“The quality of ideas seems to play a minor role in mass movement leadership. What counts is the arrogant gesture, the complete disregard of the opinion of others, the singlehanded defiance of the world.”
― Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
17 comments:
similar to my own thoughts: people follow confidence, regardless of the ideas. look at who wins presidential elections. compare all the winners to all the loser in the current/modern era.
the one who exuded the most confidence always won.
thats why i keep saying Trump will win. hillary cant stand up to that.
and its not really about the 'true believer'. its about the bandwagon jumper. 10-20% of the population, give or take, flow with the prevailing breeze. in a democracy, that middle 10% is a landslide victory. all is needed is 60% of the flux for a victory to be deemed 'decisive'(3-4% margin). see Obama, 2008/12.
trump is HUGE with the blue collar class. that sows up Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan... and may be enough to carry New York, California, North Carolina, Illinois, Missouri (and before you call me 'stupid' i know LOTS of mexican-americans who are behind Trump, i work with them, and a strict-muslim Jordanian migrant too)... Thats nearly a Reagan/Carter level landslide.
trump is HUGE with the blue collar class. that sows up Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan... and may be enough to carry New York, California, North Carolina, Illinois, Missouri (and before you call me 'stupid' i know LOTS of mexican-americans who are behind Trump, i work with them, and a strict-muslim Jordanian migrant too)... Thats nearly a Reagan/Carter level landslide.
Then what?
Then what?
**grabs popcorn**
then what? who the hell knows. like Brad said, grab your popcorn.
who the hell knows. like Brad said, grab your popcorn.
I'm not sure "grab your popcorn" is a good basis for a governing philosophy.
Well, we've got a guy in the WH now who thinks he's the greatest thing since sliced (white) bread, who parties like a celebrity and knows every bit as much about the real issues as your average blonde Hollywood bimbo-- or maybe that is an insult to blonde bimbos. I'm not sure [correct that, I KNOW] Trump can do better than that, especially if he even attempts to do what he says he will do. I used to think his was a vanity campaign, and that he would bow out when and if his popularity waned. I no longer think that. He may be forced out if people recognize the vacuity of his remarks, but to quote the great showman P.T. Barnum, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."
I'm not sure [correct that, I KNOW] Trump can do better than that, especially if he even attempts to do what he says he will do.
I wish I knew that. Trump seems to have a stronger commitment to single-payer than the current occupant.
That would be new information to me. I cannot tell from his rabble rousing speeches what his real policy preferences, let alone detailed plans, might be. It is unfortunate for our country that those who seem to be the best candidates are not those who might be the best Chief Executive; they are two different skill sets. With the exception of former governors Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich, and Chris Christie, I don't think any of the others – the "nonestablishment" candidates – as the necessary skill set to govern, and I don't think those guys have a chance.
On the other hand, Trump has been a more or less successful executive. He only went bankrupt what, twice? I'm afraid Obama has gotten us into a debt we will never be able to repay.
Re single payer. And he made similar noises yesterday.
Trump IS Hilliary. Just a little prettier hair, that's all.
Looks to me like what he is saying is that he is going to turn Medicaid into a "premium support" system, where everybody gets insurance on the open, competitive market. It would be a wonderful replacement for Obamacare, and for traditional Medicaid. His tax plan sounds like one that is flatter and considerably more simple, and those are good things. I think it's just too much effort to try to twist these comments into something that conservatives can dislike. Frankly I don't care whether the idea is "conservative" or not, I just want somebody to start pushing policies that make some friggin' sense.
I think it's just too much effort to try to twist these comments into something that conservatives can dislike.
We'll have to disagree.
Do we disagree that it is difficult to twist Trump's words just so we can dislike him, or do we disagree that what he seems to be proposing would actually be good policy?
I'm not carrying a torch for the guy; I'm just in the "Anybody but Hillary" camp.
Jerry; Trump's companies have gone bankrupt four times, not twice, and that after some fairly significant tax breaks and subsidies granted to them. Because who doesn't want to spend hundreds of millions to have a casino and strip club in town?
Good businessman? Hardly. Con artist is closer to the truth.
Do we disagree that it is difficult to twist Trump's words just so we can dislike him, or do we disagree that what he seems to be proposing would actually be good policy?
I don't think it's good policy. And I've disliked Trump for quite a while now. If it comes down to him vs. Hillary or Bernie, I'll have to decide what to do. I don't see any way I can support him in good conscience at this point, given the way he conducts himself. I have better options at the moment.
I can't argue with what you have said. Trump's one great virtue has been to make "anti-establishment" an acceptable position and to crush the major media with that message.
I have long thought that Trump and Hillary had the same problem-- that if their "inevitability" were successfully challenged as both have now been in Iowa, their candidacies could rapidly wane. I have long thought that Ted Cruz had positioned himself well to "pick up the pieces" when that happened. Whether that is desirable or not?
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