Great piece...and scary.
We have narcotized ourselves, dumbed ourselves down to the point where we can only consider thugs and bozos for political office.
I praise Leibovich for acknowledging being a zombie. We have become like the walking dead we watch on TV. (Could this programming be a reflection of what we have become?) I hope this is just a passing illness, or else we're in real trouble.
We have narcotized ourselves, dumbed ourselves down to the point where we can only consider thugs and bozos for political office.
I praise Leibovich for acknowledging being a zombie. We have become like the walking dead we watch on TV. (Could this programming be a reflection of what we have become?) I hope this is just a passing illness, or else we're in real trouble.
4
In a character defining moment it couldn't rise to and probably won't be able to live down for at least a generation, Trump, laughing all the way, has effectively pulled the GOP's elephant pants down around its ankles.
3
Nothing new here. "The medium is the message". Been going on for a long, long time. Just now the new burlesque version is upon us.
2
Trump is an incredibly useful tool for both Cruz and Rubio. Both divisive ideologues, neither qualified to be the President--both look less extreme compared to Trump. So the party will tolerate Trump to the end.
In the end, you can't blame Trump for his popularity. It's our fellow citizens who say the crazier stuff like "he speaks for me, "I want an outsider" or "he'll keep me safe from terrorists."
In the end, you can't blame Trump for his popularity. It's our fellow citizens who say the crazier stuff like "he speaks for me, "I want an outsider" or "he'll keep me safe from terrorists."
4
A major problem is that those gatherings of GOP candidates aren't debates at all. They're forums.
5
The term debate is just wrong for what takes place. I'm glad at least one other person cares about the use of the term debate.
To be fair, Obama benefitted from the same circular logic. Supporters would point to his successful presidential campaign as evidence of his executive ability. Sound familiar?
Mr. Trump's political experience over the past several years consists solely of his delusional campaign to expose our President as a non-American agent of sinister forces unknown. This history alone directly defines Trump as either a publicity addicted fraud or a delusional demagogue. Anyone who supports him must explain how they can ignore this fact, or why they believe he was right.
21
And aren't you helping with exactly that cause? Three of the top 5 articles online are about Trump. Did you notice the irony? Please do not write these articles as they are self-defeating.
Just like many thoughtful commentators have made it clear that news media should not show photographs and provide detailed biographies of mass murderers: instead celebrate the lives of those they snuffed out in a highly savage and brutal manner.
Please ensure your editorial board has meaningful dialog and publishes an editorial on the front page announcing the shift in policy - that will be bold!
Just like many thoughtful commentators have made it clear that news media should not show photographs and provide detailed biographies of mass murderers: instead celebrate the lives of those they snuffed out in a highly savage and brutal manner.
Please ensure your editorial board has meaningful dialog and publishes an editorial on the front page announcing the shift in policy - that will be bold!
7
For Trump logic doesn't even enter into the equation. He displays the classic behavior of a megalomaniac. No matter how disillusioned many voters may be with the US government, it is shocking to discover the number of people are taken in by an ignorant, juvenile bully. He is the kid at school that everybody hates.
21
The media devotes buckets of ink to the "story" that Donald Trump is dominating the polls and then dubs it circular logic when he cites his own poll numbers. His comeback to Jeb Bush--"I'm at 43, you're at 3"--was a reasonable response to a not-very-specific charge. It was Trump's way of saying that his message is resonating and Bush's isn't.
It's not enough for Mr. Bush to say Donald Trump isn't serious, or that he's a chaos candidate. Bush and other opponents must explain in specific policy terms why a Trump presidency would be a disaster. My goodness, it shouldn't be that hard. If they're not willing to do it Hillary Clinton will.
It's not enough for Mr. Bush to say Donald Trump isn't serious, or that he's a chaos candidate. Bush and other opponents must explain in specific policy terms why a Trump presidency would be a disaster. My goodness, it shouldn't be that hard. If they're not willing to do it Hillary Clinton will.
