Trump is Final Proof that the Political Class Has Failed
There are two main theories cooperating to explain the Trump phenomenon:
- Donald Trump is today's best self-promoter and professional opportunist.
- The Republican field of presumptive candidates for president is lame.
But neither of these, nor even both together, can adequately explain what's going on. We can't even turn for supplemental help to subtheories that emphasize the rise of celebreality culture, the fall of Sarah Palin, or The Continuing Story of Bungling Barry. These variables all appear somewhere in the equation that has produced the Trump phenomenon. But none of them explain it.
Trump is suddenly "winning" as a political figure because the political class has failed. The authority of our political institutions is weak and getting weaker; it's not that Americans 'lack trust' in them, as blue ribbon pundits and sociologists often lament, so much as they lack respect for the people inside them.
There is a lot of crazy surrounding the Trump phenomenon -- some excellent, some embarrassing. But the massive fact dominating it all is that never before has such a famous outsider jumped into national politics with such an aggressive critique of a sitting president and the direction of the country -- and never before has the response been so immediate and positive.
For now, that's good news and bad news -- as anyone knows who's acquainted with Churchill's dictum about eagles and parrots. No amount of His Trumpness can renew or replace American political authority. Republicans make a dangerous mistake when they think of politics as a pathological farce that can only be cured by a business worldview that sees economics as the master science. Even though, as Tocqueville observes, money really is more important in democratic times, money is not the measure of all things. We -- we Republicans, we Democrats, we Americans -- still need politicians who can rule wisely, bravely, and well. Look at what's behind the huge novelty of Trump's rise, and you find a venerable truth. There is no substitute for statesmen.
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Comments:
Oct '10
Re: Trump is Final Proof that the Political Class Has Failed
I LOVE listening to trump talk about Obama's birth certificate. but that's just me james.
GOP candidates should criticize trump on the birther issue-- it's a distraction when there are so many other serious stuff the republicans can use to nail obama.
Feb '11
Re: Trump is Final Proof that the Political Class Has Failed
Trump is a tireless self-promoter and has attached himself to the biggest media event of the next 18 months.
I don't think that The World's Greatest CEO (whoever that might be) would be The World's Greatest Politician. But the idea of a professional politician is very off-putting and distasteful. When a business type comes around they can be attractive simply for the reason that are a threat to the rent-seekers.
Regarding the statesman-education discussion:
"Because of his family's reduced circumstances, he had little education -only seven or eight years of schooling by a private tutor, no training in Latin or Greek or law, as had so many prominent Virginia patriots- and, as those close to him knew, he was self-conscious about this."
David McCullough on George Washington. This isn't to say that education is of no value or that education is a disqualification, simply that there is something deeper in character, experience and outlook that makes a statesman. But I also don't doubt that Washington's admirable character was shaped by the classically minded society he lived in.
Jul '10
Re: Trump is Final Proof that the Political Class Has Failed
Rackut
Paul A. Rahe
Kenneth:
Kenneth's and Rahe's lamentation of the decline of university liberal education is one of those bromides conservative intellectuals reflexively advance during disapproving musings about the American decline.
. Pfui on your faith in liberal education. This merely matures, not makes the statesman. · Apr 9 at 7:49pm
Edited on Apr 09 at 08:25 pm
I don't consider myself an intellectual. And I did not have a first-class liberal arts education - far from it. I'm primarily an auto-didact, having spent decades in which I read a couple of hundred books a year.
But to deny the importance of education in shaping the minds of future leaders is positively Luddite.
Feb '11
Re: Trump is Final Proof that the Political Class Has Failed
The first job of an elite is to be competent. It is unquestionable that the current political class largely fails on that front, which is why it is in the process of experiencing a hostile take-over attempt by the Tea Party et al. Trump is a lot smarter than most people give him credit for. He's made and lost and remade fortunes. He is the quintessential captain of industry who built this country. He has a well-developed sense of effective and aggressive PR. I think he’s playing a deeper game to reshuffle the political deck: 3D chess, while the chattering class is stuck in elementary checkers. He is a great cat’s paw against Obama and he knows it. I think his popularity is due to his willingness to get into the ring and battle using bright primary colors. Too many politicians are too careful right now. We are at a time when fortune will favor the bold. Normally, this is not true, but it is now. Obama/Reid/Pelosi created this opportunity for us by showing the Democrats’ true colors when all sense of limitation are removed from them. Carpe Deim or all is lost.
Jul '10
Re: Trump is Final Proof that the Political Class Has Failed
Well, let us not forget that Trump came from wealth. His father was a prominent New York real estate developer. In that sense, Trump rode on the shoulders of a quintessential captain of industry.
As for making and losing fortunes; it was Trump's bankers and investors who lost those fortunes.
Feb '11
Re: Trump is Final Proof that the Political Class Has Failed
Kenneth:
I don't consider myself an intellectual. And I did not have a first-class liberal arts education - far from it. I'm primarily an auto-didact, having spent decades in which I read a couple of hundred books a year.
But to deny the importance of education in shaping the minds of future leaders is positively Luddite.
