by Rod Williams, August 5, 2024- I consume a lot of news, and I have watched a lot of Trump speeches. Trump is certainly entertaining. He is never boring. He is a showman and has his own schtick. He has a sense of humor and a biting wit. He kind of reminds me of the comedians of bygone era, people like Mylton Byrle and Don Rickles and others whose schtick was insult humor, except of course, Trump is much more mean-spirited about it.
I never actually cared for insult humor, but a lot of people like it. A lot of people like bullies, too. Bullies are often popular kids in grammar school. Trump appeals to the worst in people and that is part of his appeal. When Trump mimics and makes fun of a reporter with a disability, some people find it really funny. Remember his 2016 primary opponent Carly Fiorina and the insults? “Look at that face,” he told Rolling Stone magazine of Fiorina. “Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?” When Trump calls Kamala Harris “dumb as a Rock,” “crazy,” “nuts” and “Laughing Kamala,” a lot of people find that really funny. Trump has mastered appealing to the worst juvenile and cruel instincts in people. Probably some of the people who laugh at Trump for insulting people, are the same people who would correct that behavior in their own children.
All of his rallies contain a lot of repeat material. He almost always renews the claim of the stolen election, and his speeches are peppered with lie after lie, and, of course, lots of name calling and insults. He also makes promises of how much better things will be when he is reelected. A lot of this is just pandering and lacks logic or a basic understanding of civics or economics. A lot of what he says is unscripted and raises a lot of eyebrows like saying he will be dictator on day one and telling his "beautiful Christians" that if they vote for him this time, they will never have to vote again. I kind of doubt that the call to replace the income tax with a massive tariff on imports was well thought out. I doubt he had the input of any economist when coming up with that one.
After watching Trump's recent Atlanta rally, I really think Trump is becoming unhinged. He has always seemed unhinged, but he seems to be getting worse. If you missed the rally, you can watch at this link.
For one thing, his opening act was Marjorie Taylor Green. Remember Jewish space lasers that caused the California wildfires? She is even too crazy for a lot of the Trump crazies. For the hardiest of hardcore MAGA Republican she may fire them up, but for college educated suburban moms, she is a turn-off. You would think Trump would want to attract moderates and traditional Republicans and independents and those soccer moms instead of repelling them. I don't get it.
Trump's whole rally on Saturday except for the energetic and personable Michaelah Montgomery, seemed designed to push people out of the Trump camp rather than add people. His strategy seems to be to make sure that his base turns out, at the expense of widening the base. We know that this does not work. The only time Trump has won was in 2016 and that was against the not well-liked Hillary Clinton. Even in that race, he lost the popular vote.
When Trump entered the White House in 2017, it was the Republicans who controlled both the House and the Senate. In 2018 he cost Republicans the House and in 2020 he lost the Presidency and then went on to cause the loss of the Senate. You may recall that Trump's refusal to concede his own race and his casting doubt about election integrity in Georgia dampened Republicans turn out, leading to the loss of those Senate seats and Republicans losing the Senate. In the 2022 midterm elections, despite President Biden’s unpopularity and voter concerns about the economy and inflation, candidates recruited and endorsed by Donald Trump mostly lost their elections and Republicans failed to regain the Senate.
One would think that Trump would learn that you win elections by additions not subtraction. Since I hope Trump loses this election, I hope he keeps it up, but I don't get it. I think it is a failing strategy. I would have thought that if Trump wanted to win this election, he would have picked a reassuring figure, a kind of normal Republican, as his running mate, instead he picked someone who reinforced the MAGA message. There was no "balancing the ticket" with the selection of J. D. Vance.
In Atlanta he went on a rampage against Georgia Governor Brain Kemp. Kemp is much more popular in Georgia than Trump, having won his election by a comfortable margin, while Trump is a loser in Georgia. If he didn't have something nice to say about Kemp, he could have said nothing.
Keep it up Trump; keep it up!
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