Donald Trump’s advisers are telling him that he needs to act more presidential in order to run against Hillary Clinton as he enters the general election campaign.
Presidential
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
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Since so many people consider American elections to be for Commander in Chief, the gentleman pictured appears to be properly attired.
Who will be so bold as to create and don the military garb of the Commander in Chief?
The Chief Judge of the Supreme Court, William Rehnquist made and wore a chieftain’s robe without rebuke.
Trump’s advisers are wrong.
I have been trying to come up with a metaphor for this for a while now. This is the best I can do.
In one of Robert B. Parker’s novels, the detective Spenser confronts two feminist radicals. I don’t remember all the details of the set up, but at one point, one of the feminists strikes a karate pose and kicks Spenser right in the nuts. And his response is to punch her or throw her into a wall. I don’t remember which. But the point is that he incapacitates her, and then leans against a wall and waits for the nausea to pass.
And a few minutes later, (I think Spenser has his gun out at that point), after the ballkicker has recovered sufficiently, she says something like, “But I did the form perfectly. You should have dropped to the ground.”
Clinton is the person who trains in the dojo three times a week. She does the exercises, she eats right, she gets enough sleep, all that. And the very first time she tries to kick Trump in the balls and it doesn’t work, she is going to lose because she will then be fighting his fight. He will throw her into a wall, and she will not know how the hell it happened. In a competition hall with judges ready to disqualify for anything non-kosher, HRC’s skills would all be an enormous advantage. But Trump is the guy who knows how to streetfight. He’ll use his nails and his teeth. While HRC is perfectly doing the sixth form of the falling lotus, Trump will be slipping a knife he had tucked into his sock into the gap in her back between her fourth and fifth vertebrae.
Trump is a whole ‘nother kind of crazy than HRC is. And in a fight like this, it’s an advantage. Why?
Here’s a recent item in which Trump pretty much completely took over the entire interview. Shut it right the fuck down. Doesn’t even matter what the interview was about because Trump took over the discussion. Clinton says she’s tough. She’s battle-hardened. She’s experienced. But you know what? Being a forceful speaker will not work with Donald Trump’s crowd. Lynch mobs aren’t interested in debates about evidentiary procedure.
Even worse, HRC’s arguments will all be contradicted by HRC. Here’s a clip of her saying marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman. Now, here’s a clip of her saying that she was the first person ever to support gay marriage. That the same can be done to Trump is irrelevant.
Why? There is very little gray area for the Trump base. People either love him or hate him. With HRC there is an ENORMOUS gray area. She has her base of primary voters (more on that in a minute) and a lot of people who, frankly, are still on the fence. If Trump can put forward one or two “reasonable” stances — he already did with the transgendered bathrooms — that will be enough to pull some of those people away from HRC.
But “acting presidential” will be moving the fight to a style HRC can win at. Trump won’t do that.
The Clintons have a long history of dirty tricks. And I think they’re about to see the difference between being the biggest player in Little Rock versus being a big player in New York CIty.
As for the Hillary voters (from the prior post — sorry, I try not to go on too long on these things, but …)
The latest primary totals I could find.
HRC: 12.4 million votes; Sanders: 9.3 million votes; Trump: 10.6 million votes; Cruz: 7.3 million votes; Rubio: 3.5 million votes; Kasich: 3.8 million votes.
At least one poll says that 20% of Republicans will vote for Hillary. Those are clearly the Republicans who didn’t vote for Trump. And at least one poll says about 25% of Sanders voters won’t vote for Hillary. So from the 14.6 million non-Trump Republican votes, about 2.9 million are going to HRC, leaving 11.7 million non-Trump Republican votes for him, and only 7 million Sanders voters will vote for HRC.
So add in to the mix: Reps for HRC: 2.9 million; Reps not switching party alliance: 11.7 million; Sanders-to-HRC votes: 7.0 million.
Let’s look at the BEST CASE scenario for HRC.
