The Thing About Trump
By Mitch Berg
I’ve been pretty open about it for going on four decades. I don’t like Donald Trump.
Let me be more clear; I don’t like people with the public persona people like Donald Trump cultivate.
But personality and social media aside, Trump accomplished things.
My biggest problem with Trump?
His personality cult.
Like this particular piece of…work.
PS: Just so we’re clear: everything you can say about personality cults can be said equally about anti-personality cults. The more insipid (to say nothing of deranged) Never-Trumpers are just as bad.
February 5th, 2024 at 8:09 am
Every real estate developer has the same schtick. “It’s gonna be GREAT, it’s gonna be UGE! And it won’t cost you a PENNY, somebody else will pay for it.”
The Ghermezian Brothers and the Mall of America. Bill McGwire and the soccer stadium. Zygi Wilf and the new Vikings stadium. The promoter needs to be an energetic showman who can stir up public interest, get people excited about the project, get people committed to the dream so when it’s time to let contracts, they’ll open their wallets. The Bob Newhart persona doesn’t work for that role.
What’s the one Trump campaign line you remember? “We’re gonna build The Wall and make Mexico pay for it.” Even as he spoke the words, we knew it wasn’t true, but we loved the idea and if he’d asked for money to get it started, we’d gladly have said yes. After four years of Lesko Brandon’ open borders, I still would, maybe moreso.
What’s the one campaign line you remember from a dignified candidate such as Bush the Elder? “No new taxes.” How about Mitt Romney? “Believe in America.” John McCain? “Reform, Prosperity and Peace.” Zzzzz, wake me when it’s over.
Time to look past the schtick.
February 5th, 2024 at 10:24 am
Laura Loomer is a pretty easy target… I think there’s a whole bunch of Trump fans who find her annoying as well. A bit like an anti-Rick Wilson.
The Republicans are creating a very interesting story now. Mitt Romney’s niece is blowing through lots of cash treating herself well while not supporting grassroots efforts. Then the RNC is having trouble attracting donors but, but, apparently, according to today’s Red State, Haley is rolling in dough. The majority of Republican voters favor closing the border tight, especially to illegal immigration, but the Republican leadership seems to be doing its best to ignore them.
February 5th, 2024 at 2:16 pm
Trump is a lying liar who lies.
Granted.
He’s like the used car salesman who tells you that the rusty 1970 Gremlin he is trying to sell you is the greatest car Detroit ever made and not only that, but it will last you twenty years and get you laid.
That is one kind of lie.
Joe Biden lies too – but he’s like the salesman who turns back the odometer then tells you the car has only 3,000 original miles.
February 5th, 2024 at 3:30 pm
Personally, I’m grateful that Trump brought a form of populism to the GOP, because it does flesh out conservatism to better absorb the woes of the working class. We need to shift from the income tax to tariffs, we need to control the border, and such.
But that habit of throwing people under the bus for inconsequential slights, and for his little hissy fits…yeesh.
February 5th, 2024 at 3:52 pm
When Liberals act, they act together. All the Liberals on the Supreme Court vote in lockstep. All the Liberals in Congress vote together and drag along some Republican Liberals affectionately known as RINOs. They overlook personal flaws, petty differences, minor peccadillos, in pursuit of the larger vision.
When Conservatives act, they act individually. We can’t agree on anything. Nothing is good enough for us, nobody is pure enough, no policy is precisely how we would have done it and therefore support is lukewarm at best.
This election comes down to four more years of Obama via whatever puppet the DNC puts up, or Trump. We all know it, and we all know what a disaster the Obama vision is, but even here on SITD, we can’t come together behind the only man who has a snowball’s chance of standing in the way of our next railroading.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
February 5th, 2024 at 4:05 pm
When Conservatives act, they act individually. We can’t agree on anything. Nothing is good enough for us, nobody is pure enough, no policy is precisely how we would have done it and therefore support is lukewarm at best.
