Trump’s Asymmetric Warfare
Charles M. Blow MAY 16, 2016
It has been somewhat fascinating and sometimes fun to watch Elizabeth Warren do battle with Donald Trump in alternating salvos of tweets, but in the end I fear that this approach of trying to “beat a bully,” as Warren put it in one of her tweets, is a futile effort.
There is no way to sufficiently sully a pig or mock a clown. The effort only draws one further onto the opponent’s turf and away from one’s own principles and priorities.
There is no way to shame a man who lacks conscience or to embarrass an embarrassment. Trump is smart enough to know what he lacks — substance — and to know what he possesses in abundance — insolence.
So long as he steers clear of his own weakness and draws others in to the brier patch that is his comfort, he wins.
As MSNBC’s Chris Matthews said in December, this is asymmetric warfare. Conventional forms of political fighting won’t work on this man. Truth holds little power, and the media is still enthralled by the monster it made.
He is hollow, inconsistent, dishonest and shifty… and those who support him either love him in spite of it, or even more disturbingly, because of it.
He has waffled or equivocated or backtracked on tax plans, releasing his tax returns, his proposed Muslim ban, abortion and any number of issues.
It is hard to know where the hard bottom is beneath this morass of lies and bile. He has changed the very definition of acceptability as well as the expectations of the honor of one’s words. He has exalted the art of deceit to a new political normalcy.
This has made him nearly impervious to even the cleverest takedowns, and trust me, many have tried, comparing him to everyone from P. T. Barnum to Hitler.
But none of these comparisons are likely to shift public opinion. Some people will continue to see him, rightly, as an imminent danger to this nation and the world, and others will continue to see him as a salvation from it.
You see, part of the problem here is that some people believe, improbably, that virtue can be cloaked in vice, that what he says and what he means are fundamentally different, that the former is acting as a Trojan horse for the latter. One of Trump’s greatest pros is that he has convinced his supporters, all evidence to the contrary, that they are not being conned.
We are a society in search of an instant fix to some of America’s most intractable problems. Politicians of all stripes keep lying to us and saying things are going to be O.K.; that broad prosperity is just around the corner, only requiring minor tweaks; that for some of our issues there are clear good and bad options, rather than a choice between bad and worse options.
Into this mess of stubborn realities steps a simpleton with a simple message: Make America great again. We’ll win so much that you will get tired of winning.
Some folks want to be told that we could feasibly and logistically deport millions of people and ban more than a billion, build more walls and drop more bombs, have ever-falling tax rates and ever-surging prosperity. They want to be told that the only thing standing between where we are and where we are told we could be is a facility at crafting deals and a penchant for cracking down.
This streamlined message appeals to that bit of the population that is frustrated by the problems we face and quickly tires of higher-level cerebral function. For this group of folks, Trump needn’t be detailed, just different. He doesn’t need established principles, as long as he attacks the establishment.
This part of America isn’t being artfully deceived, it is being willfully blind.
One the one hand, over Trump’s life and over this campaign he has been so wrong in so many ways that there is a danger that the sheer volume of revelations may render the hearers numb to them.
On the other, as Joe Keohane wrote in the Boston Globe in 2010:
“Recently, a few political scientists have begun to discover a human tendency deeply discouraging to anyone with faith in the power of information. It’s this: Facts don’t necessarily have the power to change our minds. In fact, quite the opposite. In a series of studies in 2005 and 2006, researchers at the University of Michigan found that when misinformed people, particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in news stories, they rarely changed their minds. In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs. Facts, they found, were not curing misinformation. Like an underpowered antibiotic, facts could actually make misinformation even stronger.”
Supporting Trump is a Hail Mary pass of a hail-the-demagogue assemblage. Trump’s triumph as the presumptive Republican Party nominee is not necessarily a sign of his strategic genius as much as it’s a sign of some people’s mental, psychological and spiritual deficiencies.
It’s hard to use the truth as an instrument of enlightenment on people who prefer to luxuriate in a lie.
Charles M. Blow MAY 16, 2016
It has been somewhat fascinating and sometimes fun to watch Elizabeth Warren do battle with Donald Trump in alternating salvos of tweets, but in the end I fear that this approach of trying to “beat a bully,” as Warren put it in one of her tweets, is a futile effort.
