The Trump Phenomena

CNN has a fascinating article about a potential achilles heel for Donald "Joe Millionaire" Trump: Google.

For example:

Google is really helpful is in tracking down comments from years ago, even before the Internet. This means that searches that once would have had reporters spending hours in a library looking at microfiche can now be done in minutes. 

For example, if you simply type the words "Trump" and "women" into a Google search, the very first article Google delivers is titled, "18 Real Things Donald Trump Has Actually Said About Women." 

As you would imagine, Trump was not explaining the importance of women getting paid the same as men. No, this list includes Trumpisms like this one from 1991: "You know, it doesn't really matter what [the media] write as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass."

Dean Obeidallah, the writer of the article, makes one crucial error about Trump: Dean thinks political correctness is important. In previous elections, I would agree. But part of Trump's "charm" (for lack of a better word) is his un-pc nature. In Trump's defense, he even comes out against political correctness on the "issues" page of his campaign:




Unfortunately, if you bring up all the un-pc stuff Trump has ever said, you make his point for him. While you're talking about what a sexist, racist troglodyte Trump is and was, you are playing his game. While you are pointing out what he said 25 years ago, he is talking about problems today. Suddenly, he sounds serious, and you sound like some pedantic nun from the pc police. The average person might not be a brain surgeon, but they can see that we live in a troubled world on the brink of collapse. The average person can tell we have more serious issues than sexism or racism (or pick your -ism of the day). The average person sees the problems, and then sees the politicians running against Trump, all of them being wonderfully pc EXCEPT for Trump, who is doing his best Chicken Little impersonation. He says, "Screw being pc! We have huge problems folks!"

Trump knows how to stand out in a crowd. H.L. Mencken described the Trump phenomena best:

When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental — men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost... All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

We always knew Trump was devious. But by showing his un-pc nature, which is more common in society than most progressive Media types would like to admit, the Media are actually turning him into the mediocre candidate he needs to be to win the White House.