Trump on Dem attacks: 'I take it a little bit personally'I know that Trump has lifted talking points from Richard Nixon:
While trying to take the barrage of Democratic National Convention attacks against him in stride, Donald Trump admitted in an interview with Fox News aired Thursday that he cannot help but "take it a little bit personally."
"Well, they don't all hit me, but some of them do. And they try to hit you as hard as possible. And it's mostly false stuff," Trump said in an interview with Brian Kilmeade on "Fox & Friends" that was taped Wednesday....
Shrugging off criticism, Trump remarked, "I get it. It's the way it goes. It's called politics." ...
"You're not taking it personally?" Kilmeade asked.
"I guess I take it a little bit personally," Trump responded. "You can't let it get you down. You have to go out."
Branding himself as “the law-and-order candidate,” Mr. Trump in recent weeks has exhorted voters to stand with the police, much as Nixon encouraged “the non-shouters, the non-demonstrators” to stand with him.And I know that Trump's convention speech was consciously modeled on the one Nixon gave in 1968:
What started, a year ago, as an occasional borrowing of Nixonian phrases -- like describing Trump voters as a “silent majority” -- has turned into a homage. “It’s literally plagiarism,” said Kevin Mattson, a professor of history at Ohio University who has written a book about Nixon. “I was taken aback by that.”
... Donald Trump's campaign chairman said Monday the presumptive GOP nominee will model his convention speech after that of Richard Nixon's in 1968.But here's Trump picking up on another Nixon trait: self-pity. From the Checkers speech to the 1962 gubernatorial concession speech to his presidency and post-presidency, Nixon wallowed in self-pity, while pretending he was too tough to succumb to it. Bafflingly, it helped him appeal to voters who wanted a tough guy as a leader.
Paul Manafort, Trump's top aide, said the real estate mogul will embody the spirit of the nearly 50-year-old speech....
"The Nixon 1968 speech -- if you go back and read that speech -- is pretty much on line with a lot of the issues that are going on today. And it was an instructive speech," Manafort said at a breakfast hosted by Bloomberg.
The voters in Nixon's base felt sorry for themselves as the world changed around them in ways they didn't like. That's happening again with the Trump base. You'd think not being a complainer would be something these silent majorities would value -- y'know, traditional virtues and all -- but I've watched Barack Obama keep his cool for years in the face of abuse and Trump fans aren't impressed. I guess they prefer a whiner because a whiner mirrors their own self-pity. Trump is giving them what they want.
There won't be enough Trump whines for all the holes the HRC surrogate brigade is going to put in Trump's cheese-ball express.
ReplyDeleteWhile HRC and Kaine take the Happy High Road, look for the Murderers' Row of Perez, Reid, Pelosi, Murray, Ohio Brown, California Brown, McCaskill, Franken, Warren, Biden and Obama hammering holes at a way faster rate than the Yammerer can fill them in with stupid tweets, rants and tirades.
Today I heard some hack moron - which wold have to be Halprin, right? - predicting Veep on Veep will be a total snoozefest. I don't know about that: I think Kaine's gonna put Pence into a Biden Sleeper Hold and ram that sack of hammers head of his repeatedly into the turnbuckle.
You know what we're NOT going to see? Beyond Crisp Crispy and the G'rich, we're not gonna see non-paid nonc-campaign spokesfolks. Lots of Mobbed Up Manafort, for example.
"I guess I take it a little personally" - says the guy who calls his opponents crooked, lying, goofy, etc.
ReplyDeleteOpinion of Trump's base about Trump: Whining by someone that I agree with is a sign of strength in that person.
ReplyDeleteOpinion of Trump's base about Obama: Whining by someone that I don't agree with is a sign of weakness in that person.
Once upon a time - NOW! - there once was a crooked man, who called his female opponent 'crooked.'
ReplyDeleteAnd he thinks he knows.
Because when the crooked man looked into a crooked mirror, he saw a 'straight-shooter.'
He didn't dare't look in a real mirror, because then his image of himself would be shattered, as if someone threw a brick into his mirror.
He's insulted his way to the nomination and now his feelings are getting hurt. Cry me a river.
ReplyDeleteI believe what would hurt Obama most would be consistent methodical strident criticism from the base of his erstwhile hard core for his overt betrayal of that base. From a viable authentic left if the US had one.
ReplyDeleteWhining and threatening, that's the Trump way all right:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2016/07/28/politics/donald-trump-dnc-response/index.html
Speaking at a campaign rally:
Donald Trump, after hearing speeches at the Democratic convention this week, said Thursday he wanted to "hit a number of those speakers so hard, their heads would spin."
"They'd never recover," he said.
It's not just Trump. The GOP has absorbed the worst traits of tricky dick. The maudlin self pity, the persecution complex, the dishonesty, the corruption.
ReplyDeleteSeen a lot of conventions over 50 years; I've even been to two nationals. This one is the most beautifully conceived, best planned, most tolerant, mature, adult, sane, organized and executed I can remember. And it's the first one among them all to bring tears to my eyes: Khizr Khan did that, through sheer charaacter, dignity, courage and heart.
ReplyDelete