There is no way to sufficiently sully a pig or mock a clown. The effort only draws one further onto the opponent’s turf and away from one’s own principles and priorities.
There is no way to shame a man who lacks conscience or to embarrass an embarrassment. Trump is smart enough to know what he lacks — substance — and to know what he possesses in abundance — insolence.
So long as he steers clear of his own weakness and draws others in to the brier patch that is his comfort, he wins.
As MSNBC’s Chris Matthews said in December, this is asymmetric warfare. Conventional forms of political fighting won’t work on this man. Truth holds little power, and the media is still enthralled by the monster it made.
He is hollow, inconsistent, dishonest and shifty… and those who support him either love him in spite of it, or even more disturbingly, because of it.
He has waffled or equivocated or backtracked on tax plans, releasing his tax returns, his proposed Muslim ban, abortion and any number of issues.
It is hard to know where the hard bottom is beneath this morass of lies and bile. He has changed the very definition of acceptability as well as the expectations of the honor of one’s words. He has exalted the art of deceit to a new political normalcy.
This has made him nearly impervious to even the cleverest takedowns, and trust me, many have tried, comparing him to everyone from P. T. Barnum to Hitler.
But none of these comparisons are likely to shift public opinion. Some people will continue to see him, rightly, as an imminent danger to this nation and the world, and others will continue to see him as a salvation from it.
You see, part of the problem here is that some people believe, improbably, that virtue can be cloaked in vice, that what he says and what he means are fundamentally different, that the former is acting as a Trojan horse for the latter. One of Trump’s greatest pros is that he has convinced his supporters, all evidence to the contrary, that they are not being conned.
We are a society in search of an instant fix to some of America’s most intractable problems. Politicians of all stripes keep lying to us and saying things are going to be O.K.; that broad prosperity is just around the corner, only requiring minor tweaks; that for some of our issues there are clear good and bad options, rather than a choice between bad and worse options.
Into this mess of stubborn realities steps a simpleton with a simple message: Make America great again. We’ll win so much that you will get tired of winning.
Some folks want to be told that we could feasibly and logistically deport millions of people and ban more than a billion, build more walls and drop more bombs, have ever-falling tax rates and ever-surging prosperity. They want to be told that the only thing standing between where we are and where we are told we could be is a facility at crafting deals and a penchant for cracking down.
This streamlined message appeals to that bit of the population that is frustrated by the problems we face and quickly tires of higher-level cerebral function. For this group of folks, Trump needn’t be detailed, just different. He doesn’t need established principles, as long as he attacks the establishment.
This part of America isn’t being artfully deceived, it is being willfully blind.
One the one hand, over Trump’s life and over this campaign he has been so wrong in so many ways that there is a danger that the sheer volume of revelations may render the hearers numb to them.
On the other, as Joe Keohane wrote in the Boston Globe in 2010:
“Recently, a few political scientists have begun to discover a human tendency deeply discouraging to anyone with faith in the power of information. It’s this: Facts don’t necessarily have the power to change our minds. In fact, quite the opposite. In a series of studies in 2005 and 2006, researchers at the University of Michigan found that when misinformed people, particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in news stories, they rarely changed their minds. In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs. Facts, they found, were not curing misinformation. Like an underpowered antibiotic, facts could actually make misinformation even stronger.”
Supporting Trump is a Hail Mary pass of a hail-the-demagogue assemblage. Trump’s triumph as the presumptive Republican Party nominee is not necessarily a sign of his strategic genius as much as it’s a sign of some people’s mental, psychological and spiritual deficiencies.
It’s hard to use the truth as an instrument of enlightenment on people who prefer to luxuriate in a lie.
Gelzinis: Tax returns smoking gun
of Trump’s lies
Peter Gelzinis Sunday, May 15, 2016
Credit: The Associated Press
A child walks past a graffiti depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, on the walls of a bar in the old town in Vilnius, Lithuania, Saturday, May 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
Questions Surround Trump Over Tax Returns
CBS Miami
So, exactly how rich is Richie Rich, aka Donald J. Trump?
“None of your business.”
That’s what the presumptive Republican nominee for president told George Stephanopoulos the other day on “Good Morning America,” when George had the gall to ask Trump when the country might get a look at his tax returns.
