Why Donald Trump is still alive

Donald Trump and FOX News anchor Megyn Kelly, about whom Trump has been saying some things,
which, if  taken to mean the thing some people say they do, would be further proof, (if any were needed)
Trump is completely unfit to be president of the United States of America.

 

Los Angeles, CA - There is a reason Donald Trump is still alive politically.

It is no secret that many rightwing conservatives do not like, or sometimes even trust the mainstream media’s content. Earlier this year, at CPAC, Chris Christie, a catholic, evoked wild applause from the audience when he said, while trying to decide what to drop for lent he told his priest that he was going  stop reading The New York Times, but the holy father told him he’d have to give up something he’d actually miss.

Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, and Ben Carson, all of whose campaign updates I receive, do not quote polls from conventional sources such as RealClearPolitics, FiveThirtyEight, NBC, etc. Instead these candidates, to prove they are doing well, use sites that are clearly biased towards the right, such as World Net Daily, Breitbart, (the conservative version of the Huffington Post) etc.

And here is the why conventional political physics have not, as of yet, destroyed Trump. Because all of the pundits, the pollsters, the wise men and women of politics, have a different set of rules than the people that are saying they support Trump.

The media, the panels on cable news programs, the political scientists and the anchors of the Sunday Morning Talk shows are politically correct. They think through their arguments, both Democrat and Republicans. They have read deeply and widely, history, current events, and they are around people that do.

But the American voter is not that way. The set of facts, the set of interests being looked at by them is not the same. They are not looking at numbers and probabilities, they are looking at their personal life, at what they feel they want, and what they want to see in a president.

For years, conservatives have felt under siege, and it has become popular to shout from stages at GOP rallies that this candidate or that one is not politically correct, that they say what they think, and that is seen as boosting your righting credentials.

Many conservatives also fear and dislike the establishment, feeling that they are anti-freedom, anti-morality, anti-everything that the voting base of the GOP holds so dear. And so for them to see the attacks on Donald Trump from the very people they don’t like, they go back to the old cliché of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

As further proof of the difference between the pundits and the voters, is that after last week’s debate, many talking heads thought Kasich, governor of Ohio, did very well. Yet Kasich had no bump in the polls, and, indeed, after the post-debate shakeup, if the debate were to happen again, Kasich would not have been in it. The reason, probably, is that Kasich made statements clearly in support of gay-marriage, something many GOP members, and indeed the party platform, are opposed to. So while the “in the know” folks think Kasich should be doing well, the people who ultimately get to decide that, the voters, are still saying no.

But now…Donald has done it. He is no longer attacking NBC, CNN, CBS. He has gone after the bastion of conservatism in television, FOX News. And not only FOX, he has gone after one of its most respected and loved anchors, Megyn Kelly.

Trump’s odd and controversial comments are not focal point of the article, and we will not talk about them. However, Trump has brought it to a crossroads. He is bashing the media, but he’s bashing conservative media. And now the allegiance of the GOP will be tested. Will they support Megyn Kelly and FOX news, (FOX, while not an official part of the GOP, is certainly a huge part of the equation come election time,) or will they keep on being the celebrity’s apprentice, following Trump no matter how insane he gets?

Andrew C. Abbott

What Happened in Cleveland

It all went down in Cleveland, Ohio.

It was the most watched primary debate in the history of mankind, netting roughly twenty-four million viewers. In the massive basketball stadium, Donald Trump was center stage, and in the first couple of seconds, it was boom, bam, pow, all about him. That was the way he wanted it. Trump refused to pledge that he would support the Republican Nominee, no matter who it was. But then after that, Trump lost the debate.

Oh, it was a lot of fun. There was a lot of screaming, especially when he attacked Mr. Obama and Rosie O’Donnell, but in the end, Donald Trump had very little of substance to say. In the end, while not being polished, and pretending not to be a politician, Trump ended up being the biggest and most “in the old mold” politician on stage on Friday, saying things he knows will drive the media, and get people to scream at their televisions “tell it like it is!” But what did Trump say? Not much besides proving what we already know, he likes to argue, he likes to be controversial. He didn’t prove that he would make an even decent president.

Trump needed to make the debate about him, he needed everyone to attack him so he could bang their heads together, scream that they were being unfair, call them names, wrap their heads around the podium until when they woke up, the debate was over, and Trump had walked even higher in the polls.

