Tuesday, August 11, 2015

DID RICH LOWRY JUST HAND TRUMP A MEME?

At National Review overnight, Rich Lowry published a post about Donald Trump titled "Donald the Whiner."
Donald Trump is given to superlatives, so let’s do him the honor of pronouncing him the most fabulous whiner in all of American politics....
Under a different title, Lowry's piece had previously appeared in the New York Post.

Trump grabbed the characterization and owned it:
Trump said he agreed with conservative author Rich Lowry that the celebrity real estate tycoon turned GOP presidential candidate is “the most fabulous whiner in all of American politics.”

“Well I think he's probably right, I am the most fabulous whiner. I do whine, because I want to win,” Trump said on CNN's “New Day” when host Chris Cuomo asked about Lowry's remarks....

“I am a whiner, and I'm a whiner and I keep whining and whining until I win. I want to win for our country, and I'm going to make our country great again,” Trump said on CNN.
So I guess Trump really is Ross Perot.

Perot, you may recall, was called "crazy" so many times during the course of his 1992 campaign that he made Willie Nelson's "Crazy" into a campaign theme song. (Watch him wallow in the word "crazy" and dance to the song at an election-eve campaign rally here.)

I assumed infantile hostility was Trump's default mode when attacked, so I'm actually surprised that he's taking an insult and wearing it as a badge of honor. But if he's shrewd enough to do that, maybe he'll take the next step: encouraging his fan base to proudly declare themselves "whiners," just the way Perot urged his voters to call themselves "crazy," because they weren't doing what the political establishment wanted them to do. It was silly, and it didn't get Perot elected, but he did run up a pretty good vote total. If Trump doesn't do this, maybe his fans will just start proudly proclaiming themselves whiners on their own. It wouldn't surprise me.

9 comments:

Victor said...

What happens if, by some quirk, he actually wins the Presidency?

I'll be even more terrified than I was during the W years.

Who's he going to get to be on his cabinet?
Even more crack-pot loons?

Oy!

I should have left for Europe when I was younger, and still employable - and remembered some German from 4 years in HS.
I still know Russian, but I think I'd hate living in a country ruled by Putin to be worse than staying here.

So, here a am - stuck on this Titanic of a country ready to sink, and not in one of the luxury suites, but one with the rest of the poor riff-raff!

Feud Turgidson said...

Steve M: "I assumed infantile hostility was Trump's default mode when attacked"

When Obama took that brilliant shot at Trump a few WH Correspondents' b.s. roast-lite thingees ago, Trump
1. while it was happpening, didn't flinch, just looked forward all grumpy blond bloated frog;
2. after, didn't react negatively, overly, pouty, or in any way memorably; but instead
3. gave Obama and the shot itself their respective due (publicity! recognition!), and kept on attending not just that but pretty much all similar b.s. Beltway Hollywood-for-ugly-folk events since; and
4. like every other time he's been confronted wtih someone landing a big deserved shot at him, shrugged, deflected and kept going.

He's lived and worked the last 30 years at least, more than half his flashy loud lavish personal-professional life, in the public eye, and that's pretty much been his way: IOW, not at all the way you assumed. He's a denizen of the New Jersey-based NYC media world: it's why Jon Stewart's able to channel him so easily. His first resort is Fake-Humble: hey, you callin' me a big pussy? 'at's okay - hey, wanna see what my claws can do? It's NJiu NJitsu.

All along, I've said he won't leave until closer to where actual voting takes place, and WHEN he leaves, BEFORE he exits with his massed chandeliers of faux gold inlaid with faux diamonds, he'll alredy have extracted something that serves TRUMP - such as his own media platform on Fox.

Unknown said...

I don't have anything to add to this thread but every blog post is about Trump. This is a great for him but not the GOP. We must not elect a Republican to the White House. Never again.

Marcus said...

Unknown,
He is smart and usually picks his battles.. you have to show you can take a hit which he did well with Obama
If he gets financing by the sugar daddies who are giving to Rubio and Walker...he will be the Republican contender
Love how well he ridicules the media and republican field….He maybe a con and BS artist but at least he fights them with their own bullshit…..loved the Erikson comment what a true loser…cant what till he goes after Brooks

Feud Turgidson said...

Marcus, here's where I think he's importantly different than some of the other candidates in both the GOP Clown Car race and the Dem nomination contest, in that he was born into great wealth, raised way up high up on hog, was given or inherited a fortune, and has lived out his entire adult life as filthy rich and with the attitude we identify with the rich - that of thorough-going entitlement.

He's not grasping for money and the power that goes with it and the celebrity that goes with both even if they do nothing. He's never had to lift a finger to get any of that: it was granted him as birthright.

All the current candidates are probably multimillionaires, but there's a shorter list of current candidates BORN wealthy: Trump, Bush, Paul, Fiorina. They all exude a kind of disdain and entitlement that's categorically different from the others, Trump above all.

Daro said...

Aren't Trump's supported called Trumpeters?

petrilli said...

They're called Humps. Trump Humps.

petrilli said...

Victor, your suite is ready:

Hello, room service? Send up another room!

https://cdn4.thedissolve.com/features/295/fullwidth.504cf584.jpg

Ed Baptist said...

Prissy enough to whine about breast pumping.