Media, celebrity and the Donald Trump campaign

Usually I'm not a fan of Ted Van Dyk but he's spot on in this case.



by Ted Van Dyk

“No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.” — Mark Twain.

Orange County Housewives, the Kardashians, Ross Perot, George Wallace: Where does Donald Trump, incredibly a presidential candidate, fall in this constellation? And what does his candidacy say about media and ourselves?

Trump, 69. Real-estate investor, entertainment entrepreneur, TV series star, endorser of commercial products and survivor of multiple high-profile romances and marriages, has been seeking public attention for several decades. The King of Crass — or at least crown prince after the Kardashian family.

But now, suddenly, he is all over the media making polarizing and offensive statements about people and issues and getting a respectable percentage in polling matchups among Republican presidential candidates.

Trump recently outraged Latinos with demeaning references toward them. He then declared Jeb Bush’s wife “an illegal Mexican,” prompting on angry fireback by Bush. He scorns U.S. political leaders of both parties as being weak in dealing with other countries, typically comparing relations between countries to dealmaking negotiations in the private sector. When conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer, who is wheelchair bound, criticized Trump, The Donald responded with reference to Krauthammer’s handicap.

Got a problem with Mexico, Putin, China or Iran? He’d bring them around, Trump says, by threatening them with U.S. economic, financial and military power. The Donald would have them at his feet in no time.

A long line of political figures have made short-term hay by appealing to reactionary, Know Nothing instincts in the electorate. Where Trump differs from most of the others is that he does not come from the political community per se and is not riding any single issue but is capitalizing on general populist anger against major public and private institutions.

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Trump is one of those guys who will say out loud what you normally don’t hear until closing time in neighborhood bars when angry ethnic, racial, class and other resentments surface and are verbalized.

Why does he command such attention?

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http://crosscut.com/2015/07/media-celebrity-and-the-donald-trump-campaign/#