Megan McArdle on the pointlessness of trying to analyze any given policy of Donald Trump:
Critiquing Donald Trump’s policy pronouncements for being implausible feels a bit like belittling bathroom graffiti for its weak use of metaphor and inappropriate deployment of the conditional rather than the subjunctive. Sure, you may be technically correct, but you’ve failed to grapple with the essentials of the form. And neither the author nor his audience is likely to take your criticisms to heart.
But what can we pundits do? The man is now the presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican Party. For the next six months, he will be saying things. Much of what he says will be unbearably silly, if not horrifying. These periodic eruptions must be either dealt with or ignored, and neither option seems very appealing.
Seems to me that Obama got a pass during his run in 2008. He was all empty words, empty suit. Hope and Change, nothing concrete. Of course, Trump is going to be given the roughest ride there is, from both sides of the political spectrum. I am enjoying how his “don’t give a crap” attitude about it all is annoying the press, pundits, republicans, and democrats alike! I hope he wins, I really do. The prospect of Clinton is far worse. I mean, I look at the world Obama has left the next president and I don’t see Clinton fairing well. They are going to need someone who really will do what they think is right for the country, and Trump seems to be that person.
They hyperbole though, someone wrote that if Trump is elected he will be the last president (some author?) The Hitler comparisons, etc. it is loony season in the US of A.
Comment by Dwayne — May 13, 2016 @ 19:45
Obama got an easier ride in 2008 because the media as a whole dedicated themselves to portraying him in as positive a light as possible. They did a good job of it, too. The media isn’t as emotionally committed to Clinton, even if they’re still trying hard to get her elected, so the resulting coverage isn’t as cloying and worshipful as it was for Obama.
Trump, on the other hand, has been a mainstay of media coverage for years before he entered politics. Nobody has managed to pull out a scandal or to shame him for past misdeeds because the scandals and misdeeds were fully covered in the media when they happened. You can’t shame someone after all that (and he appears to be incapable of feeling anything as ordinary as shame).
Comment by Nicholas — May 14, 2016 @ 08:19