Another loser was Jeb Bush. Of course, nobody’s candidacy was destroyed, least of all Jeb’s, but there was no big move by him. Not rhetorical flourishes, and no new policy ideas we haven’t already heard of before. Nothing about Bush’s performance is likely to cause people to suddenly grow enthusiastic about the so called heir-apparent.

Those who did well included Mike Huckabee, he gave some good shots and got some massive applause lines in. Ted Cruz did his best to take back the mantle of the straight talker, but trying to out straight-talk Donald Trump is like trying to outfly a bird. Donald does it for a living, guys.

Rand Paul and Chris Christi went after each other, but Rand got Christi angry, which is what he needed to do, and Christi didn’t do so well. Rand did his best to solidify his base, although his 4:51 of talking time was the least of any candidate. Rand overall only had an ok night, when he really needed to win the whole thing, so troubled is his campaign at the moment.

While Scott Walker was pretty much so-so, he did have some of the best lines of the night, including saying the Chinese, with their recent hacking of government systems, know more about Hillary Clinton’s emails than congress do.

Carson had one or two good lines, especially when he said that someone must have beaten him to removing half of Washington DC's brain. Yet he did little that will likely help him in the polls. His comments about taxing everyone 10% because "God is a pretty fair guy" sound nice and pious, but I don't see any studies or math that Carson is using to prove his plan is actually workable.

John Kasich, perhaps invigorated by home-field advantage, had an interesting night, in which he asked Trump for a campaign donation on stage, and then, in front of a room full of Republicans, whose party platform says that they are officially against gay-marriage, said he would and has gone to a gay wedding. You can already hear the sound of Kasich's numbers, small as they are, (he barely even made the primetime debate) dropping in Southern States.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio

Rubio also had some good lines, and can move on from his debate performance knowing he didn’t hurt himself. He may have had the best line of the night saying God has blessed the GOP by giving it many good candidates, while the Democrats can’t find one. Rubio was not the only winner, but he was certainly one of them, answering every question well, never faltering, and even proving he is not afraid to take on both the moderators and his old friend and mentor, Jeb Bush.

But let’s not forget that there was the early debate, in which the lower seven candidates in the polls participated. The only real news there was that Carly Fiorina did very well, while Rick Perry, while not dominating, did well enough to show that he is  certainly a serious enough candidate to keep going in this race.

Now, they are back on the trail. Donald Trump is getting back to what he does best, sticking both feet in his mouth. Immediately after the debate, Trump went after FOX Newswoman and debate moderator Megyn Kelly, saying she had blood coming out of her face, and that he has no respect for her, “she’s a lightweight.” Trump has now been kicked out of the RedState summit.

There were many different opinions, even among my friends, as to who won. Some think it was Cruz, others say Kasich. Many say Rubio was the hands down winner, although I’d say while he did really well, he did not dominate the stage enough to be say that. Nobody got killed, although Jeb Bush in many ways lost because, to quote one commentator, “nobody’s talking about him.”

There will be more debates, more winners and losers, and eventually there will be one winner. Candidates will rise in the polls and candidates will fall in the polls. Like trying on coats at the store, Americans will like first one and then another, and with this far from even the first voting-state, we can’t know which coat will be worn out of the store. Until then we can only guess what is really going on in the mind of the American voter.

Andrew C. Abbott

The Applicants

The 10 who made the cut for the primetime debate

 

Los Angeles, CA - Jeb Bush and Rick Santorum are going to mass. Afterwards Jeb intends to do a workout at a gym, and then shoot off a few emails. Guitarist Mike Huckabee is going to a Rock and Roll Museum. Scott Walker is going to the fair to loosen up, Ted Cruz is spending private time with his family, and Chris Christi is holding a big dinner with his team. All of this ahead of tonight’s 9:00 PM (ET) first GOP Debate in Cleveland, Ohio.

Some of the candidates, like Jeb Bush, have no doubt been practicing over and over and over again. But others have a different strategy, Donald Trump saying he is totally unconcerned, and not really getting ready. Dr. Ben Carson, former neurosurgeon, said he is not nervous; after all, it won’t be as bad as brain surgery, he joked.

