So Donald Trump has hired Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen Bannon to take over his campaign. So much for that pivot. Breitbart News is the legacy of the late Andrew Breitbart who ginned up the GOP base with internet-based red meat. The news site has been encouraging Trump’s most disturbing characteristics since the beginning of his campaign.
On the downside, Trump’s rhetoric and tactics will likely get nastier and nastier. On the bright side, he will probably alienate most of the country. This move ends any illusion that Trump is going to pivot. Instead, he’s going to try win by expanding the Republican base and tapping into a broad anger in the country that may or may not be there.
Trump’s going for broke. He’s betting that he can to remake the country in his own horrible image. Expect his rhetoric to return to the days of the primary and expect certain groups of people, especially immigrants, to become targets. His strategy is to look for the worst in this country and hope that he can bring it out in mass rallies and free media.
At least we won’t have to watch Trump in any more of those painful, scripted teleprompter-driven speeches. We’re going to get another two and half months of Trump unchained. He’s broken the bonds of the GOP power brokers and rejected their calls to become more presidential, something he really never could have become anyway.
Maybe Trump’s gamble is going to work. I doubt it. It’s more likely to end in a landslide. The biggest casualties will probably be the down-ballot GOP candidates who are inextricably tied to the top of the ticket. As Trump increasingly alienates the middle, they will have to make a decision: cut and run or ride it out with Breitbart and Trump.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
How long will it take before the story appears that Hillary’s nodding stuff is a leftover from her space alien kidnapping and brain surgery? That her concussion story is an attempt to hide that?
National Inquirer, are you listening? Donald listens to you.
The upside of the story is that the “new old” Trump will probably suck candidates such as “Invisible Richard” Burr down into the gutter, where they belong, faster and more surely than might otherwise be the case.
Listening to the CBS morning show today, who else but Frank Luntz was there pontificating about Trump. Frank offered this analysis when asked about Trump and Roger Ailes, “…having those two in the room together would be like having Stalin, Lenin, and a little bit of Khruschev thrown in…”
Maybe Frank is the only one with a workable crystal ball. He sized those two up nicely, chapter and verse.
I missed the Luntz remarks. Grim in a way but so apt I had to applaud his analysis. Thanks.
Here you are Norma…
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/impact-of-trump-campaign-changing-leadership-again/
And I misquoted. The actual words were, “…Stalin, Trotsky, and a little bit of Kruschev….” You know, since Trotsky was the reasonable one…
Thanks. Don’t care for Luntz, but have to acknowledge that he is not one of the dumb ones. If Trump and Ailes heard him, I hope they remember what happened to Trotsky and how history has treated Stalin. I probably give them too much credit for both historical knowledge and introspection.
No Luntz isn’t stupid…which is the really sad part. He should know better with a Ph.D. But for whatever reason, he chose the dark side.
With the hiring of Breitbarts’ Stephen Bannon, the Trump campaign added another world-class mud slinger to the bullpen. Breitbart’s website has been the source of outrageous fabrications and the place where right wing deceptions are contrived and promoted. With the addition of another flame-thrower from the right, the Trump campaign just got nastier and less credible, if that is possible.
With the addition of the Prince of Darkness, the disgraced, deposed former head of Fox News Roger Ailes, the Trump campaign may have improved its dismal prospects. As despicable as Ailes is, he has a track record of employing the dark arts to obtain some advantage for his clients. George H. W. Bush owed some of his viability as a candidate against Michael Dukakis to Ailes’ appeal to the lowest common denominator. Ailes steered Bush away from debates with Dukakis in 1988, because words were not Bush’s friend. Ailes turns language into pretzels. He came up with “Fair and Balanced” as the Fox News slogan. He apparently enjoyed the irony in calling his propaganda channel something that it certainly never was and never will be.
Still the Trump campaign will have little choice but to let Trump be Trump. Letting Trump be Trump is the best thing Hillary has going for her. Trump can write a new book after this campaign called “The Art of Making Deals with the Devil.”
How in God’s name can anyone back that user? Hillary made the very same promises as our Senator in NY and did nothing but smile for the cameras. She has taken contribution after contribution from Islamic leaders. Get your facts straight. Only 4 % of the Clinton’s 100 million$ went to charity. BTW- How are they worth so much when they were broke after leaving the White House? Taking Corporate $$$ for speaking engagements. I would pay 2 cents for their opinions. He is a scoundrel. She is a horrible example of a woman. She thinks a 36 week abortion is OK!!!!
The anger is real, and some aspects of it are legitimate. We have ignored those harmed by trade agreements, or given temporary, half-hearted responses. We have ignored the poor and economic improvements in this country have not accrued to most of us for two decades. That does not mean that Trump or his so-called policies will solve anything. They won’t. Nor will a win by Hillary Clinton unless Congress engages in actual governance, as opposed saying “No” to every overture from the White House. There will also be a long term impact from the Trump campaign. The hatred and violence he encourages is now an acceptable part of public discourse and/or behavior. We are in for a difficult time — sadly.