Flexible, Pragmatic Trump

Don't count Trump out yet

The Donald Trump speech in Atlanta yesterday is a demonstration that Donald Trump may have had a difficult week but he remains very formidable.   The speech in Atlanta is an hour and sixteen minutes, so it requires an investment in time, but viewers are a Youtube eyewitness to why Trump could win this election:  Click here for the Atlanta speech

Trump is conversational.   He hold the audience.  He talks in extemporaneous, short sentences.   Transcript, taken essentially at random, minute 56:

Atlanta

  "It could well be Japan will have to protect itself.  Maybe they'll use nuclear, maybe they won't.  I don't know.  

And, you know, you have the maniac in North Korea, you know, they maybe have to do something. Now if he acts badly toward Japan we end up in a world war.  Somebody else acts badly toward other nations when you look at NATO, what do we, end up in a world war??   How stupid are we, folks?   How stupid, how stupid are we?  How stupid are we?

And the press doesn't report it right.  The press comes out with stories like 'Donald Trump does not want to support Japan!'   I do want to support Japan.  I just want them to pay us so it's fair, OK?"

Trump is flexible and pragmatic.  Pundits and opponents criticize Trump for having no firm policies, no real ideology.   This is not a disadvantage for Trump: it is a source of strength.  Trump expresses his intended outcomes, not policies: 

  great trade deals

  international respect

  safety at home

  extraordinary job growth and prosperity

  winning and greatness for America

Deng Xioping was noted for announcing a change in policy in China from doctrine to results:  I don't care if the cat is black or white so long as it catches mice.    That is what Trump is projecting.   Unlike creed-bound Republicans in the Romney-Ryan mold with "GOP principles" to uphold, Trump openly dismisses ideology.   

I am a free trader, he said in Atlanta.   But free trade means we need great American negotiators so the free trade is controlled and manipulated to be a good deal for us. By bending the notion of "free" into "managed" Trump allows people who actually understand and want free trade to imagine what they will and others who oppose free trade to console themselves knowing Trump is with them.   Everyone is happy.

I want to stop nuclear proliferation, he said in Atlanta.  (Actually, Trump does not and did not use words "nuclear proliferation"; his words were that he hated nuclear weapons more than anyone else, hated them, and he wanted to stop their spread.  He used simple, common language.)  But he said it only made sense for Japan and maybe South Korea to look out for themselves and not bring Americans into a war.  The vagueness of policy means that everyone can guess--or hope--Trump understands things the way they do and will do whatever makes sense.

And in the big news yesterday, Trump having just promised the NRA that he was an unwavering supporter of their gun positions, said that maybe we need to make potential terrorists go through background checks before getting guns so we can keep them from getting them.   We have to keep terrorists from getting guns, he said.   Say, what???  This interrupts what was becoming a popular issue for Hillary, since some 90% of Americans of all demographics are in favor of requiring background checks to stop potential terrorists from getting guns.   Trump just accepted willingness to take the Hillary position.   Fox News' Fox and Friends this morning congratulated Trump for showing intelligent leadership in opening up this dialog, just what we needed.   They framed it as Trump courage, not Trump adopting the Hillary position.   Trump positioned himself as the moderate centrist reasonable man.

Trump presents himself as practical, not ideological--and different from the Republican establishment who he tells, at 1:05 either to get on board with his version of Republican conservatism or he will go it alone without them. Since Trump presents results, not means, he is difficult to counter: "We are going to start winning again.   We are going to start winning again, folks."    

Hard to disagree with that.