See Ken Buck, who will not support impeaching Mayorkas because he has principles. The principal principles are moral vanity and a lifelong commitment to solipsism, but he’ll get his 15 minutes of Strange New Respect and occasional appearance fees on CNN in the future when Liz Cheney isn’t available.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:44 pm
I watched the first podcast of the Hodge twins. Their guest was Vivek Ramaswamy. That dude is who the GOP needs to kick the old guard in the ass and fire up the next generation. The twins were pointing out that Trump was “talking shit” about him when he was still in the race and asked him about that. Vivek laughed and said that they get along great and pointed out that right after he pulled out of the campaign, he and Trump shook hands and Trump told the crowd that he liked Vivek more now, getting laughs from everyone. Bottom line; he chalked it up to competition. That interview is just over an hour and a half long, but it’s worth the watch.
With Mitch’s permission, I’ll post the link tomorrow, but it’s on Rumble.
February 5th, 2024 at 6:36 pm
Either the US economy as a whole, despite apparent strength, is not delivering for a critical mass of the population, or it is but they are not being informed properly (or a bit of both). If it were seen to be delivering then the prospects of Trump returning would be much lower than they currently are.
Trump affects people in a way that is unrelated to economic prosperity.
There is a reality about today’s American political power structure that it is dominated by the ultra-wealthy to their great benefit. Control is exercised through the deployment of money. There’s no real big secret here and not much of a ground swell movement among voters to change this power distribution. Big media has normalized this state of affairs.
However, the MAGA cult of personality see the power structure as an imagined Deep State through a paranoid and conspiracy-tinged lens. Events are controlled by “they.” Regular politicians are just pawns of the “they” while Donald Trump is seen as some sort of tribune for the Average Joe’s, a champion beyond the reach of a corrupting “they.” One suspects that normal political argument and campaigning will not penetrate this deeply felt world view. One also suspects that for many Trump supporters “the baggage” is in fact an attraction, not a turnoff.
The charismatic connection between politics and these voters is through the news personalities of Fox News and other right-wing media outlets. These are the big retailers of “they.” It gets refreshed and energized every night. Self-interest is perpetually miscalculated. Regular politics doesn’t break through.
Trump is sort of a proof of the Marshal McLuhan phrase that “the message is the medium.” Trump’s very presence is the message. An unusual situation indeed.. There’s this twisted connection.
February 6th, 2024 at 6:21 am
Yea, that’s real funny, Bot Boy.
This is your Bidenomics writ large.
https://bnnbreaking.com/finance-nav/poll-exposes-economic-strain-majority-of-americans-living-paycheck-to-paycheck/
February 6th, 2024 at 6:30 am
I dunno Boss, are The Bot Boyz really back? Or is that an AI Chat bot?
Reads like one of Kamala’s word salads. Impressive-sounding phrases strung together resulting in low semantic content.
February 6th, 2024 at 8:08 am
Or pretty much anything from the HR department
“We must leverage the synergy of diversity to engage with stakeholders while taking a deep dive into out of the box thinking to promote racial justice and equity in the workforce while putting our customers first.”
February 6th, 2024 at 12:25 pm
What drives me stark raving mad is the widespread notion that the race is NOT a binary choice, and that NOT voting for either candidate somehow magically allows a nonexistent but perfect third candidate to win. EVERY vote must be for the lesser of two evils, or else the greater evil is allowed, by default, to win. If you don’t vote, don’t b*tch used to be the axiom, but this year it should be if you don’t vote for Trump then YOU are responsible for the ongoing disaster. Suck it up or hold your nose if you must.
February 6th, 2024 at 1:06 pm
This tweet is slightly less dumb than the “Taylor Swift is a DoD PsyOp” clip that Brad played on Sunday. Laura main point in her favor is the tweets brevity compared to an audio rambling.
Has anyone told her that DeSantis launched his campaign on Twitter? Maybe she should confine herself to Truth Social. DeSantis and Halley supporters’ cooties are on Twitter and I’d hate for her to catch any.