Steven Kurlander: The election may be over, but not for Donald Trump
With at least three months to go, the mainstream press (once again) is writing the obituary of GOP nominee Donald Trump’s bid for the White House. Trump has lately endured withering criticism on a number of fronts: The controversy continued over his sarcastic remarks about the bereaved parents of a killed Muslim American soldier who spoke against him at the Democratic convention. President Obama, among others, called him “unfit” to be president. A number of Republican candidates and donors across the nation were expressing bootstrap angst about Trump’s impact on GOP campaigns or were just endorsing Hillary Clinton (and Bill too). Even his wife’s erotic lesbian poses as a young model were front-page news in New York. All that, in turn, was being touted as the beginning of the end of his campaign. The BBC News item “Trump campaign teeters on the brink” began by stating: “Like a boxer on the ropes, the Trump campaign has weathered a flurry of body blows over the past few weeks. Is this the beginning of the end, a full three months before Election Day? Should Donald Trump throw in the towel before the inevitable November knockout?” But Donald Trump’s campaign — and his political revolution too — is far from being kaput. It’s just wishful thinking by a press and political establishment that hates him and all he stands for to mark Trump’s downfall. It’s a regrettable failure to recognize the potency and Teflon durability of Trump’s ShockReality brand of politics (see my article last August: “Donald Trump “phenomenon” defines new age of American ShockReality politics”). Beating conventional wisdom, Trump is the anti-politician who has a knack for connecting at a rudimentary level to a majority of Americans by bombastically exploiting their frustrations with their politically correct and inept government and politics. According to plan, Americans continue to be bombarded daily with incredulous negative articles and continuous talking heads bemoaning him — but they all have Donald Trump on their lips and in their headlines. So, as it was during his primary run, bad news is good news for Trump — his focus continues to be that Americans solely hear his name and that news is made by his politically incorrect tweeting and speeches. Here’s another epic mistake made by his opponents: You can’t begin to analyze the race between Trump and Clinton (and Bill too) like past contests for the White House. This is a presidential campaign far from being like any other — and one that will change American politics forever. Forget what any poll says. Unless they are leftover teabaggers, many of those supporting Trump (especially Democrats) will never admit to a biased pollster, much less even best friends or family members, that they will be secretly voting for Trump, or against Clinton (and Bill too), in November. The reality of the 2016 campaign is that a good majority of Americans have already decided who they are voting for, or against, for president. And they are not changing their minds, no matter what. It’s the Election of Dissatisfaction, pure and simple. As absurd as it is, Donald Trump can and will continue to test the boundaries of decency and truth to win the votes a majority of angry Americans — that strategy will, in turn, win him the needed votes in the Electoral College in both critical battleground — and what were once traditional red and blue — states too. The best thing the mainstream press can do at this point if they gleefully want to write the Trump campaign obituary is to starve the fire-breathing proverbal dragon by not overindulging, or even reporting, on Trump’s hyperbolic messaging and behaviors. The fewer the Trump headlines and talking points, the better for both entrenched Republicans and Hillary Clinton (and Bill too). ___ Steven Kurlander blogs at Kurly’s Kommentary (stevenkurlander.com) and writes for FloridaPolitics.com and The Huffington Post and can be found on Twitter @Kurlykomments. He lives in Monticello, New York.
Steven Kurlander: Donald Trump “phenomenon” defines new age of American ShockReality politics
Whether you love him or hate him (I don’t think there’s an in-between), you have to admit Donald Trump has established his personal brand and fortune throughout the years by being extremely brash, creative, and smart: all with a very flippant attitude. Whether you like him or not, you have to admit that first in real estate, then reality TV, and now in politics, Trump has led the way in redefining the conventional and in turn achieving power, success, notoriety, power, and wealth. Now with Trump’s run for the White House, he is redefining American politics in terms of translating his brash, contentious style into what may be an unbeatable methodology of capturing the hearts and minds of disgruntled American voters. Trump has never been afraid to say what’s on the tip of his tongue. In the past, this propensity to attack, detract, and offend has lessened his intellectual credibility by defining his vision as Kardashian reality star style banter. But now his push-the-limit style converted into political rhetoric in a serious run for the White House, is playing well to many voters. He can berate Mexicans and Chinese, call John McCain a fake hero, be accused of raping his ex-wife and consorting with the mob, and even be described as uncharitable in his giving. Right now, he’s more than Ronald Reagan teflon, he’s kryptonite. Whether they are Republican, Democrat or a growing number of independent voters, American voters are tired most living paycheck to paycheck with no hope of digging out of debt. They are frustrated with a lackluster economy, ineffective governance in both Washington and state capitals, and continuous undeclared war. Most importantly, no matter where they stand in the political spectrum, the electorate is fed up with traditional mainstream politics, and even fringe Tea Party and leftist politics, too. In his ShockReality manner, Trump is spouting off truisms that Americans are feeling, but won’t enunciate on their own. If you believe the polls, Trump’s ShockReality messaging is playing well with the Republican base,. with him leaping ahead in a crowded pack of GOP hopefuls. No matter what he says, Americans now used to years of watching reality TV, want more from him, even demand more, with really no severe consequences to his popularity in a fast 24-7 news cycle that keeps moving on to the next sound bite. Some, though, say it’s one thing to practice ShockReality politics, it’s another to get down to the basics of backing up acerbic banter with hard policy. A major criticism, which shows signs of being out of touch with the true state of American politics, says he needs to come up with solutions and not just lash out about systemic problems in 2015 America. In recognizing his success so far in his messaging, David A. Fahrenthold in The Washington Post wrote: “But, so far, he’s missing something basic: a policy platform. A formal list of Trump’s ideas for America.” Here’s the game changer that Trump recognizes and no one else wants to admit: Americans don’t need or demand a policy platform for a presidential candidate to earn their vote. They just want some serious change, no matter how it comes. They want instead, a president, or any politician, who is sympathetic to their many frustrations and fearless enough to say what they feel, what they want, and want they need. It’s simple: They want a great America again. And Trump’s ShockReality political style works better than the Tea Party rhetoric precisely because it is not chained down in inflexible ideology. Instead, it stimulates a hope that President Obama correctly identified and ran on in 2008, but failed, like George W. Bush before him to deliver during his term in office. Donald Trump, and even now Joe Biden too with his own style of shooting off his mouth, is about to change American presidential politics for good. Calling Trump’s ShockReality messaging a phenomenon, and discounting his 2016 run, in our age of disdain is not only a mistake, but a lack of vision of the future of American politics. Steven Kurlander blogs at Kurly’s Kommentary (stevenkurlander.com) and writes for Context Florida and The Huffington Post and can be found on Twitter @Kurlykomments. He lives in Monticello, N.Y.
