Chris Matthews read my mind. That was a perfect press conference by Donald Trump. He was in charge of the reportorial rabble, he filibustered, he interrupted, he corrected the wording of reporters' questions to suit his purpose, in effect he ran the presser as a CEO would run a staff meeting.
He intimidated the hell out of them. No one could hit him because he cut the reporters off before they could follow through, or follow up.
To the television audience he talked on an 8th-grade level, which is part of his brilliant press manipulation. He knows what the public wants, and he simply doesn't allow the press to reframe his intentions, so that he may meet those popular demands.
It's a bit hard to believe that a Wharton graduate actually thinks at the 8th-grade level, but somehow, Trump pulls it off as though he's merely the billionaire who lives next door.
That was a masterful political performance by a non-politician. Hillary has been doing politics for decades, but in a debate with Trump, he would shut her down. She fails in the command department, whereas the Donald excels.
Forget substance. This is America, home and haven of low-information voters. They don't give a shit about substance.
Jesus! A Clinton-Trump matchup could be more fun than I thought.
It would be a fascinating debate to be sure. But I wouldn't be too concerned for Hillary. I watched the video of her interaction wth the BLM act vets and I was much impressed. If she behaved like that in public and did it more often I suspect I wouldn't be the only person who preferred that Hillary.
Posted by: Peter G | August 19, 2015 at 07:08 PM
Since Trump wouldn't follow the rules, debating him one-on-one would be pretty difficult.
As it was against Romney's gish-gallop.
I'm not sure of anything anymore. In the context of an uninformed America and a totally useless media, Trump can have a lot of success. It's absolutely fascinating and scary to watch him these days.
The democrat who could do the best against Trump in a debate is Joe Biden in my opinion. His natural sense of humor, his wit, his down-to-earth demeanor would be of great help against the "carnival barker".
Posted by: Lovepolitics2008 | August 19, 2015 at 08:46 PM
I agree that Biden would be the Dems' best debater versus Trump. He'd laugh in Trump's face as he did with Paul Ryan in the 2012 VP debate. If anything could get to Trump, that would.
Posted by: RT | August 19, 2015 at 10:25 PM
"No, Donald, China and Mexico are not laughing at us. They're laughing at you."
Posted by: lucidamente | August 20, 2015 at 07:14 AM
They were deadly serious about putting Palin a heartbeat away, Trump is no problem. You wont easily best Trump at reality TV, but when it gets serious, will reality TV be enough? A year is a long time to keep up the shtick, but he looks like the nominee from here. PS, he is more than flirting with actual fascism in promising to deport citizens.
Posted by: brave captain of industry | August 20, 2015 at 04:20 PM