As a person with a son in the professional wrestling business, I understand how over-the-top trash talk is used as a theatrical style. It is used in family sitcoms. It made guys like Jerry Springer and Maury Povtich rich and famous. And it was an element in President Trump’s “The Apprentice” program.
For a reason I can only assume, Trump has maintained that style as part of his public persona. While it personally repulses me, I can understand that it is both his political strength … and weakness. It can explain – at least to some measure — how he maintains such a strong loyalty from so many wonderful Americans and conjures up so much hatred among so many other wonderful Americans. (Yes… wonderful Americans. I am not into the demonization of the vast majority of the American People – only the establishment that creates the divisiveness.)
Those who hate Trump see his language as offensive, outrageous and indications of a deeper malevolence. And they see it as a golden opportunity to spin his words in that direction. Why Trump provides the grist for the Democrats’ and the media’s mills is a mystery to me.
As a person who has been in the business of coaching folks in public communication, I have given Trump a “D” for his own performance. He would not have to abandon any of his toughness – or his war on the Washington establishment — if he were to tamp down this more outrageous rhetoric. And if he would not gratuitously say controversial things and engage in senseless name calling that do not appear to serve even his own interests.
The problem with Trump is that he too often takes a valid point and wraps it in pugnacious language that empowers the negative spin – and has any valid point lost in the wake of controversy. But he DOES have a point at times – and that is what resonates with millions of voters.
Case-in-Point 1
Trump recently compared his situation to that of Black folks – specifically on the subject of unfair treatment by the institutions of justice. Democrats and the leftwing political establishment jump on the statement with their usual spin. They called his statement offensive, outrageous and racist. That included a number of Black Democrats, who piled on for obvious partisan reasons.
But … did Trump make a point? How is that remark resonating with the average Black voter – especially a ghetto-trapped Black voter?
I contend Trump fares better than Democrats – and even Black Democrats – suggest in their spin. Unequal justice is one of the primary oppressions of institutional or systemic racism. Law enforcement – police prosecutors and courts – are not delivering equal justice to the segregated and impoverished inner-city Blacks. That is a fact.
If not more tolerant, oppressed Blacks tragically become more inured to crime and injustice as a matter of everyday life.
Trump’s comparison – even clumsily stated – potentially gains gravitas with oppressed Blacks because there is a general belief among many Americans that Trump IS being treated unfairly by the justice system. The mere number of cases – all brought by Democrat prosecutors (especially those who vowed to “get Trump” in their campaigns for office) – creates the appearance of political motivations.
As a person with extensive involvement with the Black community and Black issues for more than half a century, I believe Trump’s comparison will resonate with a lot of Black voters. I do not believe it will hurt his support among Blacks — which appears to be growing — and may well gain him more support at the grassroots.
Case-in-Point 2
When discussing the character of those illegally crossing America’s southern border, Trump points to those posing a danger to the American people – the criminals, the gangbangers, the drug peddlers and even those carrying diseases. On occasion he does make the distinction between the criminal class and the average illegal border crosser – although they too pose a threat to American resources, stability, and security. Unfortunately, the anti-Trump media only focus on those statements they can spin. And that is a criticism of both the biased media and Trump’s lack of clarity.
Trump haters jump on those statements and spin them as evidence of Trump’s racism, xenophobia, and nativism. But Trump has a fair point. One can agree that the vast majority of border crosses are not heinous criminals — or modern day “Typhoid Marys” – and still understand that there are a LOT of heinous criminals with tons of drugs, potential terrorists and folks with serious communicable disease among the millions of illegal border crossers. In fact, more than 6,000 people with criminal records were detained at the border this year alone. Multiples of those numbers are believed to have entered – including hundreds of thousands of got-aways.
The fact that New York has had a drop in murder rates and other serious crimes – as noted by those who are okay with open borders – is irrelevant. Regardless of the overall rate, illegal migrants are an unnecessary addition to the statistics. The crime rate would be even lower without the masses of migrants flooding American cities and towns.
Those statistics do not matter to the family of Laken Hope Riley — who was brutally murdered in Georgia by an illegal migrant with a number of prior deportable offenses – and the thousands of other victims of crimes and accidents involving illegal aliens that should not have happened.
Summary
I cannot explain why Trump chooses to talk trash the way he does – or why he says things that are needlessly provocative or so easily open to misinterpretation or spin. And I have not changed my opinion regarding Trump’s pugnacious and bellicose personality. I still think it does more harm to the cause than good.
But those who think it is not effective – or does not resonate with a lot of American voters for good reason — are obviously mistaken. American voters are intelligent. They can look past Trump’s clumsy rhetoric — and they can look past the specious spin of his political adversaries. Put simply, millions of American voters do not believe the Democrats’ political narratives. Demonizing Trump as evil incarnate and an existential threat to the American democracy has not worked.
According to the polls, most American voters like Trump on most of the critical issues. They prefer him on the age issue. That seems to be one explanation why Trump can engage in trash talk and run ahead of Biden. They get the point buried in Trump’s rhetoric and the fallacy in his adversaries’ political narratives.
So, there ‘tis.