While it might not be as bad, it certainly must be nerve racking for those candidates who have never been on a national and indeed an international stage such as will be set tonight for the first debate of the GOP Primary season. Some estimates, (probably exaggerated) put possible viewership this evening at around ten million people. Even if it were half of that, there will still be millions of people watching, critiquing, at criticizing every move everyone on the stage makes.

Some candidates, Jeb Bush, Donald Trump, Scott Walker, have much to lose, as those three continue to poll highest. Others, like John Kasich, whose home state the debate will take place in, have nothing to lose. Kasich is a deep underdog, and indeed he only got into the debate by the skin of his teeth. He can come and go wild, hoping something happens.

There are several subtleties that will be watched for in the debate. One is whether or not Ted Cruz will actually attack Donald Trump. The senator from Texas and the billionaire have yet to go at it, and indeed Cruz is one of the last members of the field not to sharply criticize Trump.

Another thing that will be interesting is if whether any of the candidates say anything of substance that is majorly different from the others on the stage at it this point. It’s early on, but it will be interesting to see the candidates, especially those who are as ideologically close as the three senators Paul, Cruz, and Rubio, make distinction between themselves, and use other than vague language.

There are several questions you can expect the candidates will be asked. Among them will probably be something about how they would defeat ISIS, what is their stance on gay marriage, what they think about abortion, and probably a question about immigration. But this is a television broadcast, made to get and keep viewers, and to make money, so you can expect the moderators to do everything in their power to get the candidates to go at each other. Screaming and name calling makes great television, after all. Just ask Donald Trump over at the Celebrity Apprentice.

But the candidates do need to be careful this evening, when they attack Trump. Every time they do that, he gets more time to respond, and if they all go after him, his time could begin to grow very rapidly.

There have been some explosive debates in recent years; indeed, the 2011 GOP Primary cycle saw more than one blowup, with Rick Perry and Mitt Romney shouting at each other, Romney eventually putting his hand on Perry’s shoulder. There was the time the buzzer went off and Santorum said “they caught you not telling the truth, Ron (Paul).” There was some other fireworks involving Rick Perry and government agencies, but I don’t remember what it was.

A brain surgeon, three senators, a billionaire, and five governors. All on one stage. That is a lot of power, a lot of opinion, a lot of money, and a lot of hubris. They all want to be president, command the biggest and most powerful army in the world, they all want to lead the planet’s largest economy, and they all think they can do it better than anybody else. And the American voter has the most complicated and difficult job, perhaps in world history. We have to decide which one to hire.

Andrew C. Abbott

Exit Stage Left: Jon Stewart and the end of an era

Joshua Tree, CA—The curtain is about to fall, and Jon Stewart, comedian, activist, crazy man, wisecrack, political analyst, is about to exit stage left.

If an evening news anchor or some similarly well respected person were to go on an expletive laden tirade, he would not last at the anchor chair for more than about ten seconds before his or her feed were pulled, and it would not be long after that before a group of executives, lawyers, and sponsors were working desperately to be certain that that anchor’s contract was pulled.

Yet Jon Stewart, host of “The Daily Show” has been on an expletive laden tirade for more than sixteen years, ever since he took the chair of Comedy Central’s flagship show, on January 11^th, 1999, and everybody loves him. (Well, not everybody. Many conservatives and liberals alike think Stewart has been unfair to them in his long witch hunt for those he disagrees with.) The comedian’s show is a spoof the evening news broadcasts, in which he shows clips from the day’s real news broadcasts, and then mercilessly and hilariously mocks them.

Perhaps not since Thomas Nash, the man who attacked politicians relentlessly, and became so popular while doing it, that his caricatures, which he invented, of the Republicans as elephants and Democrats as donkeys, became world famous, has there been a comedian who was so close to the heart of American politics, and indeed, such a powerful voice in our culture, as Jon Stewart.

 

 

Stewart has almost singlehandedly made his comedy show into something more than one you turn on for a few laughs. He has made his pronouncements, always funny, almost always of substance, something to be heeded, so much so that earlier this year when The New York Times, America’s newspaper of record, did a story on Jr. Senator from Florida Marco Rubio, Jon Stewart slammed the Times coverage as ridiculous, and in the mainstream understanding, Stewart beat America’s most revered and awarded newspaper with his own narrative. Rubio literally used the YouTube clip of Stewart slamming the charges as his defense.