Kenneth, you change the subject. Education, defined broadly or to whatever specific curriculum, is a necessity, of course.
The argument you made and which I challenge is the value of learning those subjects you earlier listed as comprising a liberal education. While such an education might mature the man who would be a statesman, I submit that what makes the man comes from a different sort of education as per my preference for a leader shaped by time spent as a soldier, businessman, engineer, etc.
It is relatively easy to teach a man philosophy and where he fits in history, but it is far harder to teach a man to, simply put, be a man, capable of doing and winning and leading.
Jul '10
Re: Trump is Final Proof that the Political Class Has Failed
Rackut
Kenneth:
But to deny the importance of education in shaping the minds of future leaders is positively Luddite.
Kenneth, you change the subject. Education, defined broadly or to whatever specific curriculum, is a necessity, of course.
The argument you made and which I challenge is the value of learning those subjects you earlier listed as comprising a liberal education. While such an education might mature the man who would be a statesman, I submit that what makes the man comes from a different sort of education as per my preference for a leader shaped by time spent as a soldier, businessman, engineer, etc.
It is relatively easy to teach a man philosophy and where he fits in history, but it is far harder to teach a man to, simply put, be a man, capable of doing and winning and leading. · Apr 10 at 6:09pm
I in no way changed the subject. But I'm also not interested in dialogue with someone whose response to my original comment was so belligerent.
Mar '11
Re: Trump is Final Proof that the Political Class Has Failed
regarding "statesmen":
To quote the late great Bloom County:
"A statesman is a dead politician. Lord knows, we need more statesmen!"
Oct '10
Re: Trump is Final Proof that the Political Class Has Failed
"Had this been George Bush or almost any other President or Presidential aspirant, they would never have been allowed to attain office, or would have been thrown out of office very quickly."
"For some reason, the press protects President Obama beyond anything or anyone I have ever seen. What they don't realize is that if he was not born in the United States, they would have uncovered the greatest 'scam' in the history of our country. In other words, they would become the hottest writer since Watergate, or beyond."
Donald Trump makes a criticism of the press that is far more important than the "birther" issue itself.
Jan '11
Re: Trump is Final Proof that the Political Class Has Failed
James Poulos
Ross Perot didn't have a smash hit multiple-season reality network TV show with a celebrity spinoff. Nobody called Perot "The Ross." You're right about the fairly free ride, and of course I think the vacuum goes far beyond the GOP field, such as it is for now. But. · Apr 9 at 5:49pm
James,
How does The Apprentice, which began in 2004, explain Trump's interest in running for President on the Reform Party ticket in 2000? Or any of his political interest before or since (2004, Gov. of NY in 2006, etc.)?
How does Ivana referring to him as "the Donald" in an interview - likely because the lack of articles in her native language pops up in funny ways, and the slip-up stuck - explain anything?
Oct '10
Re: Trump is Final Proof that the Political Class Has Failed
Or accept the lessons of the great governing binge of the 20th Century that no system provides human beings capable of ruling such a leviathan well and shrink the size of the state. The smaller the machine, the less important the virtues - or vices - of the operator.
Re: Trump is Final Proof that the Political Class Has Failed
Matthew K. Tabor
James Poulos
Ross Perot didn't have a smash hit multiple-season reality network TV show with a celebrity spinoff. Nobody called Perot "The Ross." You're right about the fairly free ride, and of course I think the vacuum goes far beyond the GOP field, such as it is for now. But. · Apr 9 at 5:49pm
James,
How does The Apprentice, which began in 2004, explain Trump's interest in running for President on the Reform Party ticket in 2000? Or any of his political interest before or since (2004, Gov. of NY in 2006, etc.)?
How does Ivana referring to him as "the Donald" in an interview - likely because the lack of articles in her native language pops up in funny ways, and the slip-up stuck - explain anything? · Apr 11 at 12:00am
Ivana's not the only one calling Trump "the Donald." And I take your point that he's had a prior interest in politics. But seeking the 2000 Reform Party nom, or flirting with a state government run, isn't exactly the big time. The national stakes and situation really were different back then.
Jan '11
Re: Trump is Final Proof that the Political Class Has Failed
James Poulos
Ivana's not the only one calling Trump "the Donald." And I take your point that he's had a prior interest in politics. But seeking the 2000 Reform Party nom, or flirting with a state government run, isn't exactly the big time. The national stakes and situation really were different back then. · Apr 11 at 9:22am
James,
The point was that Ivana Trump used the funny moniker in an interview and the media and public latched onto it. That millions of people thought "The Donald" was a funny way to describe the decidedly-singular Trump has no bearing on this issue.
You say Trump's former forays into the political sphere weren't "exactly big time." You're right - but at the time, they were the most realistic paths he had. Trump was affiliated with the Reform Party in 2000, so he talked about that ticket. He's bounced around with party ID since, which meant he wasn't taken as seriously in 2004 or 2006.
Now Trump is a committed, identified Republican putting his name in during a difficult -- sort of a perfect storm, in a way -- time for the opposition.