17
And the Florida governor should know about poll numbers. After all, when your brother can't win the office of the President, you can always bar blacks from voting or install a shill to oversee a Presidential election in your home state.
19
Donald Trump talks about his poll numbers because he has nothing else to talk about.
He has no ideas. Unlike some candidates who have no NEW ideas, or VIABLE ideas, Trump has no ideas period.
He has no policy experience. In fact, hand-in-hand with the media, for which Trump means higher ratings and more sales at the newsstands (Do they still exist anymore?), Trump has turned his lack of knowledge into a positive.
Questions about the economy? Simple.
"We're looking at a lot of things. Big things. It's gonna be fantastic."
Foreign policy?
"I'll talk to the leaders. They'll respect me, I can tell you that. Hell, Putin loves me. China? I do deals with China all the time. The Chinese love me."
Terrorism?
"Close the border to Muslims. They want to kill us, they can't come here. Whatever it takes."
Come to think of it, compared to other things Trump says, talking about his poll numbers is the ONLY time he makes any sense.
He has no ideas. Unlike some candidates who have no NEW ideas, or VIABLE ideas, Trump has no ideas period.
He has no policy experience. In fact, hand-in-hand with the media, for which Trump means higher ratings and more sales at the newsstands (Do they still exist anymore?), Trump has turned his lack of knowledge into a positive.
Questions about the economy? Simple.
"We're looking at a lot of things. Big things. It's gonna be fantastic."
Foreign policy?
"I'll talk to the leaders. They'll respect me, I can tell you that. Hell, Putin loves me. China? I do deals with China all the time. The Chinese love me."
Terrorism?
"Close the border to Muslims. They want to kill us, they can't come here. Whatever it takes."
Come to think of it, compared to other things Trump says, talking about his poll numbers is the ONLY time he makes any sense.
52
The debasing of our political dialogue began during the the Reagan years when certain Republicans started to blur the lines between the parties in order to break down traditional loyalties and to make it acceptable to vote outside one's party base. (There's really no difference between the parties, so it doesn't matter who you vote for...) This allowed working class people, particularly those with traditional Christian allegiances to cross over to the Republicans. The dumbing down of the American electorate has continued, as a deliberate strategy, through the last thirty years of continuous drubbing by Faux Nuz and their commentators, with their Meme of the Day programming that is carried on by each and every commentator. The message is clear: 'Do not worry your head about deciding on the issues. We will do your thinking for you, you've got enough to do.' And so it has devolved to this moment, in which the perfect television candidate has declared: 'Thinking doesn't matter, only poll numbers matter.'
If you tune into the Democratic debate tonight, you will see that Dems still believe that ideas matter, that some policies are better than others. So far, at least, Democrats, still believe that it is the civic duty of citizens to make decisions, to form opinions, and to argue their merits in the public square. Believing in government, we still care enough to argue about what kind of government will produce the greater good for the greater number.
If you tune into the Democratic debate tonight, you will see that Dems still believe that ideas matter, that some policies are better than others. So far, at least, Democrats, still believe that it is the civic duty of citizens to make decisions, to form opinions, and to argue their merits in the public square. Believing in government, we still care enough to argue about what kind of government will produce the greater good for the greater number.
36
Trump's way of campaigning is post-logical. In a media-sphere where people can find any slate of "facts" they want to bolster any "narrative" they desire, along comes Trump. He has no facts, he has no logic, he doesn't even seem to know that he has neither. He's very confident, he's very vain, and he's very childish. He's a bully whose feelings are easily hurt. But his narrative is himself. He's like a drunk walking through traffic. People are fascinated. When will he get hit? How far will he go? Perhaps the whole way to that house on Pennsylvania Avenue--unless the media can take their eyes off the ratings he gets them and start asking questions about facts, logic, and policy. Just make him look as clueless as he really is. When that happens, he'll fall or they'll throw him under the bus.
