYS himself as anti-media. Since this is an election being determined by billionaires due to the “Citizens United” ruling by SCOTUS, Trump stands out as a CHOICE OF THE PEOPLE – and in a sense he is the USURPER. I think the consensus of the American people these days is our government, especially Congress, no longer represents the people of America. It may or may not be a false hope whether Trump would be any different, BUT HE IS CLEARLY DIFFERENT – and thus HOPE exists among certain groups of Americans, that he can make a difference. President Obama used “HOPE” to get elected. People are simply fed up, if not scared, at how badly our government is functioning due to a breakdown of the political system, which was already undermined by corporate lobbying, before SCOTUS opened Pandora’s box and made our country into a temporary plutocracy. So what it boils down to – Donald Trump, regardless of his comments, positions, and sometimes outlandish behavior, is the only alternative – PERIOD. It takes a billionaire to fight billionaires. Sincerely an irrational commentator.
There is much to agree with in your reply. If anything is more disgusting than Trump, it is the media – especially TV and AM radio. With print (like this), you can at least select a higher grade of information if you choose to. With all due respect to this outlet, my chosen news source is the New York Times. I find the Manchester Guardian to be valuable too.
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Your explanation is the classic “mad as hell” reason for supporting Trump. But if you think things couldn’t get any worse, elect that clown.
BA WIT DABA DA BANG A DANG DIGGY DIGGY DIGGY – (see Cg.List St George historical archive = Rants section) Dan, I have been supporting the Donald locally since the very very beginning. Yep… that was me folks… God Bless America, and the right to free speech even if it is the sordid local “Rants” section of Craigslist… America is jacked up, time to throw the wrench into the machine and grind it to a halt… I believe despite his outrageous comments etc… once in office if he wins the election, he will make adjustments. Do I believe Mexico will pay for a wall? No. Do I believe he will deport 10 million people? – No. Right now he is catering to the Republican constituency. Once he wins the Republican primary he will change again for the national election….WATCH…. And is that BAD? Or is that what every politician does nowadays…. The system is broken, and sadly we need an independent billionaire to fix it. You may think I am crazy, but as a FOOL, maybe WE NEED A CLOWN in the White House. Remember, Claudius, the emperor of Rome, was considered a fool as well, and surely he turned things around after CALIGULA… Not only was he a great administrator, builder, etc, he also was responsible for the invasion of Briton. On that note, be nice Dan, I am a fan of your column. 🙂
Nice? Me?? I consider that word to be among the worst of the four letter words. “The Donald” and I have that in common. But then, I’m not running for public office and anybody who would even consider voting for me if I did would be in serious need of immediate mental therapy. “The Donald” and I have that in common too.
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As I have explained a few times now, I think that ‘nearly all’ politicians are as crooked as a dog’s hind leg. ‘Crooked’ means that they would say anything, do anything, and kiss anything to win the next election. “The Donald” seems to fit that mold pretty well and your comments seem to say that you understand that since you admit that everything he is saying now can be considered to be a lie just to win the Republican primaries.
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But there’s another way to judge candidates and that is to look at their history. While they will lie, lie, and lie again right now, you can usually depend on them reverting to their old ways as soon as they get into office.
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Somebody who has been married three times and said that he wouldn’t mind dating his hot daughter; somebody whose companies have declared bankruptcy four times (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-filed-bankruptcy-times/story?id=13419250); somebody who says thing that are so clearly impossible and designed only to stir up the emotions of people who don’t seem to be able to control their emotions …
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The only explanation is that he’s playing the nation for a bunch of fools because he knows … better than anybody else in our time … what that other columnist H. L. Mencken told us years ago, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
If you can’t figure it out you must be part of the problem. Trump all the way!