![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.warda.net\/NewButtons\/Trump2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nP.T. Barnum runs for president.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He’s vowed that he’s taking a presidential bid seriously.\u00a0\u00a0 He’s sent aides on “exploratory trips” for his nascent campaign.\u00a0 He’s pledged millions of dollars towards his candidacy.\u00a0 And what’s more, he’s taken seriously – by the media, the punditry, and the polls.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of course, all of that was in 2000<\/a>.<\/p>\n When it comes to the media’s political fascination with eccentric billionaire<\/span> Like Charlie Brown convincing himself that this time Lucy will not pull away the football, much of the media has engaged Trump’s third would-be presidential bid with increasing seriousness.\u00a0 And why not?\u00a0 Trump polls surprisingly well against the expected Republican field, placing fourth with 11%<\/a> just days ago in a Fox News national poll.\u00a0 Even Trump seems to be taking his latest political dalliance seriously enough to risk his most important attribute – his brand – by claiming to seek the nomination of one of the two major parties rather than another circa 2000 independent bid.<\/p>\n What remains harder to fathom is Trump’s appeal in the first place.\u00a0 For a man known for his super ego, getting to the id of Donald Trump is vexing for many in the punditry.\u00a0 Some view Trump as a symptom of the weak Republican field.\u00a0 George Will likewise dismissed Trump as part of the gaggle of “spotlight-chasing candidates of 2012.”\u00a0 <\/a>Charles Krauthammer looked pained<\/a> to even have to discuss Trump’s candidacy.\u00a0 Others view Trump as the closing argument in their case of the\u00a0failure of the political class:<\/a><\/p>\n Trump is suddenly “winning” as a political figure because the political class has failed. The authority of our political institutions is weak and getting weaker; it’s not that Americans ‘lack trust’ in them, as blue ribbon pundits and sociologists often lament, so much as they lack respect<\/em>\u00a0for the people <\/em>inside them.<\/p>\n There is a lot of crazy surrounding the Trump phenomenon — some excellent, some embarrassing. But the massive fact dominating it all is that never before has such a famous outsider jumped into national politics with such an aggressive critique of a sitting president and the direction of the country — and never before has the response been so immediate and positive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Um, not quite.<\/p>\n The novelty of Trump 2012 isn’t that novel.\u00a0 The celebrity politician is nothing new – nor is Trump’s anti-Obama\u00a0bravado. \u00a0Trump’s “aggressive critique” has largely been an ad hoc foreign policy mixing neo-conservative bluster and paleo-conservative isolationism with a chaser of paranoia <\/a>that Obama is the country’s first super secret Nigerian sleeper agent.\u00a0 Perhaps the only true novelty of Trump’s “candidacy” is that he would link his image to “birtherism.”\u00a0 Or maybe Trump is merely projecting\u00a0and he’s<\/em> the sleeper agent sent to undermine the GOP.\u00a0 After all, he did call Nancy Pelosi “the best.”<\/a><\/p>\n Understanding how an arrogant, over-the-top self-promoter has\u00a0risen in the polling ranks of the GOP field doesn’t require searching for some sort of meta answer.\u00a0 After a number of political cycles in which the presidential race started incredible early,\u00a0for once the field is not settled\u00a0nor is any candidate\u00a0dashing out of the gates.\u00a0 Trump represents a known name whose actively in the news – for\u00a0better or for worse.\u00a0 Few other contenders or pretenders\u00a0can claim\u00a0the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Donald wouldn’t mind being president but would rather use his candidacy as a perpetual trump card whenever his media image needs a boost.\u00a0 Once the more serious candidates get underway and the early measures of success – fundraising, debate performances, endorsements and volunteers – become the most important yard markers, attention towards Trump will shrink.\u00a0 With fewer and fewer onlookers to his latest political act,\u00a0in\u00a0Barnum like fashion, Trump will fold his tent and move on to his next show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" P.T. Barnum runs for president.\u00a0 He’s vowed that he’s taking a presidential bid seriously.\u00a0\u00a0 He’s sent aides on “exploratory trips” for his nascent campaign.\u00a0 He’s pledged millions of dollars towards his candidacy.\u00a0 And what’s more, he’s taken seriously – by the media, the punditry, and the polls.\u00a0 Of course, all of that was in 2000. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":425,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,16,105,58,122,13,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campaign-12","category-conservatism","category-first-ringer","category-humor","category-oh-the-humanity","category-republicans","category-stupid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19301,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19300\/revisions\/19301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.warda.net\/NewButtons\/Trump1.jpg\")
millionaire<\/span> massive debt holder Donald Trump, few could argue that the Donald\u00a0is the rightful\u00a0heir to 19th century showman P.T. Barnum.\u00a0 For Trump’s multiple aborted presidential candidacies, ranging from 1988, to 2000, and now,\u00a0prove Barnum’s misattributed cultural epitaph that\u00a0indeed a\u00a0sucker is born every minute.<\/p>\n