South Dakota Top Blogs

News, notes, and observations from the James River Valley in northern South Dakota with special attention to reviewing the performance of the media--old and new. E-Mail to MinneKota@gmail.com

Monday, July 20, 2015

Are you among those who have noticed Donald Trump is always incoherent?



"Hey Pope Francis, you suck!”

Donald Trump has risen to the top of the popularity list of GOP presidential candidates.  He entertains people by being the consummate asshole.  Huffington Post has announced that they will not cover him in their political columns, but have consigned him to the entertainment section, along with the likes of Kim Kardashian.  

However, some commentators warn that Trump should not be ignored.  A Washington Post writer states:


Trump’s message is a call to 1950s American greatness and a simmering, mad-as-hell populism that blames Chinese imports, freeloading Saudis and Mexican immigrants (and Mexico) for the nation’s ills. It appeals to a vein of the U.S. electorate that will remain a significant voting bloc for several election cycles to come: older whites. Trump calls his supporters the “silent majority,” the same name Richard Nixon used to marshal support from a white, middle-class, middle-aged population that felt underappreciated and feared the dramatic social change wrought by activist, antiwar youths and the civil rights movement.
Mother Jones sees a similar significance in how Trump reveals the political health of the nation:

... he is a political phenomenon that tells us much about a significant slice of the American public: Republican voters. It is indeed a drop-dead serious matter that a large bloc of GOPers—perhaps a plurality, depending on which poll you prefer—would entrust this nation to Trump. And the fact that Trump's demagoguery is prevailing at this early stage of the Republican presidential race is a measure of how far the tea party shift in the party has gone—and how this ideological extremism has developed deep roots within the GOP.
But the significance of Trump's rise in the polls is not simply his appeal to a segment that is intellectually and culturally stuck in the past; it is that no one takes alarm that the nation as a whole does not recognize that Trump's rantings are devoid of any coherent thought.  His wealth and brashness seems to cloud the recognition that what he says is the sound and fury of a national idiot.  He is not mentally all there. If, as some suggest, his appeal is that he speaks to the concerns of a segment of the populace, he is giving voice to derangement.

In one speech, Trump disparaged 23 people or groups of people with his malice.  What is 
significant is that his name-calllilng and his denigration str uyyrtrf in fragments and phrases. He does not predicate any sentences that complete thoughts or deal with facts.  His statements are incoherent with the only point of clarity being his intention of insulting and attacking a person.  

About John MCCain, he said:

"You hear our politicians. John McCain, two days, 'Oh, Benghazi!' You don't hear about it anymore... I'm more disappointed in the Republicans in many ways. They talk and talk and talk."


About President Obama:

"You know, I don't use Teleprompters like the president..."He doesn't even call to get our hostages back from Iran. Here we are in the middle of a deal and he doesn't even call about that. One sentence -- I'd say, 'Before we start, get those people back.' They'd be back the next hour.”

About John Kerry:

"Our chief negotiator [on Iran] at 73 is in a bicycle race. He falls and breaks his leg. This is the mentality." 
 About Hillary Clinton:

"Hillary Clinton was the worst secretary of state in the history of our country. The worst. The world blew up around her. Our enemies are a disaster and they hate us more. Our friends are all gone. We don't get along with anybody. Everybody's ripping us off..."Who would you rather have negotiating a trade deal with anybody? Trump or Hillary?”
And his account of the Macy's CEO on the phone breaking off the relationship with Trump:

"So my cellphone rings and it's [Macy's chief executive] Terry Lundgren...He goes, 'Donald, hi.' He's like my best friend. I said, 'Terry, what's your problem?' He said, 'You're very controversial.' ... He said, 'Donald, I had calls from Hispanic people saying they're going to boycott Macy's.' I told him what to do. I said, 'Terry, be tough. They'll be gone one day.'..."This is a man I played golf with. I was with him all the time. He really was, was, was -- you understand, because I don't forget things. He said to me, 'Please, please, Donald, can I cut you?' It's not a big deal. I'm selling ties. And you know what? Honestly, they were made in China, so I didn't care."Here's the bottom line on Macy's: Thousands and thousands of people are cutting up their Macy's credit cards.”
Trump makes up, distorts, and ignores facts.  What he says has  no correspondence with reality.  His attacks are always personal.  His entire campaign is one of demeaning and discrediting other people.  Those who claim that he is giving a voice to a disgruntled political base ignore just what that voice is saying and how it is said.  It is stream-of-consciousness malice.

It is not a matter of people having differing opinions.  It is a matter that benign Americans don't want to face:  some of their fellow Americans are not nice people.  They are mean, dishonest, and intend ill on other people.  Trump's stupidly hateful remarks about John McCain are an expression of the malevolent streak that pulses through American politics.  

Can this streak dominate the nation.  Well, it dominates South Dakota.  The blog that seems to be endorsed by the GOP in South Dakota contains precisely the ignorance of facts, the moral carelessness, and the inane bravado of Donald Trump.  It throbs with malice.  And that, in South Dakota, is what  the GOP campaigns on.  And wins.  And why the state is intellectually and morally incoherent.  


Trump to G.O.P: “You’re Fired”

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/trump-to-g-o-p-youre-fired?mbid=social_facebook


Des Moines Register asks Trump to withdraw his candidacy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/07/21/iowa-paper-trump-a-feckless-blowhard-who-should-end-presidential-campaign/?hpid=z1

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

With all due respect to Trump's comments regarding Senator McCain et. al. It has been a long time since we have had any presidential candidate that speaks their mind in a public manner that at least some of the population agrees with. Ross Perot as an independent candidate garnered somewhere around 20% of the popular vote and had the basic theme of 'Cleaning out the hog house in Washington'...or something similar.

Personally, I find it refreshing to hear a different approach...albeit some of it a little blunt. But who among do not agree with some of his verbiage?...at least quietly? Until I hear others be honest and frank with the public and tell us what they really think...I kind of like his approach.

David Newquist said...

As a matter of policy, the Beacon does not publish anonymous comments, but dismisses them as spam. However, the following comment typifies the political attitude that endorses the dishonesty and lunacy of Donald Trump. While he spouts falsehoods incessantly, we have people, such as anonymous, claiming they like him because he tells the truth while other politicians lie to them. This is code talk for saying they like him because he expresses their racism, their tolerance of corruption in the form of false claims, and the malevolence with which they view anyone not in their category for political approval. ISIS is not the only force promoting violent insanity.

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