Pundits say that the Presidency is between Trump and HRC. They may be right. Matt Taibbi’s interesting Rolling Stone piece says that American culture makes Trump unstoppable. He stresses Trump’s mastery of the media, NASCAR and WWE America — I’ll get back to that. Trump’s campaign is new and amazing, but here’s my prediction: Trump can’t control himself and will spin out, maybe after getting the Republican nomination, in which case the Democrats get the Presidency and many marbles.
Trump’s campaign has been very successful in spite of the sneering experts. He spent much less money on ads than the Jeb! campaign and is going strong with lots of free media. Would the Koch brothers support him? They own property, they have something to lose if HRC becomes president and much more if a Trump Presidency brings chaos.
What does spin out mean? Trump doesn’t like questions and avoids journalists who ask them, preferring Fox journalists. He’ll continue laughing, bellowing, threatening and ignoring questions at all future “debates”. At some point he’ll have to defend the ridiculous “Trump University” and admit that POTUS has great power to mess up other countries but minimal power to change the tax laws, appropriate money or build walls. Congress controls that stuff. He’ll be hearing more and more comparisons to Silvio Berlusconi, ‘the man who screwed an entire country’, according to the Economist.
He’ll get even wilder with more threats against journalists, foreigners and minorities. He already threatened to change the libel laws and take action against journalists who displease him. However, libel laws are mostly state laws... He might, like Nixon, prod the IRS and other government agencies to harass his enemies. Attention to this will help some of his supporters get the picture — Trump is just another con, he won’t help my kind.
Who would force Trump to answer questions? He won’t meet the Republican kingmakers, the Kochs, the Waltons, Rove, Sheldon Adelson in a smoke filled room. The (ugh) media are our primary hope, despicable though they be. What media have the most impact on Trump supporters? Fox News of course. As they consider Trump’s possible destruction of the Republican Party, they may force the issue. A coalition of churches might step up as they consider Trump University, Trump’s marriages, casinos and bankruptcies. What about simultaneous front page editorials by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and LA Times? Strange things may happen.
Did the South actually win the culture wars that followed our Civil War? To some extent, yes. But Southern white culture, NASCAR, Pro wrestling and angry rednecks, etc. doesn’t control our country, even though the 1% have used it skillfully to control government and the justice system. There are too many minorities now, and the corporations are too dependent on international operations. I say that Trump can’t control himself and will spin out. If it happens before the conventions, the Rs will need someone who doesn’t remind voters of Trump, i.e. no Cruz and no Rubio. Either way, Trump has done great damage to the GOP. Our problem is to limit the damage to our country.