21
Today I saw a Republican spokeswoman on Smerconish say that Trumpsters like Trump b/c he says -- as a presidential candidate, not your drunk uncle -- what people yell at their TV. That's defining deviancy down:
Defining Deviancy Down
Author(s): DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN
Source: The American Scholar, Vol. 62, No. 1 (Winter 1993), pp. 17-30 Published by: The Phi Beta Kappa Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41212064 .
Defining Deviancy Down
Author(s): DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN
Source: The American Scholar, Vol. 62, No. 1 (Winter 1993), pp. 17-30 Published by: The Phi Beta Kappa Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41212064 .
6
Another adventure to Looney Tunes Central. Bring on Elmer Fudd and Goofey. Oh, to be 9 years old again. Life has become confusing and very very sad. Once upon a time, "grownups" knew better.
4
"And yet Donald Trump’s hammerlock on the Republican nomination race for six solid months"
Trump has nothing like a 'hammerlock'. He cannot win the nomination.
Mr Trump is sui generis. As such, those who say they will vote for Mr Trump in the Republican primaries and caucuses form the plurality. But the majority of those who say they will vote in the Republican primaries and caucuses say they will NOT vote for Trump, but for one of the other candidates. There were 16 candidates splitting the anti-Trump vote so many ways none had more than half of Trump's plurality. Since then, three have dropped out, but they had less than 1% of the prospective voters among them, so Trump still has a large plurality, double that of Senator Cruz, who has the second highest percentage.
But few, if any, of the anti-Trump voters will be switching to Trump as their preferred candidates drop out.
In addition, many of the final delegates are appointed by the Republican establishment, and few if any of the appointed delegates will vote for Trump.
So Mr Trump has had the plurality for six months, and may still have the plurality until the convention, but it takes a majority to be nominated, and Mr Trump will never have a majority of the delegates to the Republican Convention.
Trump has nothing like a 'hammerlock'. He cannot win the nomination.
Mr Trump is sui generis. As such, those who say they will vote for Mr Trump in the Republican primaries and caucuses form the plurality. But the majority of those who say they will vote in the Republican primaries and caucuses say they will NOT vote for Trump, but for one of the other candidates. There were 16 candidates splitting the anti-Trump vote so many ways none had more than half of Trump's plurality. Since then, three have dropped out, but they had less than 1% of the prospective voters among them, so Trump still has a large plurality, double that of Senator Cruz, who has the second highest percentage.
But few, if any, of the anti-Trump voters will be switching to Trump as their preferred candidates drop out.
In addition, many of the final delegates are appointed by the Republican establishment, and few if any of the appointed delegates will vote for Trump.
So Mr Trump has had the plurality for six months, and may still have the plurality until the convention, but it takes a majority to be nominated, and Mr Trump will never have a majority of the delegates to the Republican Convention.
8
Why is no one holding the moderators/press accountable? From the get-go the formats, the lack of follow-up questions and the lack of equal time for all has worked against any substantive debate. If there were guidelines given to the candidates they certainly weren't being enforced. Ex.-- Personal attacks will not be tolerated, interrupting another candidate automatically eliminates that person from the next round of questions, etc. Seems the talking heads were told to go for entertainment value.
17
The GOP can blame itself for this. Trump is their purest expression: a creature utterly and completely of, by and for narrative. He negates the idea of substance. He's Reagan and Bush distilled into a character.
20
On the matter of "they've never touted poll numbers in quite this way before" . . . I would suggest that this is actually a natural next step in a long list of things that politicians "never used to do before" . . .
Senators never used to baselessly accuse presidential candidates of not paying their taxes.
House Speakers never used to come straight out and accuse members of the intelligence community of lying without any evidence.
Presidents never used to tell senior citizens that if a budget deal didn't go their way that there might be an interruption in Social Security disbursements.
(Sorry I didn't list any GOP transgressions, but they've mostly decided not to utilize this new weapon because they are un-creative, mostly cowards, and mostly content to allow Democrat politicians to tell them what they are and are not allowed to do. (Like or hate Trump, that's not who he is.)