In a unicorn-fairy world in which 20% of the Republicans who didn’t pick Trump switch party allegiance BUT 100% of Bernie supporters hold their noses, HRC can expect: 12.4 million votes to start, plus 9.3 million Sanders votes, plus 2.9 million Republicans.
Total HRC in the BEST CASE: 24.6 million.
Trump: 10.6 million votes to start, plus 80% of the Republicans who voted for his opponents (11.7 million).
Total Trump in the HRC BEST CASE: 22.3 million.
That’s the Best Case, however. Let’s run the same figures with Sanders’ voters sticking by their guns and not voting HRC.
HRC: 12.4 million plus 7 million Sanders plus 2.9 million Republicans: 22.3 million for HRC.
Trump: 10.6 million plus 11.7 million Republicans: 22.3 million for Trump.
A tie. Fantastic. But it’s only a tie if no significant number of Sanders voters swings over to Trump. And that is a fantasy. So Trump wins.
Now, let’s look at the REALISTIC CASE for HRC:
Let’s say equal percentages of Sanders and non-Trump Republicans have calmed down a bit. Say 50% embrace orthodoxy.
HRC total in that case: 12.4 million plus 8.14 million Sanders votes plus 1.45 million Republicans switching sides: 22 million.
Trump in that case: 10.6 million plus 12.87 Republicans: 23.47 million.
This should terrify the DNC. Sure, the numbers will change over time, but the only way HRC can win is if she actually has Republicans voting for her. And that, I do not see. In the heat of the moment, sure. But give the Republicans a couple of weeks to accept it, and President Trump the Republican won’t be too hard for them to swallow after all.
Just thought I’d say good posts.
Your analysis is good as it goes but the apparent vast numbers of independent voters need to accounted for.
Some are included in the numbers you presented, of course, but many are not.
The final number of votes, if current trends persist, will be some 125-130 million.
A good point about the independents. Look at it this way, someone is an independent, usually, because neither party provides them with what they’re looking for. That means a lot more skepticism. Also, many independents think the whole system is corrupt/wrong/stupid/whatever.
I think many will stay home. That will cut down on HRC’s vote total because many of them I think had voted for Sanders in the primaries. But of those who do show up to vote, I think more will vote for Trump than for HRC because he offers the best chance for the entire system to finally break.
To win this election, T-rump is saying the one thing that will get him the brass ring … AMERICA FIRST!
Every time the whiners of AIPAC complain about Trump’s “Hitler-conduct,” all ferret-head has to point out is that Zionland is prevalently behaving way worse than the 3rd Reich of last century and they’re genocidally doing it against the Muslims and CHRISTIANS of Palestine. T-rump is very cleverly bypassing America’s Zion-whorshipping evangelical traitors who — by their own religious idiocy — just can’t put AMERICA FIRST.
MOST of America’s “silent majority are really weary of WDC’s addiction to Zionist money, billions of which mostly gets stolen out of their own pockets by way of military aid to that shitty-little-country. We donate to Israel the very cash that it uses to buy off our own representatives. Oh yes, T-rump ain’t stupid, he’ll mouth all the necessary “Only friend in the Middle-East” blather, but still, he’s let everybody else know that he’s still putting AMERICA FIRST.
Ultimately, HClinton will end up trying to hijack that phrase. Even so, her first love is still Zionland, and America’s betrayed population does notice. She can never say AMERICA FIRST with any conviction beyond “Zionland always.”
And once Americans end up learning that Israelis are not Semites by any historical standard, they then break free of all the faux-anti-semitic shaming attempted by the Ashkenazi crowd.
DanD
Kein Problem, Ted ! The gentlemen you portray above, to whom the position of Reichspräsident was transferred upon the death of Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, got ’round the issue by simply ignoring the office and ruling instead as Führer und Reichskanzler. Perhaps his modern USA counterpart could rule as CEO ?… 😉
Henri