Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Call Off the Dogs. This is NOT About Donald Trump. Per Se.
It's amazing how far you can go, if you just tell people what they want to hear. And the less legitimate are their ideas, the more gratified they are to hear you support them. You can tell people the wackiest stuff, but if you're speaking their language, so to speak, they'll think you're a genius, and that you have their very best interests at heart.
I saw on my homepage today the most delicious juxtaposition. There was one article about how Donald Trump had some black college students escorted out of one of his rallies. They were shown the door, because they were black. They were doing nothing but standing at the back of the room, listening, and they were completely cooperative with being ejected. One of them commented that it was Trump's private party, and he could have whatever guests he wanted. They were there legitimately, having acquired perfectly normal entry passes, but they understood that this was Trump's bash.
The other article was regarding the sentencing of some then teenagers (caucasian) who, in 2011, had rampaged through a neighboring black county of Mississippi, assaulting black people. They finally got caught and apprehended not only because the proximate victim died, but because the incident was caught on security video tape. The grandmother of one of the perps made little headway with her argument that her darling grandson was "not racist" and would never have done such a thing. Normally. She might have conceded that there could have been some alcohol involved. The videotape disqualified every part of her argument.
But really, what gorgeous synergy. Caucasian roughs assaulting and murdering black people, because they were black people, Donald Trump extruding rally-goers, because they were black people, and "The Donald" telling his angry audience more or less anything in the world they want to hear.
And why would Trump sink so low? Because he gets what he wants. It's not the money for Trump. He doesn't need it. It's the adulation, from who cares whom. It's reinforcement of the concept Trump already has: that he's just "all that." The fact is, Trump seems not to like people. He just uses them, to get whatever else he wants. And if today, they think he's just wonderful, some sort of savior, the only one who really understands them and wants them to have what they want, that's exactly what he wants. And he'll take it. Shamelessly.
He'll promise them what's not his to promise, and he'll reassure them that their basest desires are perfectly reasonable. It is, as I say, spectacular synergy. The people pretend to get what they want, and Trump gets what he wants. They get it from each other.
And if--oh, no-- Donald Trump happens not to get the Republican nomination for President, or if he gets it, but he doesn't win the election, he and his supporters can all feel cheated, and as if someone colluded to deprive them of their due fulfillment.
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