1. I've been pleasantly surprised by how conservative the Trump administration is. I don't have an explanation for that. Clearly he has some good advisors, but that doesn't account for why he listens to them. There was nothing in his pre-presidential track-record to predict for such a conservative presidency. We got very lucky. Rolled a hard six and won–thus far. That wasn't foreseeable.
2. Substance aside, part of what makes him tick seems to be the stereotypical New Yorker pugilism. Mind you, I'm not qualified to comment on how representative that stereotype actually is.
3. Another factor, which I remarked on during the primaries, is that he's a rich man and the son of a rich man. That may account for his independent streak. His wealth insulates him from the vulnerabilities to which most folk are liable. He isn't answerable to the boss. He's the boss.
In that respect, he doesn't care what people think of him. In one respect, he does care. He resents criticism. But he doesn't care in the sense that criticism won't stop him from doing whatever he wants to do. Despite disapproval, he goes right ahead. Which infuriates the critics because they're so impotent. They have no leverage.
4. Apropos (3), he clearly takes gleeful pleasure in getting under the skin of critics. And the critics keep giving him an opening.
His agenda was almost word-for-word from the 2010 Tea Party agenda. The way he combined that, or summarized it, with his “Make America Great Again” theme was pure marketing genius. And I think he really does have an attitude of “I’m going to win”. He has confidence in himself. And it likely helped him that his opponents through this process first of all were “establishment” Republicans, who disdained the Tea Party, and now the hard-left. He has responded to, and “counter-punched”, both of those groups, and that has tended to harden his own views. I think with this $2 trillion (proposed) infrastructure bill, he will be seen to be less conservative. But then, he’s not fighting a conservative in the primaries ... he’ll be looking to be more “Presidential” in the general election.
ReplyDeleteWhat's interesting is that he's not purely conservative in today's sense of the term. He's soft on some things like assault weapons, affirmative action, and homosexuality. However, he's strong on some key issues like immigration and foreign policy (although many may question the Iran deal). Trade, particularly tarrifs, has been a necessary burden on some companies. It's tough for now, but I think it could possibly benefit us in the long run. He comes off as more conservative than he is because the left hates him so much and he actually has a spine, which is more than can be said for most of the politicians who call themselves conservative. He stands up and fights without backing down for some of the core principles that his conservative voters hold so they feel they actually have a conservative who is representing them for once.
ReplyDeleteHe’s doing what he promised in his campaign
ReplyDeleteIf you ignore the idiocy of Trump's twitter feed, he would probably be a B- or so President. I suspect John Kelly (formerly) and Mike Pence are largely to thank for that. Maybe they were able to convince Trump that all of the policies were his ideas.
ReplyDeleteI take the contrary view popularized by Scott Adams and /r/The_Donald - Trump (mostly) intentionally plays the buffoonish child in order to manipulate the situation to his advantage.
DeleteNotice how often the media (which hates him, and would never willingly carry his water) lambasts the typos or factual errors in his tweets - and thereby, spreads the policy message in the REST of his tweet.
Think back about 'What happened in Sweden last night' or 'Bowling Green Massacre' - both indisputably inaccurate claims, but when the media jumped on it the wider public was made aware of the issues surrounding those claims (i.e. Sweden's high crime rate due to mass immigration & an attempted terror plot by immigrants to the USA).
Do a Google search for 'Kellyanne Conway feet on couch' which was touted as a horrible breach of Oval Office decorum - and notice the many smiling Black leaders with Trump. Something the media surely would prefer no one knew about, but they just HAD to zing Conway on the feet thing.
--3. Another factor, which I remarked on during the primaries, is that he's a rich man and the son of a rich man. That may account for his independent streak. His wealth insulates him from the vulnerabilities to which most folk are liable. He isn't answerable to the boss. He's the boss.--
ReplyDeleteA few times I shared with others the view of Scott Adams that AOC might be the next big thing, a Trump-for-the-Dems in the making.
A few times, I got the reply that it ain't happening - the Establishment will see to it that she either bends to their will, or they will break her.
I had to concur, she doesn't have the wealth of resources, experience or hardboiled character to stand up to them the way Trump has.
--In that respect, he doesn't care what people think of him. In one respect, he does care.--
I've used the argument before, that whatever selfish reasons Trump may have that drive him, among them is surely his pride - which is a good thing. He has more money and has had more women than he ever needs, all that's left for him to accomplish is to be acknowledged as a successful President - and the country will benefit from this 'selfish' drive.