Even Donald Trump’s Own Supporters Can’t Say What He’d Do As President
This is not a serious Presidential campaign, it is a bloviating sideshow.
If you need any further demonstration of the utter banality of the Donald Trump phenomenon, consider what happens when someone asks one of his supporters what he would do if he were actually elected President:
Donald Trump might be leading in the polls, but even his biggest supporters don’t seem to know what would happen if he were voted into the Oval Office. When CNN asked Robert Kiger, head of the Trump Super PAC Citizens for Restoring USA, just what a Trump administration would accomplish, his answer was incredibly vague: ”I think he’s going to accomplish everything that he set out to do,” Kiger replied, without much elaboration. In fact, aside from asserting that Trump is the most galvanizing political figure since Ronald Reagan and stressing that he will secure the U.S.-Mexico border, Kiger seemed clear about little else in the GOP hopeful’s agenda.
Kiger isn’t the first Trump supporter to be stumped by the question of whatexactly The Donald would do in office. Just two days before Wednesday’s CNN interview aired, Trump campaign head Michael Cohen was unable to provide any supporting evidence to the claim that Trump was a better candidate for veterans issues. “So what is Donald Trump going to do?,” CNN’s Chris Cuomo asked Cohen. Cohen’s response: “Donald Trump fixes things. You gotta acknowledge that.”
Here’s the video of Kiger’s appearance this morning:
This isn’t entirely surprising, of course. It mirrors the responses I get from people I have encountered online who identify themselves as Trump supporters. In the end, it is clear that their support for him is based mostly on the fact that he is acting like jerk rather than on any specific ideas that he has. Additionally, if you actually listen to anything that Donald Trump has said in the speeches or cable news appearances, most of which are either taped in advance or done over the phone, since entering the race, you’ll find that he is completely devoid of substance on any of the issues that he has brought up and that there are a whole host of issues that he never bothers to mention. Additionally, a quick perusal of his campaign website reveals that it doesn’t even have a rudimentary version of an “Issues” section setting forth a summary of what the candidate believes regarding the issues of the day. This is something that is usually found on the campaign website of even the most incompetent candidate for local office, never mind a candidate for President of the United States. The entire Trump shtick boils down to him insulting the people he’s running against, insulting the President, insulting Mexicans, and creating a media spectacle where ever he goes. Because of this, he has virtually taken over the entire political news cycle for the past month and guaranteed himself a place in next month’s debate, which is likely to yield a performance that will guarantee that this sideshow will continue for some time to come.
Add into this the numerous reports that have come out in the month since Trump entered the race indicating that he barely has anything that could be called a campaign organization in early primary states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and that he has snubbed efforts by state GOP officials to coordinate with his campaign, and it quickly becomes clear that, notwithstanding the fact that he is rising in the polls, and notwithstanding the fact that he has complied with the FEC requirements for a Presidential candidates, including today’s release of a large financial report, Donald Trump is not a serious candidate for President. He is, instead, the same person he has been since he became a cultural and media phenomenon in the 1980s. He is a showman who’s entire reason for existing is to enhance the Trump brand and get the media to do his bidding. I don’t know how much longer this absurd spectacle will continue, be please don’t anyone mistake it for actual serious politics.
Doug, Doug, Doug…what you’re just seeing is the obvious end result of the infotainment of politics.
Added to the mess is the Republican belief that government doesn’t work, so therefore they elect people that prove it.
And Trump ADORES it. This is the most soul-satisfying activity he can think of–just think of all those cameras pointed at him all the time!
I generally don’t like to thread-jack, but since this post is about Trump I don’t feel quite so bad doing so.
Anyway, it’s an update on the Chattanooga shootings in the Navy Times:
Full story here: http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/2015/07/21/sources-navy-officer-marine-shot-chattanooga-gunman/30426817/
Republicans don’t get to bitch when they get exactly what they’ve asked for over the past couple of decades. Trump represents the core base. Trump represents a large section of America. Not all conservatives are pro-Trump, but damn near all people who genuinely like Trump identify as conservative.
I know that’s hard to hear, but that’s the bed you have made so now you get to sleep in it. Honorable and responsible conservatives didn’t stand up and fight when Wilson shouted “You Lie” to the president or when their mic’s were cut by O’Reilly and crew. Romney ruined his campaign pandering to the base and the next candidate will too. I guarantee it.
Now it’s time to pay the price.
Somewhat Trump-related in that it has to do with grandiose construction and bankruptcy :Here’s an interesting attempt at using US bankruptcy law in the Bahamas. Didn’t work.
(This really is a case where you root for injuries.)
The longer this goes on the more I think that the Republican Party loves having Trump around. They may denounce some of his over the top comments but secretly I think they are grateful he came along. He is certainly letting the base feel like they have representation in this race, as long as he does not get visibly pushed out of the race by the leadership the party.
And while he may be taking up most of the media coverage, this may not be a bad thing for the other candidates. The other riders in the clown car say stupid and sometimes offensive things from time to time too, but if nobody is listening these remarks are not going to live forever. The ultimate nominee will have a much easier time in the general election if they don’t have a dozen or so ridiculous statements from the primary to live down because nobody heard them or remembers them.
The question I want to know – is Trump in on the joke, or does he really believe he is a serious candidate?
@Pete S: I’m guessing I’m in the minority when I say that Trump is not a good thing for Democrats. trump supporters may not like the other Republican candidates, but they will vote for them over any Democrat, and now they are energized. And I don’t see independents going to Democrats in waves because of Trump. the best hope for Democrats to come out ahead is hoping that Hispanics will not forget that the Republicans had no problem with Trump’s remarks until he went after McCain.
