Trump’s never-ending primary campaign

by | Jul 22, 2016 | Editor's Blog, Presidential race | 4 comments

For a brief moment last night, I thought I saw the brilliance of the Trump strategy. After destroying the Republican Party in dramatic fashion on Wednesday night, he was going to pivot left and start wooing disaffected Democrats—from the stage of the Republican convention. His daughter, Ivanka, delivered a speech that would have fit better at the DNC than the RNC.

She described a man none of has seen on the campaign trail and she laid out policy proposals we’ve never heard. She insisted her father is compassionate and caring. He thinks deeply about the plight of working people and families. He’s a family man who works hard and will fight for the little guy. I thought it was the introduction for her father to step up and make the case to Sanders supporters who are mad about being left behind in the economy.

Instead, Trump gave a speech appealing to fear. He is still running in the Republican primary, trying to attract more voters who don’t have a history of voting. He seems to be gambling that hidden in the shadows are millions of Americans who haven’t voted in recent elections but will come out in droves for him. I think he’s wrong.

Twitter seemed to disagree with him, too. Political analyst Stu Rothenberg tweeted, “I’d expect lots of Republicans to come out and endorse Clinton after this speech.” Other Republicans said they couldn’t support him. A Politico headline reads, “Trump’s four dysfunctional days in Cleveland.” Fact-checkers blasted much of the speech, as Trump used false statistics to back up his claims.

Trump clearly sees politics differently than the rest of us. As Nixon famously said, you run hard to the right to win the primary and run as fast as you can to the middle to win the general. Trump is sticking to the right sideline. There was nothing inclusive in his speech. He described a dystopian America that requires a strong man to get it back on track.

Trump is clearly a wannabe dictator who believes he can scare people to his campaign. There’s an us-against-them battle going on. The unspoken “us” is a working class white America that is under attack by immigrants and lawless minorities. He’s going to protect them by building a wall, suspending some of our civil liberties, and killing bad guys.

Let’s hope America is better than this.

4 Comments

  1. Someone from Main Street

    “As Nixon famously said, you run hard to the right to win the primary and run as fast as you can to the middle to win the general.”

    Nixon’s America doesn’t exist any more, nor does this rule. Is there even a middle in America any more? Look at WI, KS, NC, IL, etc. and so on. There is an extreme right-wing, Christian takeover of the GOP – and it has been successful in taking over many states in the USA. Trump is appealing to the voters who put McCrory, Rauner, Walker, Brownback, Tillis, etc. into office. Quite terrifying, actually, when the GOP candidate for president inspires – and is inspired by – KKK white supremacists.

    The people who are for Trump are for sweeping the capital clean of the turds who stink up the lives of so many Americans. He’s perceived as an “outsider” who doesn’t rely on campaign contributions. The GOP was thrilled with Citizens United – but the ability for companies to own elected officials is something voters are pushing against this year. By supporting Trump.

    Very sad for the nation – but Trump could very easily win. Hope I’m wrong. BOTH parties need to do a lot of soul-searching to find out why their policies can lead to this disaster.

    • Tom

      To say that Tim Kaine stands for nothing is as shameful a lie as I have seen uttered in a season of canards.

  2. Christopher Lizak

    And what is Clinton going to do in response?

    She’s going to use the specter of Trump to “scare people into her campaign” in an us-vs-them battle. She’s not going to build a wall, but she is going to “kill the bad guys better” (apparently starting almost immediately with Iran). She will not make any appeal to the Sanders supporters other than the fear-based one The Donald is making – and that starts with picking a safe, centrist, stands-for-nothing VP candidate like Tim Kaine. “Because we need a steady hand on the wheel during these troubled times”. The change that the Sanders people want must be prevented at all costs.

    She’s actually going to campaign on preserving a right-of-center, Wall Street and MIC dominated status quo – during a time of intense populist upsurge not seen since 100 years ago.

    Because of Trump’s unconventional positioning to the Right Sideline, she doesn’t even have to follow conventional wisdom and pivot “back to the center” – but you can bet your bottom dollar that’s what she’s going to do. She’ll be even farther to the right than The Donald on issues important to the Merchants of Death. Not because she has to do so in order to win the election – but because those are her friends and that is what she WANTS to do.

    And apparently, that is indeed the best that America can do, at least this time around.

  3. BRAD

    “Let’s hope America is better than this.” I could not agree more. This was the most depressing, cynical and honestly scary convention and acceptance speech I have ever seen

    You may not agree with Ted Cruz and/or John Kasic but they at least has the guts not fall in lock step with the most phony, smirking, insincere, charlatan I have ever seen in my lifetime and I am 63 What a frighting joke this poser is and the fact that he could actually be elected president make me fear for my children’s and grandchildren’s futures.

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