TRUMP A MASTER AT BRANDING OTHERS AND HIMSELF

TRUMP A MASTER AT BRANDING OTHERS AND HIMSELF

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

Donald Trump is a charismatic celebrity personality. He is a billionaire who knows how to wheel and deal with the big boys, which makes him a consummate big businessman in our materialistic culture. Trump does not make any excuses for playing the crony capitalistic games. Proudly he says he has given millions of dollars to politicians of every persuasion to win favors. This bypassing of regulations, which hold other businessmen back from accomplishing their projects, does not affect him. Many of his followers view this corruption as a normal part of business although they hope he will change his habits as soon as he is elected.

Trump says he is financing his own campaign and cannot be bought. He fails to say once he is in power how is he going to recover from his horse trading addiction. His modus operandi has become a life long method of accumulating power and wealth.

Trump’s impromptu speeches show a wit and fearless entertaining ability of pointing out the absurdity of politically correct speech in dealing with critical issues facing all of us. The credit for opening up discussion on previously taboo subjects belongs to Trump’s engaging style of talking directly to the people. This style can be mean spirited toward anyone who poses a threat according to him. He does not argue the merits of his ideas but goes directly for the jugular. His ability for personal destruction of his opponents is masterful. The opponent’s strength is attacked making it a weakness by repeating a narrative that is not supported by facts.

Donald Trump can take a statement and twist it into a pretzel. He can make it mean something very different. In one of the first debates Cruz criticized Trump for his “New York values”. Over the years Trump has taken many liberal stances. In 1999 he had an interview with Tim Rusert justifying his support of abortion and gays in the military stating: “I live in New York City, in Manhattan, all my life so you know my views are a little bit different then if I lived in Iowa.” Trump attacked Cruz for having no respect for New Yorkers. This blatant change of Cruz’s statement from an indictment of liberal values to Cruz belittling New Yorkers changed the news cycle against Cruz. Trump had the audacity to reinforce his position by calling Cruz” a nasty guy” for degrading New Yorkers.

This technique of labeling his rivals: “Little Marco”, “Low energy Bush” and “Lying Ted”, have stuck. Other times he uses a sleight of hand by making an offhanded rude comment like the “the face of Carly Fiorina, Megyn Kelly’s blood shooting out where ever, Ben Carson’s psychopathic profile of a child molester and Cruz’s six affairs without a shred of evidence. These innuendos plant “the seed of doubt” about these people that has a real impact on how they are viewed. The attacks disappear as soon as the person stops being a challenge but the branding sticks.

His branding and marketing skills are also used to build up his celebrity mystique. ”I am the best negotiator”, “I will make America great again”, “My business products have been top notch and successful” as he displays his Trump brand water, meat, clothing and hotels while not mentioning that many of these items have failed in the marketplace. It is all about Trump, with no credit given to the staff that actually did the work.  He is an egotist who uses the word “I” incessantly.

Trump’s complaints of rigging the Republican primary against him because the rules are different in each state is an indictment of his ignorance of our political system. Our founding fathers threw roadblocks in the way of populist candidates. They set up the Electoral College on the national level and left the nomination of candidates up to the political parties and states. They understood total democracy led to chaos. Instead they chose a representative government to nullify large swings in the direction of the country caused by a cult of personality.

Mr. Trump’s threat of running on a third party and riots at the convention should be a red flag that he does not understand that electing a president is not the same as the coronation of a king. The power of charisma was the key factor in President Obama’s victory. His bypassing of the rules of law has been devastating to our system. Trump is coming from the same perspective as Obama except he chose to run on the Republican ticket. Trump and Obama are believers in large central government, personality power and behind the scenes deals to disregard the other two branches of power. They are both proponents of crony capitalism/a fascist state.

The voters who want an America based on the restrictions of the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Judaic Christian moral values need to look elsewhere than Trump.

They should look for a candidate who adheres and follows a steady and slow course dictated by the power of the three branches of government instead of the power of a charismatic personality as the president.

Branding of self and others is a powerful skill that should not determine the selection of a presidential candidate. In America presidents have come and gone but we have had stability by following our Constitution and the rule of law. Our republic is the difference between us and all other countries throughout history.

Let us not give up on our founder’s wisdom for a quick fix. Our nation has taken a radical, progressive fix of statism that has to be corrected over time to put us back on course. We should follow the compass that our founders set down for our greatness.