“We need steel,” he said. “We need steel plants. And to see an old, big monster plant like this re-opening — that is an honor. I look at the faces of you people; I could be one of you. I like you guys. I could be one of you.”
That struck me as either sincere or an amazing facsimile. The workers, for their part, couldn’t give him a standing ovation because they never sat down.
I left the hall thinking: Donald Trump is going to be re-elected in 2020. The Democrats don’t have anyone who can touch him. Bank on it. Don’t hate me for being the one to tell you.
Neil Steinberg, reporter, Chicago Sun Times (July 26, 2018)
It used to be said by Confederates of General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the greatest Confederate cavalry commander of the Civil War, that his commission as general was signed by Jefferson Davis and the Lord God Almighty. Forrest, who was semi-literate, with virtually no education, and no military experience, rose from Private to Lieutenant General in four short years. He had a natural talent for War that would have remained hidden, but for the War. Trump has a natural talent for politics akin to Forrest’s talent for War. Such men can tear up the rule books that guide the professionals in their fields, and achieve results deemed near impossible. The late Ronald Reagan and Trump are two very different men, but, like Reagan, Trump came to politics late in life, and, like Reagan, he has a great natural political prowess constantly underestimated by his opponents, and that is his greatest strength as a politician.
“That struck me as sincere or an amazing facsimile”
I read some comments on the Instapundit blog last night from people who had worked on Trump construction projects in NYC years ago, and they indicated that Trump would often put on a hard hat, go down to the construction sites and chat with the workers. They agreed that he took a genuine interest in how they did their work. So I would say those comments were sincere.
A quibble: Reagan came to the life of a political professional late (at age 55). However, from 1928 to 1966 he’d devoted more rent-free space in his head to public affairs than 90% of the population does. He’d had experience with the intersection of labor relations, electoral politics in organizational life, and social ideology during his years as president of the Screen Actors Guild. He was also ca. 1947 hip deep in efforts to keep Henry Wallace and his ilk at the margins of the Democratic Party. How Reagan thought about political questions was quite different than how any other Republican president in the last 50 years has thought about them. The motor of his entry into politics was also quite different. Reagan was as consistent and predictable as anyone who has held the office. You were seldom caught blindsided about how he would come down on any question presented him because such questions were tested against a short menu of criteria that were readily discernable. Trump remains a puzzle.
“Trump remains a puzzle.”…in a puzzling culture.
I don’t believe Trump is a puzzle at all. We have seen enough of his leadership to say he has a strong belief in Americans and the idea of America, just like Reagan. They both firmly believed that America is only at its best when government, generally speaking, gets out of the way. Trump clearly believes in family and has supported the life issue more firmly than any president, including Reagan. Finally, he knows that power is only useful if the other guy believes you will use it. Just like the world, friend and foe alike, thought Reagan was a cowboy, the world believes the same of Trump. They are and were effective as a result.
Americans that don’t hate America confound self-serving elites.
8/5/2015, ‘Never Yet Melted’ blog: “. . . an arrogant pseudo-intellectual minority living in big cities, occupying all the establishment seats of privilege, and ruthlessly controlling the levers of power. When they want to get their way, the newspapers they control take a poll of a few hundred people they select, and then announce that national opinion is running 60-40 their way. When Republicans have a majority in Congress, you can count on John McCain and some Republican senator from Maine to vote with the democrats. When they can’t possibly get something through any legislature, you can bet that first some radical federal judge will proclaim that the Constitution mandates the sort of thing that was generally looked upon as a capital felony in 1789 is constitutionally obligatory, and then Justice Anthony Kennedy will join with four liberal justices to cement that scoundrel’s theory into stone.”
Ergo Brett Kavanaugh.
” I left the hall thinking: Donald Trump is going to be re-elected in 2020. The Democrats don’t have anyone who can touch him. Bank on it. Don’t hate me for being the one to tell you.”
I hope he’s right.
The optimistic opinions circulating give me hope that he, Trump, is the man. A man who is not perfect by any means but worthy of his office.
He will be prayed for tomorrow at Mass.
Confusion for his critics and success for the republic.
52 minutes and the cameras never moved. You never saw the crowd, their faces, anything else. Isn’t that peculiar? C-SPAN does that- but they usually have multiple cameras set up so the perspective is varied. This is like they set up the cameras and went out to lunch.