"How did you go bankrupt?" "Gradually, then suddenly."
It is too soon to call this week a turning point in the 2016 election, and way too soon to say that Hillary has this election wrapped up.
But something happened this week.
I don't think the big thing is Trump's foolishly tangling with Mr. Khan, nor the Purple Heart incident, nor the imagined video, nor failure to endorse Paul Ryan, nor his offhand remark that he didn't like the structural integrity of a Boeing 777, nor any of the other odd incidents of the week, although they did not help.
The important thing is that there is now discussion of Trump's mental health not as a matter of partisan polemics but as a matter of serious discussion. On CNN Dr. David Perry objected strenuously to people linking Donald Trump and mental illness because it stigmatizes mental illness. Read for yourself That's right, Trump's behavior gives mental illness a bad name, he said, and Trump should be understood for being undisciplined and immature, not for being mentally ill; calling Trump crazy is unfair to the mentally ill.
 |
| Predictable and Partisan |
This is a new Hillary, a Hillary who is running a competent campaign, redefining Trump as crazy, not the Trump explanation of Trumpism, that his is a "courageous truth teller" and "out of the box" change agent who will shake things up. The people questioning Trump's sanity have extended outward from obvious partisans. I am presuming that the Clinton campaign is sponsoring and encouraging this. Some of this took place at the Democratic Convention. The effort is working. Trump isn't courageous, he is crazy. That's the explanation!Rob Reiner asks, "Is he a "pathological liar?
"Breaking Bad" actor Brian Cranston questioned whether he was a "supreme narcissist."
Political independent and multi-billionaire, Michael Bloomberg, at the Democratic Convention urged we "elect a sane, competent person" rather than Trump.
Robert Kagan, a foreign policy advisor to both Republicans and Democrats, said, “We can leave it to the professionals to determine exactly what to call it. Suffice to say that Donald Trump’s response to the assorted speakers at the Democratic National Convention has not been rational.”
What counts is that the Trump campaign and supporters and Fox News are now needing to defend Trump's sanity. This puts the issue of Trump on the table as a legitimate question. If the discussion is "Is Trump sane?" then every second of the discussion hurts Trump, even people who say "Totally sane."
 |
| Article from back in January, 2016 |
(Similarly, when the discussion was"Just how corrupt is Hillary?" then every second of the discussion hurt Hillary, even when people were saying "Not corrupt." The very fact that corrupt--or crazy--is the subject of the debate means that it is a loser subject.)
The stories about Trump's mental health have been going around for months, but until recently they were barbs and attacks from detractors. They weren't mainstream. Fox had not needed to explain them away. Now they do.
Trump's mental fitness became a matter of serious discussion this week, questioned with a straight face. Obama brought it up a couple of weeks ago, saying he is "Unfit to be president." Obama was asked about it in yesterday's press conference, the question asking whether Trump was fit to receive classified information, as is required by federal law. Obama didn't say he was fit but did say that federal law required he get it.
The Wall Street Journal--an unabashedly Republican and anti-Obama newspaper--began asking the question and its Deputy Editor said Trump was "manifestly unfit."
And now Howard Kurtz, who has a Fox News TV show "On the Media", is forced to defend Donald Trump, minimizing Trump's unusual behavior, citing the big branded business that Trump built as evidence that it was Trump's detractors, not Trump, who "had a screw loose."
This blog is not attempting to resolve the actual question of Trump's personality. What it does attempt to look at is messaging. Democrats have managed to put Trump's mental health onto the political table for open discussion.
They have created a frame for Trump's behavior, some of which is patently self-destructive. GOP leaders are openly saying that Trump must change, but Trump resists coaching or advice. They are frustrated with Trump but he does crazy things like campaign in Maine, not Pennsylvania and Florida, and he picks crazy fights.
Why? Why does he do such crazy things? Because he is crazy, Democrats say.
It is now a sufficiently widespread meme that Fox News has to deny it. Crazy is a tough rap to beat. How does one prove oneself sane once the idea is out there that one is crazy?
When the Wall Street Journal throws in the towel on a Republican it is evident that a change has taken place. This is the week they decided the world has accepted the Democratic interpretation of Trump. He may be a crazy-mad political genius, but that means that he is crazy first.
This week is a turning point.
Hillary Clinton did something right in the campaign, aided by Trump's behavior recently. And Donald Trump has been doing something eccentric and out of the box for a year and this week Americans, both left and right, are wondering if they don't now understand why: He has a screw loose.
Trump's mental fitness became a matter of serious discussion this week, questioned with a straight face. Obama brought it up a couple of weeks ago, saying he is "Unfit to be president." Obama was asked about it in yesterday's press conference, the question asking whether Trump was fit to receive classified information, as is required by federal law. Obama didn't say he was fit but did say that federal law required he get it.