For the last 11 months, at every campaign rally, his stand-up shtick has always been punctuated with the declaration, “I’m really rich. I mean really rich.”
Over and over again, we’ve heard The Donald assure us he was rich enough to self-fund his own campaign. “I’m a self-funder. I’m not taking any money, OK?”
All those other RINO leeches who had to beg for money and suck up to super PACs during the primary campaign — Lyin’ Ted, Little Marco, Low Energy Jeb, Ugly Carly ... well, self-funding Donald vanquished them all.
As Donald crisscrossed the country in his Trump jet, so much bigger than Hugh Hef*ner’s infamous Bunny jet, the figure of $10 billion seemed to follow him everywhere.
Now, on the threshold of his solo flight for the presidency, comes the Jabba the Hutt vision of a Las Vegas casino mogul, and Dorchester homeboy, Sheldon G. Adelson, who says he stands ready to generate $1 billion to fund Donald’s effort to turn the White House into the Trump House.
I’m pretty horrible when it comes to math, but it seems to me if you claim to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 billion, you should be able to handle a lousy $1 billion to self-fund your way to the White House — without turning to a Vegas Jabba. No?
Of course, the red hat legions of Donald zombies won’t care about any of this. They will happily buy whatever Donald feeds them, because he’s not going to offer any hard proof of just how big, or small, his fortune really is.
In giving the one-fingered salute to a universe of liberal, lefty, commie media tax gawkers, Donald Trump has actually provided “Crooked Hillary Clinton” and her sister from another mother, “Goofy, Fake Indian Elizabeth Warren,” with a big fat rejoinder.
Whenever Donald demands to see the transcripts of Hillary’s speeches to Wall Street, she’ll be able to say, “Sure Donald, right after I see your tax returns.”
U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano hit the nail right on the head when he told me yesterday, “If Richard Nixon could release his tax returns 45 years ago, then you have to wonder what’s the matter with Donald Trump.”
Peter Gelzinis Sunday, May 15, 2016
A child walks past a graffiti depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, on the walls of a bar in the old town in Vilnius, Lithuania, Saturday, May 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
Questions Surround Trump Over Tax Returns
CBS Miami
So, exactly how rich is Richie Rich, aka Donald J. Trump?
“None of your business.”
That’s what the presumptive Republican nominee for president told George Stephanopoulos the other day on “Good Morning America,” when George had the gall to ask Trump when the country might get a look at his tax returns.
For the last 11 months, at every campaign rally, his stand-up shtick has always been punctuated with the declaration, “I’m really rich. I mean really rich.”
Over and over again, we’ve heard The Donald assure us he was rich enough to self-fund his own campaign. “I’m a self-funder. I’m not taking any money, OK?”
All those other RINO leeches who had to beg for money and suck up to super PACs during the primary campaign — Lyin’ Ted, Little Marco, Low Energy Jeb, Ugly Carly ... well, self-funding Donald vanquished them all.
As Donald crisscrossed the country in his Trump jet, so much bigger than Hugh Hef*ner’s infamous Bunny jet, the figure of $10 billion seemed to follow him everywhere.
Now, on the threshold of his solo flight for the presidency, comes the Jabba the Hutt vision of a Las Vegas casino mogul, and Dorchester homeboy, Sheldon G. Adelson, who says he stands ready to generate $1 billion to fund Donald’s effort to turn the White House into the Trump House.
I’m pretty horrible when it comes to math, but it seems to me if you claim to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 billion, you should be able to handle a lousy $1 billion to self-fund your way to the White House — without turning to a Vegas Jabba. No?
Of course, the red hat legions of Donald zombies won’t care about any of this. They will happily buy whatever Donald feeds them, because he’s not going to offer any hard proof of just how big, or small, his fortune really is.
In giving the one-fingered salute to a universe of liberal, lefty, commie media tax gawkers, Donald Trump has actually provided “Crooked Hillary Clinton” and her sister from another mother, “Goofy, Fake Indian Elizabeth Warren,” with a big fat rejoinder.
Whenever Donald demands to see the transcripts of Hillary’s speeches to Wall Street, she’ll be able to say, “Sure Donald, right after I see your tax returns.”
U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano hit the nail right on the head when he told me yesterday, “If Richard Nixon could release his tax returns 45 years ago, then you have to wonder what’s the matter with Donald Trump.”