Stewart has been a uniquely gifted comedian in that during his time he saw the rise of the internet and video streaming services, such as YouTube, which allow his clips to be shown the next the day, and be shared by his fans with their friends, and their friends, and so on.

While Stewart often leaves his audience laughing so much they almost want him to stop just so they can breathe, he has, at times, taken on a much more serious note, such as after 9/11, when he spoke of how the view from his window in New York City, before the tragic terrorist attack, had been that of the World Trade Center, but with those towers gone, now his view was of the Statue of Liberty. Perhaps even more famously, in the wake of another, much more recent tragedy, that of the shooting of nine black church goers in South Carolina, Stewart made a powerful statement but telling no jokes for his entire show, saying “I have nothing but sadness."

Stewart is quite obviously a left of center liberal, even taking the stage in 2012, just before the election, to debate with FOX News’ controversial yet likeable Bill O’Reilly, about the direction America should take. However, while Stewart has made constant attacks against FOX News, calling them “the special network” and saying he has been chasing them his entire life “but we just can’t kill you,” Stewart has attacked members of both the left and right. From doing half a show on Glenn Beck, the conspiracy theorist, saying that by Beck’s logic Christianity would lead us directly to Sharia Law, to spending time mauling CNN for its 50 year anniversary of the Selma march as well as the Baltimore Riots earlier this year, Stewart has been relentless in his pursuit of anyone he thinks is either treating someone else unfairly, or just being plain dumb, from his complaints about the media coverage of Ron Paul in 2011, to a smashing attack of Former Vice President Dick Cheney.

 

Often Stewart has defended President Obama, while attacking members of his administration, and when he did make fun of the president Stewart generally did it because he thought the president was acting as if Americans responded to rational arguments. However, when Rand Paul took on the President for his policies on drones, Stewart backed him against Mr. Obama, saying Rand deserved a fair hearing.

Stewart also defended Republicans during the Loretta Lynch hearings for Attorney General, saying that Durbin was being ridiculous in trying to point to Republicans as racist, for not voting for the highly liberal, black lawyer.

More recently, Stewart has been a major part of the effort to destroy Donald Trump by turning him into an absolute laughing stock; saying that while American politics should in reality be conducted with great seriousness, Trump “is so much fun!” And that Trump is like desert after a hard day’s work in real politics, in the real world. Stewart, who has announced that his final day in the anchor chair will be on sixth of this month, (ironically also the first time that all the Republican Candidates for president, whom, along with Hillary Clinton, Stewart has been mocking for months now, will be together for a debate) publicly thanked the billionaire Trump “for making my last six weeks, my best six weeks.”

Trevor Noah, the new man who will take the desk
at the end of this week.

Stewart is turning over the show to Trevor Noah, a South African, who, some say, was the only one brave enough to fill the massive shoes Stewart is stepping out of now. Many have said that Noah is a bad choice, with controversy surrounding remarks some see as sexist, anti-Jew, and anti-American. But even without the remarks, I have serious doubts that Noah wield anywhere near the effect of Jon Stewart. Stewart could make fun of us because he is one of us, an American talking to other Americans. Noah is an outsider who openly makes fun of us, which will cause many to resent him. In the end, however, Noah will mainly be weaker because he isn’t Jon Stewart, and trying to top Stewart would be a bit like coming onto a stage after Martin Luther King Jr. had given a speech, and trying to give a better one, or coming to the desk after Shakespeare had written a play, and trying to write a better one. I’m not saying it can’t be done, just that it will be slightly more difficult than flying.

Love him, hate him, don’t care about him, Jon Stewart has had an effect on American politics that few outside of elected office have ever achieved in the modern era. But all things must end, and the man who spanned sixteen of the most tumultuous years in American history is on his way to the exit.

As he goes, many conservatives are probably sighing in relief, liberals are looking on in disappointment, and Trevor Noah is breathing a very nervous, very uncertain breath of apprehension.

Throughout the long train of comedians, from the fools in the king’s palace in the Middle Ages to the clowns of vaudeville that helped us get through the great depression, laughing, and those who make us do it, have been an integral part of human history. Stewart has simply been another link in the long chain from Adam to us.

The future of comedy is always uncertain. But its history has been made better because Jon Stewart has been with us.

Andrew C. Abbott