I hate politics. But I'm really having fun watching the Republicans and the media deal with Donald Trump. So here is my take on How To Understand The Donald.
Donald Trump is the worst politician ever. Just listen to him. Donald Trump is the best politician of our era. Just listen to him.
Our problem when listening to Donald Trump is that we hear through filters. They are implanted and enforced by heavy cultural forces. These filters are linked to our traditional understanding of the political spectrum.
On the right end of the spectrum is "conservative"; at the other end is "progressive/liberal." We are conditioned to believe that all politicians fall in line somewhere on that continuum. In our era the largest mass of politicians are rushing headlong toward each extreme.
Politicians at--or those moving toward--the outer edges of this political continuum can be said to be ideologues. That is, they have embraced either the conservative or progressive ideology, and their chief appeal to potential voters is to brag on how closely they adhere to their respective ideology. For an ideologue, that is the "big picture" in politics.
Just for fun, let's stamp Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders as torch-bearers of conservative and liberal ideology, respectively. How would Ted and Bernie be as realtors? Each has a house to sell. Regardless of ideology, each would state a clear end result. And true to their respective frames of reference, they would also map out clearly defined intermediate steps to get their results. For a person driven by ideology, the process must be as pure as the final goal.
Bernie, for instance, might have as his goal a free house given to a deserving family. He would find a large group of families who would give extra so that everyone could have their own house. True to his ideology, he would never ask Wall Street to donate the house.
Ted, on the other hand, might have as his goal an expensive house paid for by hard work. He would help make a way for the family in need of housing to start a business so they could afford their new mansion. True to his ideology, he would never limit a family's housing choices. If that's a McMansion or a box under the bridge, everyone is free to create their own destiny.
Along comes Donald Trump. The first thing he does is insult the home-buying choices offered by the other realtors. "Bernie's house is a fire trap! And Ted's selling high-priced termites!" he bellows. He then states that the house he is selling is the finest-made dwelling ever constructed with sewer pipes of pure titanium.
Donald has no problem playing both sides against the middle. Unlike the other candidates driven by ideology, Mr. Trump is driven by results. He will list his house at an outrageous sum; when the buyer points out the deficiencies and inaccuracies with his "finest-made" house, Donald entertains a lowball offer. Somewhere in the middle the two parties agree and the deal is done. Donald doesn't care if Uncle Mike, a local underworld figure, slipped 50G's into the buyer's account so they could qualify. And he doesn't care that he didn't get his asking price. He never expected to. True to his orientation, he just wants the satisfaction of getting the deal done.
Donald Trump says outrageous and inflammatory things that no politician, staying true to his respective ideology, can say. Donald makes "policy statements" that fly all over the political spectrum. He does and says those things precisely because he is a deal-maker. He is positioning people to come to the middle ground where stuff gets done. He is driven by results, not ideology. And the results can be different in two seemingly similar situations depending on how satisfying the deal is at the moment. This drives ideologues and political commentators insane.
Mr. Trump is a brilliant businessman. He has been verbally brokering a deal with the American people regarding the Republican nomination. And the very people who are getting worked the hardest by his deal-making brilliance are the men on the debate platform with him and all the political pundits in every form of the media. And they don't have a clue what's happening.
The filters fit so tightly that they cannot see that Donald Trump is simply not on the continuum. He operates in a completely different reality. My guess is that Trump's reality is closer to that of the average American than the reality of Washington politics and this helps me understand his visceral, populist appeal. It also helps me see that the only way a Washington politician could find real life in America is by using the Hubble Telescope.
The Republican Party went so far as to force Donald's hand to sign a pledge that he would remain in their camp and support whomever wins the nomination. They lured him in and then locked the door. Now they're complaining that he can't get out. This is what happens when politicians living on the continuum try to be deal-makers: they screw it all up. This is going to be fun to watch.
In the meantime, Donald Trump remains the worst politician in the race. Or, if you like the idea of deals getting made and stuff getting done, he might be the best politician in the bunch.
Just listen to him.
It all depends on those filters.
Bob Havenor
