Warning to Progressives: Trump has Changed. And it makes him more credible and electable.
Trump will still be Trump: extemporaneous, telegenic, undisciplined, a spokesman for American self interest above all. That stays the same.
What is added is that he has voiced a specific plan on trade to achieve the general results he has predicted. It is not just "I will get us really, really good trade deals." Now he voices a multi-point plan. It gives him some credibility beyond issues of immigration. It makes him a candidate for national office and more than an expression of frustration.
Here he is, speaking in Maine. It is a powerful message, one that would not sound strange coming from a Democrat, including from Bernie Sanders. It is a defense of working class Americans: Trump: Action Plan on Trade
Note that the national Chamber of Commerce denounced the speech. Trump said that the Chamber of Commerce is a collection of special interests representing the powerful and screwing the average American. If a Democrat said this he or she would be called a communist. The Chamber hears the message and Trump's condemnation of them and they continue their public and financial support of his campaign. In some areas a Republican can do what a Democrat cannot. Trump wins this round.
Another Warning to Progressives: It backfires when Trump is attacked for being an unpredictable bully.
In the normal course of things it would be disastrous to be known as an unpredictable, undisciplined, and dangerous bully, especially when running for an office where one has the nuclear codes. But in Trump's case it helps him on balance.
Notice the polls: voters agree he is unpredictable and undisciplined, and they simultaneously say Hillary has a far better temperament for fighting terror than does Trump--50% to 25%-- but the numbers are much closer on whom they generally trust to combat terror--50%-39% favoring Hillary, See poll-- in one poll, but showing Trump ahead in another poll 50% to 45% Check this poll.
But on the issue of trade and the economy Trump is consistently preferred, as in the poll immediately above, 52% to 45%, or this one 51%-43% favoring Trump: A CNN poll
Trump's unpredictability and projection of bullying strength and dismissal of the rules is not a bug. It is a feature.
Trump has credibility as a change agent because he is seen a a bully who doesn't care about normal conventions, be the a NAFTA agreement, an Iran deal, or the polite way to refer to Muslims. A majority of people might be uncomfortable when he makes fun of the disabled or Carly Fiorina's face, but since Trump mixes that up with open distrust for Muslims (an idea many people share) and open willingness to expand torture (which many people feel is only fair in a fight against an enemy who tortures) he gets away with it. Indeed, he thrives with it.
Trump's meta message is settling in: Hillary is a rule bound agent of same-old, same-old, hemmed in by a vocabulary of political correctness and a tool bag that cannot really change anything because she is part of the system. Trump presents himself as an out of the box agent of change freed of the constraints of the politically correct but corrupt system.
Trump wins in that frame. Is there a Hillary counter-attack on this? Yes. It is to acknowledge that Trump is a strong bully--grant him that--but then say that his motives are bad, that he isn't an out of the box bully for America, but a con man bully who puts himself first. Yes, he is un-trustworthy, but not because he would carelessly change things but because his motives are proven to be bad and he might serve a master other than people like oneself.
Campaign attacks that call Trump wild and unconstrained and impolitic help him. Hillary's campaign has the tools to make the change but she needs to refocus the direction: on to Trump University, onto Trump bankruptcies and their victims, onto Trump profiting from the crash, onto Trump sourcing his suits and ties overseas, over Trump paying little or no taxes.
If the issue remains continuity vs. change, then Trump wins, and at this moment the campaign is shaping up in that direction. If that does not change soon progressives need to adjust their expectations. The Trump frame combined with the Sanders-Stein definition of the corrupt status quo is a winning hand for Trump. President Trump.
But on the issue of trade and the economy Trump is consistently preferred, as in the poll immediately above, 52% to 45%, or this one 51%-43% favoring Trump: A CNN poll
Trump's unpredictability and projection of bullying strength and dismissal of the rules is not a bug. It is a feature.
Trump has credibility as a change agent because he is seen a a bully who doesn't care about normal conventions, be the a NAFTA agreement, an Iran deal, or the polite way to refer to Muslims. A majority of people might be uncomfortable when he makes fun of the disabled or Carly Fiorina's face, but since Trump mixes that up with open distrust for Muslims (an idea many people share) and open willingness to expand torture (which many people feel is only fair in a fight against an enemy who tortures) he gets away with it. Indeed, he thrives with it.
Trump's meta message is settling in: Hillary is a rule bound agent of same-old, same-old, hemmed in by a vocabulary of political correctness and a tool bag that cannot really change anything because she is part of the system. Trump presents himself as an out of the box agent of change freed of the constraints of the politically correct but corrupt system.
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| This is the headline Hillary needs to spread her message |
Trump wins in that frame. Is there a Hillary counter-attack on this? Yes. It is to acknowledge that Trump is a strong bully--grant him that--but then say that his motives are bad, that he isn't an out of the box bully for America, but a con man bully who puts himself first. Yes, he is un-trustworthy, but not because he would carelessly change things but because his motives are proven to be bad and he might serve a master other than people like oneself.
Campaign attacks that call Trump wild and unconstrained and impolitic help him. Hillary's campaign has the tools to make the change but she needs to refocus the direction: on to Trump University, onto Trump bankruptcies and their victims, onto Trump profiting from the crash, onto Trump sourcing his suits and ties overseas, over Trump paying little or no taxes.
If the issue remains continuity vs. change, then Trump wins, and at this moment the campaign is shaping up in that direction. If that does not change soon progressives need to adjust their expectations. The Trump frame combined with the Sanders-Stein definition of the corrupt status quo is a winning hand for Trump. President Trump.
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