[h=2]Former Trump girlfriend blasts New York Times and demands APOLOGY for 'false' retelling of how she met Donald Trump: 'He was a gentleman ... They feel like they need to do something to make him look bad!'[/h][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]A former girlfriend of Donald Trump hammered The New York Times on Monday for a 'false' portrayal of their first meeting. Times reported Saturday that the billionaire met model Rowanne Brewer Land and 'asked her to change out of her clothes' minutes later. She retold the story as Trump being 'kind, thoughtful, generous' when she arrived at a pool party without swim clothes. Asked if Trump had ever mistreated women, she answered without hesitation: 'Not that I've ever seen. Absolutely without a doubt, no.' Trump blasted the Times as 'dishonest' and says the paper's reporters 'lied.'
[h=1]Hillary and the likeability problem: Now ALLIES line up to warn she could lose to Trump because of her 'weakness' as a candidate (and Bill might not help)[/h]
By GEOFF EARLE, DEPUTY US POLITICAL EDITOR
PUBLISHED: 15:29, 16 May 2016 | UPDATED: 16:46, 16 May 2016
It turns out Barack Obama was wrong: Hillary Clinton isn't likeable enough, some Democrats are fretting.
Top Democratic advisors and consultants are warning that the Democratic frontrunner's chief obstacle is her own personality, or at least how voters perceive it, after a year of relentless criticism from right and left.
'I bring it down to one thing and one thing only, and that is likability,' Democratic pollster Peter Hart told the Washington Post, which collected a string of similar sentiments from Clinton allies.
Clinton's likeability numbers are lower than they were at the start of the campaign, notwithstanding countless efforts by her team to boost her numbers through advertising, soft interviews, and warm chats in diners and living rooms around the country.
Her allies raise concerns that Clinton is 'scripted and thin-skinned.' That could be a problem going against a candidate as improvisational as Donald Trump.
'She's horrible at running, but she's fantastic at governing,' a longtime friend and supporter told the paper. 'She will roll up her sleeves. That's not just a campaign talking point.'
.
+6
Too scripted? Clinton allies worry that the 'likeability' problem is her greatest concern
.But Trump plans to go after Clinton both on personality and her record, with hits on the Benghazi attack and the chaos in Libya meant to eke away at her judgement.That might help him weather attacks on his own perceived character flaws, like a weekend New York Times report that dug through his past private treatment of women he dated.
'What I want to happen are things that will never happen,' a longtime Clinton family supporter and donor lamented. 'I mean, we can't give her an injection to make her an energetic candidate.'
Clinton was challenged on the likeability issue during a New Hampshire debate in the 2008 campaign.
'Well that hurts my feelings, but I'll try to go on,' Clinton quipped – showing a flash of the humor that close friends say she often shares in private. 'You're likeability enough, Hillary,' then-Senator Barack Obama interjected dryly.
The Democrats are hardly in hopeless straights. Early analysis is already revealing Clinton's built-in advantage in the electoral college, where Trump must win in battlegrounds like Ohio and Florida to prevail.
+6
Donald Trump labels Clinton 'crooked' Hillary
+6
Rival for the Democratic nomination Bernie Sanders raised the issue of Clinton's paid speeches to Goldman Sachs – and keeps winning primaries
+6
Repeat? Clinton tried to overcome a likeability gap in 2008 and failed
NBC's early electoral college forecast puts the Democrats on track to win 253 electoral votes at the outset and Republicans set to take 190 in the battle to reach 270 electoral votes.
And Trump could prove to be even more unlikeable once he gets in front of an electorate consisting of Democrats and Republicans.
'They're dealing with 20 years, almost 30 years now, of public narratives about her,' Dan Pfeiffer, a former top Obama advisor, said. 'I don't think that's fixable in the next six months. You have to turn it from a referendum on her trustworthiness to a contrast.'
.
Clinton's own pollster, Joel Benenson, is hardly declaring victory.
'Hillary Clinton is in a stronger position than Donald Trump, but it will be competitive,' Benenson said. 'All these races are.'
A HuffPost pollster average last month had Clinton's unfavorability at 55 per cent, compared to a 40 per cent favorability rating.
+6
Pollster Peter Hart: 'I bring it down to one thing and one thing only, and that is likability'
+6
Softer side: Clinton flashes a smile with voters in Iowa, a state she barely won
.
