Say what you will about Donald John Trump, but how many of us wish that Romney had had the balls to run an ad like this 3 years ago?
I'm betting the number is as close to 100% as you can get. If Romney had done that, we'd be gearing up for his re-election campaign, not endlessly arguing about Donald Trump.
I remain constantly amazed at how badly the Trump candidacy is being handled by the Republican Party as a whole. Frankly, if I were Reince Priebus, when Trump started to gain traction I would have gotten down on my knees and praised God with tears of joy pouring from the corners of my eyes. Donald Trump could be the greatest thing to happen to the Republican Party since Lincoln got a gleam in his eye about slavery, but they're too dumb to recognize it. Stupid party indeed.
First of all, the Republican Party should recognize that we're fifteen months away from the election. I know that politics is their business, and it's human nature to elevate the importance of what one does to prominence over everything else, but one should also have a bit of historical knowledge as well. I don't believe there has been a candidate in the modern era who has lead in the polls fifteen months out from an election that has even won their party's nomination, much less the presidency. Say, does anyone remember Senator Ted Cruz's filibuster? The one that was supposed to doom Republican hopes in the next election? It took place 9/24/2013, just fourteen months before the Republicans crushed the Democrat party in 2014. Trump wants to put his bombastic ass out there? Fine. Excellent, even. The party should be paying him to do so. Why?
Well, for one thing, Donald Trump is a gigantic target, the ultimate “kick me” sign. He's sucking all of the air from the room, and garnering all of the attention of everyone on the left. How great is that? The Republican Party should be content to let Trump suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous Democrats. It's a golden opportunity to get their own house in order while nobody is looking, you know, dig up a another candidate who was a governor before the lifetime of anyone alive today, replace the batteries in Jeb so that he's more dynamic, that kind of thing. Letting Trump go be The Donald is a good bet, no matter how you slice it. It’s more than likely that he'll crash and burn, just because of who he is, and in that case you've gained a respite. Afterward you can ask Trump to campaign for the eventual nominee. Plus he'll be a lot less likely to run third party and hand the election to the Democrats if he's treated with respect while he is running. Finally, on the off chance that he does maintain his momentum and gets the nomination, by not attacking him you'll be in a better position to co-opt him for the general. “Congratulations Donald, you're the Republican nominee, what can we do to help? Here are all the resources we have in place as a party. Let's talk about how they can best be used to your advantage.”. He's been a businessman all his life, making deals is his bread and butter, that's what he'll be looking to do. But making deals with people who've been personally attacking him for months? Yea, not gonna happen, and anyway the Republican party isn't having any of that, no siree Bob! The correct solution is obviously to attack the 25% of Republicans who are currently supporting Trump, thereby making it less likely that the base will vote for whoever the nominee winds up being. Jesus Hallmark Christ these people are stupid.
Second, Trump is providing the invaluable service of testing the water. He's the ultimate marketing survey. Every other candidate should be making notes as to what Trump is saying that is resonating, and adjusting their candidacy accordingly. You couldn't pay for a poll that in depth and detailed, and Trump's serving it up on a platter. So far the only one doing this is Ted Cruz. As a Cruz guy, I think that's great. I freaking love Donald Trump because Cruz is using him just as I'm advocating in this article. The consultant class hate it, one of them was on CNN Friday lamenting :
| You do not benefit by trying to draft behind Donald Trump and hope that he collapses and his low-information supporters run into your arms. This is a guy who is increasingly leading a fraction of the conservative base into a very dangerous cul-de-sac. He is promising things that he can never deliver. And it is time for Jeb Bush and other folks to start posting up and really comparing and contrasting Donald Trump’s rhetoric with the reality. |
Look, I'll make it even simpler than that. I've been in sales type jobs my entire life. I'm an insurance agent, and while I don't treat it as my place to “sell” my clients anything, it's more about simply matching their needs, I am aware of the techniques. One of the simplest is to simply listen, the client will tell you what they want. For example, suppose I'm meeting with someone who needs health insurance. In our conversation, he tells me that he's concerned about having insurance to cover his check ups. Now, buying health insurance to pay for preventive care is stupid. It's cataclysmicly dumb. Depending on how emphatically they emphasize the point, I may even think to myself “Good Lord you're an idiot”. Do I tell them that? NO! What I do do is emphasize how each policy handles well visits as I'm reviewing them. I mean, how hard is that? Trump is doing the Republican Party the invaluable service of showing them what to focus on, and they are too inbread to see it. The above quote from CNN comes from someone who thinks he can tell people what they should do instead of listening to what they want. That's someone who has forgotten that politicians work for the people, not the other way around. Trump mania is a crystal clear example of the people trying to make that point to the political class.
Will they be smart enough to listen? So far, all signs point to no.
