Like a lot of people on the fringe, I’ve been enjoying the Donald Trump show. Watching the panda-men of Conservative Inc. gasp and faint over the latest Trump statement is great theater. As Nate Silver from 538 puts it, The Donald is the world’s greatest troll. I get the sense Nate must read my blog as I made similar points two weeks ago. Maybe the shadow of this blog is longer than I think.
Anyway, I was thinking about Trump the other day when he lit up Caitlyn Graham and Rick Perry. That stunt with the phone number was pure gold. It both amused the crowd and shamed Graham for being a hypocrite. The line about Perry now wearing glasses was close to genius. When you can shift the focus from yourself to your critics in an amusing way, the critics get scared and usually pipe down.
Trump is our first leverage candidate. For two decades now we have seen loads of leverage companies and leverage financial institutions. The crash of 2008 was brought about by a leverage industry toppling over and taking the economy with it. The entertainment businesses, especially sports, are all levitating on warm gusts of leverage carrying them into the heavens.
The real estate business has always been about leverage. In normal times, someone with equity in a rental property could borrow against it to buy another rental property. The rule of thumb was that 80% of rental income had to cover 100% of the debt service. In simple terms, if the property generated $10,000 a month in rents at its peak, the mortgage could not be greater than $8,000 a month.
Clever real estate men like Trump would figure out how to push up rents to increase cash flow, which in turn drove up their asset base, allowing for more borrowing which they used to buy more properties. As principle was paid and the asset value increased, the difference in asset value and leverage could be turned into a tax free windfall. In Trump’s case, he would often liquidate properties he had made famous thus cashing out at their peak.
The way to think of it for the purpose of understanding Trump’s campaign is this. The savvy real estate man is always looking for a way to leverage his assets so he can jump on the next opportunity before the next guy. If you look at Trump’s career, you see he has moved from one project to the next, very often leaving suckers holding the bag as he walked away with a profit. Trump’s not a builder. He’s an opportunist.
That’s what’s happening in his campaign. He took stock of his assets. He’s famous and he is rich. He’s also nearing the end so he can afford to piss off other famous rich people, unlike regular candidates that have to suck up to the rich. Trump also has a way of connecting with the common people. He’s been doing improvisational television for a long time and he is good at it.
Those are the assets he has to leverage. The opportunities he is exploiting are immigration, the media culture, discontent with the Republican establishment and widespread angst about the culture and economy. My guess is he never had strong views on any of these things. He may not even have had opinions about them until now. He’s just a guy who is good at seeing and exploiting opportunities.
I think this is why the GOP is looking so silly trying to swat away Trump. They are used to dealing with people who fear nothing more than separation from the heard. Trump is not knocking on their door asking to join the club. He’s out on the lawn throwing rocks through the window because that’s where the opportunity lies. John McCain leaning out the window in his nightshirt and cap, yelling at Trump to get off his lawn is what Trump wants. It plays to his advantage.
Similarly, Trump is not builder. He does a deal and moves on. His whole life up to this point has been geared to winning the moment. That makes him uncommonly good at moving past a problem, a gaff or a misstep. He takes the loss and moves onto the next item. To be successful in his line of work, you have to have the conscience of a burglar. You can be sure Trump remembers every win and not a single loss.
That makes the conventional political attack ineffective because he is so good as brushing it off and re-focusing on his next opportunity. When he gets grief for being mean to McCain, he brushes it off and takes a shot at Caitlyn Graham. When the press howls about that, he points out that Rick Perry has a two-digit IQ.
As with everything, there is a limit to leverage and you eventually have to settle up and show a profit. Trump has made a lot of people a lot of money which is why people do business with him. But, he ruined more than a few too. It remains to be see how his presidential run will end, but the insiders are betting/hoping he is unable to deliver more than pithy lines criticizing his opponents.
That said, he is a smart guy and he likes winning. What started out as a vanity candidacy is looking more like a real campaign. Beppe Grillo started out as a gag too. Most people, especially the smart people, thought it was ridiculous to think a divorced actor could be president. Similarly, no one picked a degenerate from the Ozarks as a s serious candidate at this stage of the 1992 election.
For now, it is a good show.
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I don’t know if “separation from the heard” is a typo or “the heard” is a play on words for “those who hold the megaphone”, but I like it.
Like you said, Trump is a troll, but our culture and our politics have reached a point of such absurdity that trolling is often the most rational response.
A collection of mostly empty suits with focus-grouped positions.
I remember when Romney ran – He ran on an empty tank.
These guys are more of the same.
Romney’s slogan was “Believe in America”
What was that supposed to mean?
His campaign manager said on CNN that all of Romney’s conservative platitudes
were simply ‘etch-a-sketch’. Romney didn’t even fire the guy.
Was there even a single principle that Romney stood for?
The only thing presidential about Romney was that he looked like a presidential candidate from Central Casting.
You’re right about Walker. He at least stopped the state employee unions
from bankrupting Wisconsin. Which is not nothing.
However, on immigration, he was just as bad as all the other RINO traitors.
In 2013, he was willing to turn over the country to waves to
illegal, uneducated, peasants.
Now Walker’s changed his mind on amnesty, because Trump.
http://time.com/3727734/scott-walker-immigration-reform-2016-election-cpac/
How can anyone rely on Walker’s judgement after that?
If they haven’t actively opposed amnesty before The Donald,
they can’t be trusted once they get into office.
If we lose on immigration, it’s game over for the US.