- Democratic experts tell the Washington Post Hillary's chief obstacle in November is that not enough voters like or trust her
- Democratic pollster Peter Hart says Clinton's problem is 'one thing only' – likeability
- Hand-wringing comes as Bernie Sanders continues to roll up victories despite his dim chances of winning
- Concerns follow months of coverage about Clinton's private email server, big bucks speeches, and attacks on her from both sides
- Donald Trump has his own personality problem, but plans to go after 'crooked' Hillary's weaknesses
By GEOFF EARLE, DEPUTY US POLITICAL EDITOR
PUBLISHED: 15:29, 16 May 2016 | UPDATED: 16:46, 16 May 2016
It turns out Barack Obama was wrong: Hillary Clinton isn't likeable enough, some Democrats are fretting.
Top Democratic advisors and consultants are warning that the Democratic frontrunner's chief obstacle is her own personality, or at least how voters perceive it, after a year of relentless criticism from right and left.
'I bring it down to one thing and one thing only, and that is likability,' Democratic pollster Peter Hart told the Washington Post, which collected a string of similar sentiments from Clinton allies.
Clinton's likeability numbers are lower than they were at the start of the campaign, notwithstanding countless efforts by her team to boost her numbers through advertising, soft interviews, and warm chats in diners and living rooms around the country.
Her allies raise concerns that Clinton is 'scripted and thin-skinned.' That could be a problem going against a candidate as improvisational as Donald Trump.
'She's horrible at running, but she's fantastic at governing,' a longtime friend and supporter told the paper. 'She will roll up her sleeves. That's not just a campaign talking point.'
.
+6
Too scripted? Clinton allies worry that the 'likeability' problem is her greatest concern
.But Trump plans to go after Clinton both on personality and her record, with hits on the Benghazi attack and the chaos in Libya meant to eke away at her judgement.That might help him weather attacks on his own perceived character flaws, like a weekend New York Times report that dug through his past private treatment of women he dated.
'What I want to happen are things that will never happen,' a longtime Clinton family supporter and donor lamented. 'I mean, we can't give her an injection to make her an energetic candidate.'
Clinton was challenged on the likeability issue during a New Hampshire debate in the 2008 campaign.
'Well that hurts my feelings, but I'll try to go on,' Clinton quipped – showing a flash of the humor that close friends say she often shares in private. 'You're likeability enough, Hillary,' then-Senator Barack Obama interjected dryly.
The Democrats are hardly in hopeless straights. Early analysis is already revealing Clinton's built-in advantage in the electoral college, where Trump must win in battlegrounds like Ohio and Florida to prevail.
+6
Donald Trump labels Clinton 'crooked' Hillary
+6
Rival for the Democratic nomination Bernie Sanders raised the issue of Clinton's paid speeches to Goldman Sachs – and keeps winning primaries
+6
Repeat? Clinton tried to overcome a likeability gap in 2008 and failed
NBC's early electoral college forecast puts the Democrats on track to win 253 electoral votes at the outset and Republicans set to take 190 in the battle to reach 270 electoral votes.
And Trump could prove to be even more unlikeable once he gets in front of an electorate consisting of Democrats and Republicans.
'They're dealing with 20 years, almost 30 years now, of public narratives about her,' Dan Pfeiffer, a former top Obama advisor, said. 'I don't think that's fixable in the next six months. You have to turn it from a referendum on her trustworthiness to a contrast.'
.
Clinton's own pollster, Joel Benenson, is hardly declaring victory.
'Hillary Clinton is in a stronger position than Donald Trump, but it will be competitive,' Benenson said. 'All these races are.'
A HuffPost pollster average last month had Clinton's unfavorability at 55 per cent, compared to a 40 per cent favorability rating.
+6
Pollster Peter Hart: 'I bring it down to one thing and one thing only, and that is likability'
+6
Softer side: Clinton flashes a smile with voters in Iowa, a state she barely won
.
And the BAMBOOZLING continues.
Telflon Trump.
Trump does not lose a single vote with this comical crap.
In fact he gains more votes.
These are gifts for Trump.
Lets see the effect today.
"@AprilLaJune: OREGON votes today! Go vote for @realDonaldTrump and kick it BIG TIME! "
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