Point is, the common thread being that they're willing to do just about anything they've never done before, mostly by virtue of having cast off any human responsibility for feeling shame about saying things that are petty, indecent, and stupid.
Senators never used to baselessly accuse presidential candidates of not paying their taxes.
House Speakers never used to come straight out and accuse members of the intelligence community of lying without any evidence.
Presidents never used to tell senior citizens that if a budget deal didn't go their way that there might be an interruption in Social Security disbursements.
(Sorry I didn't list any GOP transgressions, but they've mostly decided not to utilize this new weapon because they are un-creative, mostly cowards, and mostly content to allow Democrat politicians to tell them what they are and are not allowed to do. (Like or hate Trump, that's not who he is.)
Point is, the common thread being that they're willing to do just about anything they've never done before, mostly by virtue of having cast off any human responsibility for feeling shame about saying things that are petty, indecent, and stupid.
10
I don't see a single real leader amongst this lot - thats the problem. Its entertaining though!
10
Trump's worldview is that of pure Machiavellian, zero-sum, "I win-you LOSE" that greatly appeals to his base of now marginalized, mostly white lower educated people for whom the deeper complexities of life, let alone global politics in a increasing fast paced and dynamic world and always felt beyond their grasp. He is the perfect strongman who distills down complexity to simplicity..."We win-THEY lose".
32
Or more to the point -- THEY win, WE lose: that is, the scary thing is that "those" people are getting anything at all, because anything they have has been taken from us.
If only they would realize that the real "they" that is taking from them is not the poor, the immigrants, the Syrian refugees, the Blacks, the Latinos, the women, the labor unions, or the environment; it's the narcissistic plutocrats like Donald Trump.
If only they would realize that the real "they" that is taking from them is not the poor, the immigrants, the Syrian refugees, the Blacks, the Latinos, the women, the labor unions, or the environment; it's the narcissistic plutocrats like Donald Trump.
An article lacking substance about a political race that has no substance in a nation that is no longer interested in substance.
32
Much less reading and learning about the oh-so-last century ISSUES; and dark money propelling the process spells a bad 2016 for the future of democracy. As Jefferson and Madison and Lincoln believed, "Give the people the facts and they will make the right decision." (Lincoln); well such beliefs simply no longer applie to a nation of mostly 'know-nothings', who are proud of it.
4
I don't see anything "circular" about Trump's response to Jeb "I'm at 42, you're at 3." Bush had just told him that he couldn't "insult his way to the White House." What better evidence could Trump point to other than his runaway domination of the primary thus far as proof that his approach appears to be working?
I also disagree with this article's insistence that the GOP primary has been all about process over substance. Every time Trump issues one of his insane proposals, I see them get thoroughly debated.
I also disagree with this article's insistence that the GOP primary has been all about process over substance. Every time Trump issues one of his insane proposals, I see them get thoroughly debated.
3
"I'm at 42, you're at three " implies he is winning, because he is right, because he is winning, because...
3
I think the best way to understand Trump is to grasp the nature and expressions of narcissism. Almost everything he says and does is rooted in this twisted phenomenon and his self-celebrations and then nurtured and promoted by the pervasive cultural forms of hyper-individualism in America -- from the selfie to the cell phone and beyond. Simply look at the clinical traits of Narcissistic Personality Disorder and they shout, indeed scream, "Donald Trump":
Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
Is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her
Requires excessive admiration
Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes
Believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
Is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her
Requires excessive admiration
Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes
Believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
56
As I've commented elsewhere, Trump interprets poll standings as ratings in his latest inane "reality" show.
His potential Republican voters are being played big=time, and really need to smarten-up.
His potential Republican voters are being played big=time, and really need to smarten-up.
16
Every reporter, editor and bloviator who feels obligated to talk about him and cover his every offensive outburst because he's the front runner allowing him to dominate every news cycle is playing a role in perpetuating this circus.