This week there's a big scandal because hackers - most likely Russia the FBI says - have revealed private emails from within the Democratic Party. Imagine if tweets were private and Donald Trump's had just been revealed for the first time.
It's seem more and more clear that Donald Trump is not motivated by money, adulation, or power. Or, rather, he's motivated by those things but they pale in comparison to his true motives, his lust for attention. It seems to me that most of his behavior can simply be explained by an addiction to attention as powerful as any cocaine or alcohol addiction.
Traditionally, during the convention, the rival party or candidate goes into relatively quiet mode while the other party has their time in the spotlight. Given Donald couldn't even take time out of his speech introducing his vice president to actually talk about his vice president, it's hard to imagine that he'll be able to contain himself this week. He's done nothing conventional yet.
This is the man who has claimed his opponent's father helped to assassinate JFK, bragged about the size of his penis during a presidential debate, recently made it cleat to Putin that if he were to invade a Baltic state, members of NATO, that he wouldn't protect them, wants to institute a religious test for entrance to the country and suggested that the US could default on its debts, an act every rational economist sees as a guarantee of a financial crisis. (Slate has a stunning list of the outrageous things he's said here.) If he's as eager to shift the focus from Hillary Clinton to himself as I suspect he is, this could be the most fascinating week yet in Trump watch.
And whatever he says it could cause his ratings to rise some more. Warning Americans not to vote for Trump because he's racist enough that white supremacists love him is like warning teenage boys not to go to that beach because its a favorite for topless women.
R World (Ron Davison muses aloud)
This could be the most fascinating week yet in Trump watch? I'd say it'd be yet another fascinating or interesting week.
ReplyDeleteTrump isn't any different than some old retired auto-worker in Michigan who spends his days writing blog after blog after blog in all sorts of different forms, or sending out Twitter rants by the minute. Before social media, only celebrities could get the attention of the press. Today, anybody with a computer can say whatever they want, whenever they want, and as much as they want. Trump has always believed he's got loads of smart things to say, and now believes it's his duty to share his vast knowledge & experience every chance he gets. You wrote tradition would be the GOP candidate keeps quite during the DNC week. Not only does Trump not care about political tradition, his platform is all about doing everything in opposition to political tradition as he thinks this is exactly what the American people want. And deserve.
We might not ever see another candidate like Trump in our lifetime. Then again, Ted Cruz has already shown some signs he could be like Donald Trump.
I'm guessing there's a new lexicon in play: "You really Trumped that . . . you pulled a real Trump there . . .".