Thoughts Aloud

My old mentor, Robert Ringer, has put the finest point yet on the Trump phenomenon. Typically, for an accomplished self-help guru, he recommends that those aspiring to success in life should emulate Trump’s authenticity and utter immunity to intimidation:

Though I use Donald Trump as an example, this is not meant to be a political article. Rather, it’s about two important aspects of human nature.

Many establishment Republicans dislike Trump because they believe he’s more of a liberal than a conservative. But, in truth, he’s neither. He’s really a classic example of a hard-nosed businessman who’s not hung up on politics or ideology.

Like most big-business types, he’s more than willing to humor politicians of any stripe for the sake of making a deal, because he knows the system is not only B.S., but corrupt to the core. I’ve known many wealthy businessmen who are pretty much the same as Trump in this respect. They view politics as something of a giant game, and are more than happy to use it to their benefit.

If it helps to donate to Hillary Clinton, donate to Hillary Clinton. If it helps to donate to George Bush, donate to George Bush. As Trumps says, the system is corrupt and they’re all for sale, so why not play the game and use amoral politicians to help you accomplish your ends?

It took me many years of ideological and/or political frustration, to finally absorb the truth and utility of this rank pragmatism. One can simply ‘pay to play’ and concentrate on succeeding in life; or one can waste one’s life whining, complaining, and endlessly campaigning to try to correct a hopelessly corrupt system.

So what the heck is going on here? Why are the Trump haters losing so badly?

The most important thing is that Trump has a delightful habit of saying whatever is on his mind. Many people find some of his remarks to be rude, nasty, and outrageous, but even if they would never admit it, they also sense that he’s authentic.

What does being authentic do for him? Everything! It places him in a very small minority in the fake world of politics and motivates would-be Trump haters to support him instead. Authenticity is in such short supply in politics that people — especially clueless establishment Republicans — are completely befuddled. How in the world can a guy get away with saying what he really thinks? It borders on heresy.

Agreed…

But I have a very different take on Trump. I don’t for a second believe that he carefully plans his remarks. In fact, I think he’s often genuinely surprised when hysteria sets in after he says something that seems perfectly rational to a majority of people (e.g., his statement that we should ban all Muslims from the U.S. until the Feds can get a handle on Islamic terrorist activities). I believe he just says what he thinks, but many people assume his words are preplanned and intended to shock.

This is more likely than not quite true. He probably has never harbored an unspoken thought, which is even more endearing. 🙂

In addition to his authenticity, Trump absolutely refuses to be intimidated — not by the media, not by his opponents, and not by the rest of the “hate Trump” crowd. Sure, he himself is an intimidating person, but the more important point is that he doesn’t allow others to intimidate him.

That impresses the heck out of most folks, because everyone knows what it feels like to be intimidated, whether in their business or personal lives, and they don’t like it.

It certainly impresses me, especially his refusal to apologize to all the snowflakes he regularly offends with straight talk…

Days turned into weeks, weeks have now turned into months, and I still hear dough-heads on TV saying that after the holidays voters will finally start getting serious and drop their fascination with Trump.

It’s possible, but I wouldn’t want to bet on it. If Trump stays true to his authenticity and refuses to be intimidated into backing down, he might just be victorious in spite of the establishment’s determination to use every dirty trick in the book to deny him the nomination.

Potential voters apparently are starting to get serious, because his poll numbers continue to rise!

I should add that there’s one other aspect of human nature that’s in play here: To the dismay of the proponents of egalitarianism, people love winners — especially winners who are authentic and who have repeatedly been told that what they want to accomplish can’t be done. And Trump is proving to be the poster boy for both of these traits.

Agreed. Read the whole thing (there are some excellent comments there also), set aside your political prejudices, and try to get used to the idea of President Trump. We have had a lot worse.  🙂 â—„Daveâ–º

5 Responses to “Ringer on Trump”