The Wall Street Journal--an unabashedly Republican and anti-Obama newspaper--began asking the question and its Deputy Editor said Trump was "manifestly unfit."
 |
| Defending Trump. He isn't crazy! |
And now Howard Kurtz, who has a Fox News TV show "On the Media", is forced to defend Donald Trump, minimizing Trump's unusual behavior, citing the big branded business that Trump built as evidence that it was Trump's detractors, not Trump, who "had a screw loose."
This blog is not attempting to resolve the actual question of Trump's personality. What it does attempt to look at is messaging. Democrats have managed to put Trump's mental health onto the political table for open discussion.
They have created a frame for Trump's behavior, some of which is patently self-destructive. GOP leaders are openly saying that Trump must change, but Trump resists coaching or advice. They are frustrated with Trump but he does crazy things like campaign in Maine, not Pennsylvania and Florida, and he picks crazy fights.
Why? Why does he do such crazy things? Because he is crazy, Democrats say.
It is now a sufficiently widespread meme that Fox News has to deny it. Crazy is a tough rap to beat. How does one prove oneself sane once the idea is out there that one is crazy?
When the Wall Street Journal throws in the towel on a Republican it is evident that a change has taken place. This is the week they decided the world has accepted the Democratic interpretation of Trump. He may be a crazy-mad political genius, but that means that he is crazy first.This week is a turning point.
Hillary Clinton did something right in the campaign, aided by Trump's behavior recently. And Donald Trump has been doing something eccentric and out of the box for a year and this week Americans, both left and right, are wondering if they don't now understand why: He has a screw loose.
3 comments:
My fear is that the Republican leadership convinces him to quit or somehow removes him. Then they can put in a typical Republican like a Paul Ryan or a Mitt Rommney. As long as he stays in and continues his rants, it will be an easy win for HC.
The Left’s Self-Delusional Echo Chamber
Democrats latching on to a “Trump is mentally ill” rant simply demonstrates to me the self-delusional power of the left’s “giant echo chamber”, the term used (as I quoted her in my recent comment) by the New York Times public editor, Liz Spayd. There is no serious discussion of Trump being mentally ill. There is only political hype to that effect. As a litigator I’ve worked regularly with psychologists and psychiatrists, and while a CNN talking head with a Ph.D might use the term “mental illness”, no credible mental health professional would. They clinically discuss very specifically defined “disorders” listed in the Diagnostic Services Manual—there isn’t one called “mental illness” or “crazy”. Such generalization does not exist within the discipline. It exists only in politics and media. The Clinton campaign has been effective with the “crazy” line—for a news cycle or two. But seeing the media buzz as a “serious” discussion of mental illness confuses politics and reality. Democrats latch on to these rhetorical fads as “real”, while establishment Republicans merely fret about down ballot races. Its self-delusion vs. political calculation.
True, I am a data driven lawyer, and I am inordinately fascinated with legal and political data. The data shows that despite a frenzied media and establishment (left and right) assault on Trump, the needle has not moved as we hoped on political perception of him. Today’s LA Times poll shows Clinton and Trump tied, and while a lesser known pollster gives Clinton an anomalous 15 point lead, the Real Clear Politics (RCP) average of polls as of today records 47.4 % support for Clinton, and Trump with 40.7%. (FiveThirtyEight calls the averages as of today at 49.1% for Clinton and 42.6% for Trump). Thus, a week after the DNC convention, $100 million of anti-Trump and pro-Clinton ads (Trump still doesn’t advertise), and a near psychotic media, here’s the result: Clinton struggles to reach even a 50% RCP polling average. Dukakis was up 17 points in the polling average over Bush I in the summer of 1988 before being wiped out in a humiliating landslide in November. It’s that remarkably resistant data that political scientists and the political right are talking about, while the left barely acknowledges it. How is it possible with such a tsunami against Trump, that Clinton shares with him the same statistical tranche—the 40th percentiles? With the three most decisive months to go, here’s what Democrats need to be asking: If rhetorical blows like “insanity”, “bullying grieving parents”, “777s might crash”, and “he hates babies”, combined with a near black-out of negative Clinton news in the mainstream media, then what more is there to throw at Trump between now and the election? Like the inflated confidence of the left in the UK over Brexit, in the last 30 days before the referendum the “stay in the EU” advocates had exhausted their credibility, and two things happened: (1) the British public decided that the Trump-like “buffoon” Boris Johnson was right in tagging the liberal campaign as “Project Fear”; and (2) young voters stayed home, believing the leftist "the majority will never vote for that" hype. If this project fear against Donald Trump continues at the center of our strategy against him, we can expect the same outcome—defeat.
So much negativity.
Post a Comment