I would be willing to give Walker a pass on immigration as governors tend not to care about the issue. He’s made that point a few times and I think he’s being honest about it. He had much bigger problems so he had to avoid inviting trouble on immigration. But, let’s see what he says now that he free to speak his mind on the issue. He was hanging out with Sessions for a while, but Walker has disappeared this summer so I have no idea what he is saying now. I listen to Howie in NTK and all I hear are ads from Christie promising to eat his weight in lard if elected.
The lack of vision in this greatest Republican field ever is startling. What do these boys think they are going to saddle up in ’17, a horse that needs a firm hand? Yes, pretty much, excepting Walker and possibly Cruz.
Trump is a despicable man with no firm beliefs other than in himself, but I do not have any issue with him unnerving the greatest Republican field ever.
Nedd, I think one of the more amusing parts of this is how the GOP has been pushing the line about this being their best bunch of candidate in a generation. Quantity has a quality of it s own, but this is a collection of mediocrities. The one guy with a resume is Walker and he is about as interesting as watching grass grow.
Trump is fun to watch and that counts for a lot. His line about Perry was hilarious and spot on.
I’m probably pushing my luck here Z.
This isn’t a re-post because Sultan Knish posted it, but then decided to take it down. I’m really not sure what I said here that was over the top.
Knish unbelievably wrote this in his Trump piece:
“The Republican field is a mass of highly qualified and talented people with poor media skills and worse communication skills. Some consciously choose to play it safe. Others seem to have no clue how to win a debate or a drive a message home.”
“…highly qualified and talented people…” Really?
I responded with this:
Nedd Ludd writes:
Trump’s message is pretty simple:
He’s running as a nationalist, not a globalist.
He wants to take control of our Southern border and
to build an Israeli style fence to do it.
His message recognizes that uncontrolled, illegal, peasant immigration
from Mexico and Central America is a very bad idea for the US.
No other Republican will say this.
Trump also opposes the globalist trade pacts.
After the betrayal by McConnell & Boehner, joining with Obama to pass TPP, against the wishes of their own constituents, how can any conservative support the ‘mainstream’ Republican establishment?
Once nominated, I have no doubt, that every other Republican candidate will become the captive of the big donors – The US Chamber of Commerce and the other corporate members of the cheap labor lobby.
The Donald has already cost himself millions by running this campaign.
All the other candidates are hoping to make millions for themselves.
Trump is the only one who is actually sacrificing something to run.
I live in NH.
I’ve seen up close and personal, the endless stream of nonentities the Republicans manage to cough up every four years – Dole, McCain, Bush, Romney, etc.
In this year’s NH primary, for a change, I won’t have to chose between an assortment of RINOs. Trump is certainly not my optimal candidate, but
an optimal candidate isn’t running.
Trump is a chance for conservatives to poke their collective thumb in the eye of the entire repellant PC Republican establishment.
Do I think Trump will win? Most likely not.
But if Jeb, or Christie, win the nomination, exactly what would be the point of even bothering to vote?
Trump’s good on guns, immigration and trade – I’ll take that, comb-over and all.
“…Trump has taken a group of domesticated, pussified former carnivores who’ve been force-fed lentils and tofu for two decades, and he’s reintroduced the taste of raw meat.” …David Cole, Taki Mag
I hope you’ll forgive my repost here Z.
You haven’t been giving the Donald much coverage.
So, I posted this response over at The Lion earlier in the week.
The video clip of Trump pawning Lindsey Grahamnesty, by giving out his number(2:07) is great, but the part that comes before that is even better. (Starts at 1:17)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1sku13JYlo
” …more important in that little clip was this comment by Trump:(1:17)
Trump said: “I don’t need anybody’s money.
Nobody has to give to me. – You don’t have to bother.
Please, don’t bother. Don’t give me any. I don’t need money. I’m doing it myself.”
It’s exactly this that’s driving every other politician crazy.
Who has ever heard of any politician turning down money???
Every Republican runs as a so called conservative, but once in office it’s the big donors who control them.
Look at quislings, Boehner & McConnell, betraying their constituencies and allying themselves with Obama on TPP agreement. Yet another “free trade” agreement that will send more US jobs overseas.
Trump, on the other hand, can’t be bought by the US Chamber of Commerce,
the open borders/immigration lobby, the H1B Silicon Valley lobby, the “free trade” lobby and all the other corrupt institutions that have bought their special privileges at the expense of the American people.
Trump is hardly the perfect candidate, but after Dole, McCain, Romney, et al,
I can’t wait to have a chance to vote for The Donald in the upcoming NH Primary and to upend the RINO Republican establishment.”
Nedd Ludd
I hope he has a really good VP choice, because I figure, should he be elected, he’ll get bored in a couple of years (or less) and resign.
I think the conventional wisdom with Trump was that a) he would run for a while and then find an excuse to not run or b) he would run and get no traction and then quit. That’s why the pantywaist brigade thought it was safe to take shots at him. They could look butch without any risk.
That’s not how things have unfolded and I suspect party leadership is a bit puzzled about how to handle the Trump phenomenon. They’ve made things more difficult for themselves by encouraging so many people to run. They thought the way to help ¡Yeb! was to split the anti-Bush vote 10 ways. Now the anti-Trump vote is split ten ways.
I don’t think Trump makes it past January 2016, but I never thought he would run or even register in the polls if he did run. Unlike most people, I notice when I’m wrong. There’s something going on with the Trump wave that will reveal itself in time.
It’s fun to come back and read these archived prognostications!