Whatever he does, it’ll be the best thing ever done in this country. It’ll be yooge.
@SenyorDave:
Minorities have long memories. My people are still bitching about the Babylonians.
Even Donald Trump’s Own Supporters Can’t Say What He’d Do As President
Nor can Hillary’s supporters, Nor did Obama do what he ran on. And I have no idea why JEB! wants to be president, do you?
WTF is this blog about? Enough with Trump crap already. I realize that you guys mostly only care about clicks to your site, but how about an original piece of journalism instead of regurgitating the same nonsense as everyone else. I don”t care if you want to feature a story about a cat who predicts election winners. That would at least be more interesting than this nonsense.
@edmondo:
Um…no…he pretty much did, and in spite of the most partisan and reflexively-opposed Republican party in history.
He is the ultimate Fox geezer candidate.
Steve
Trump is the perfect GOP candidate. Trumpism is Republicanism, just presented more bluntly. Trump is the face of the base. His ugliness is their ugliness. They embrace him because they are like him. This was summed up perfectly a couple of weeks ago by anjin-san:
In a thread with 80 comments, that remark got the most upvotes, because it so perfectly captures the truth of the situation.
And Trump is performing an inadvertent public service, because he’s going to make sure the whole country gets to see that the core of the GOP is just as vile as he is.
@AFormerreader3:
If you don’t like the posts, I have a suggestion for you: Go where you do like the posts. And don’t let the door hit you in the a55.
FTFY
Well, his fan club talks incessantly about how Trump has “cojones,” which they invariably spell as “cajones.”
He appeals to the same people who loved Palin. All soundbites, no substance.
Sub Head:
Maybe it belongs on the comics page. Below the fold. Next to the Horoscope.
@edmondo:
BS.
I can tell pretty much what Hillary will do if elected: trying to push a package of “family friendly” policies: higher minimum wage, family leave ,universal pre-k. Make strong push on judicial nominees. Keep defending Obama’s policies from republican congress. Probably shift foreign policy one iota to the right.
We also know exactly know what Jeb! will do: try and pass a package of crazy tax cuts. Make a push on judician nominees. Probably try and push for immigration reform. Appoint deregulators as far as eye can see. Try to square the circle with “repealing” the ACA without pissing off people too much. Make push for privatisign Social Security.
what the panda said. we know the rough outlines of what the candidates would do.
if you want to know what GOP policies are, all you have to do is ask, “What would give some rich people a short-term cash benefit, regardless of the social/ethical/environmental/other consequences?”
90% of the time, that works every time.
I’m not necessarily a Trump backer – though I am STRONGLY considering supporting him in the GOP primary.
The reason I am considering him is that he has made very specific promises.
He has pledged that he will build a wall.
He has promised to take the oil of ISIS and Iran.
He has pledged to bomb Iran on day one.
He has pledged to reinstate waterboarding.
He said he is going to cut taxes.
He said he is going to wage war on the Planned Parenthood baby parts chop shop.
He is going to reinstitute the ban on homosexual “marriage”.
Those are very specific pledges.
I have concerns about his inclinations toward protectionism (which is a terrible policy), but I admire his nationalism and sense of American pride.
I admire that he is willing to give the middle finger to the Republican party and the media.
You might disagree with Trump, but you can’t say you don’t know what he stands for. Bombing Iran, building a wall, deporting illegals, and reinstituting waterboarding are very specific pledges.
@michael reynolds: Who cares? So what? What’s your point.
Yes, Republicans don’t respect Obama – that’s not exactly a news flash.
We don’t respect him – why should we. He’s a community organizing pantload.
Trump is popular because there is a residual of gratitude toward him because he humiliated Obama into producing his birth certificate.
Forcing that piece of garbage to show his papers was an accomplishment on Trump’s part – it made him look like the “other” that he is.
Obama is the guy wearing the Somalian goat herder costume in the picture Sidney Blumenthal released. Trump reinforced that by raising the birth certificate. Conservatives LOVE that.
It undercuts B Hussein Soetoro Obama’s legitimacy.
@James P: You actually believed all that BS from Trump?
@gVOR08: He is by this point probably a spoof on Michael spoofing the original James P.
just what do presidents “do” anyways? what has obama “done” that was expected of him aside from ram obamacare down our throats and make us look weak?
trumps having blast- and the media can’t handle him as he’s not playing their game. i don’t see him in the race after all this but he sure had a good time. i don’t see him holding the gop hostage by running as a 3rd party dude either.
@bill:
Yes, nothing looks weaker than a healthy Navy Seal dispatching Osama Bin Laden – something the Bush administration was unable/unwilling to do. We could continue with the list, but facts aren’t going to persuade you.
@bill:
Depends on the president. Some of them start unwinnable wars, tank the economy, torture prisoners, turn a big surplus into a big deficit, ram through an unaffordable prescription drug benefit, and let New Orleans drown. Others do better.
Just a short note to point out that the insanity that our (presumed – open to question) social disease, Mr J-P so admires is actually pretty much duplicated by many many commenters in RWNJ sites (RedState, Commentary). That is the state to which Wm F Buckley’s conservative movement has come. Even if you disagree completely as I do, pause a moment to reflect how sad it is that a movement that once was thought to be ‘intellectual’ and ‘learned’ has come to. Ignorant lying jerks like Mr Social Disease.