opinion on the not-so-fun Trump show

 trump the candidate
===

 
“I play to people’s fantasies. I call it truthful hyperbole.

 

It’s an innocent form of exaggeration — and a very effective form of promotion.”

 

 

 

 

Donald Trump

<Art of the Deal>

 

====

 

 

“Took God 6 days to create the universe.

Bad management.

 

I would’ve done it faster, cheaper & Satan would pay for it.”

 

 

 

 

Twitter hashtag #TrumpBible

 

 

========

 

 

Dr Webster G. Tarpley

“The loudmouth bully, the megalomaniac hotelier, … appealing to elementary class consciousness. How, in the world can you be so stupid as to think that a multi-billionaire could care anything about you, or your family, or your fate? Someone this crude, this barbaric … Ignorant, profoundly ignorant, but (Trump is) repeating the cynical table conversations of Mexican and other oligarchs, with whom he hob-nobs, preferentially.

How do you think he could care one whit about any American working family?

 

=========

 

 

Ah.

 

 

The Trump show.

 

 

This may be the only time I will write something to discuss Donald Trump as a presidential candidate.

 

 

 

Overall.

 

It is sad.

 

It is disturbing.

 

 

Most of all … from a serious point of view … he reflects everything and all the things I hate in leadership style.

 

Trump leadership style

Trump leadership style

– Diminishing leadership style.

– Hyperbole leadership style.

– Results are only thing that matter leadership style.

 

Let me explain them.

 

 

Diminish.

 

People are stupid, dummies and don’t know what they are doing.

 

 

Hyperbole.

 

Mexicans, China, employees, women, etc. … all love me.

 

 

 

Results

 

Well.

 

Just watch the 30 for 30 “SMALL POTATOES: WHO KILLED THE USFL?” and you will hear a prime example.

 

Suffice it to say ‘making the deal & making money’ is all that matters and is at the core within his style.

 

He justifies it by saying “if you win and you get more money everyone is happy <and loves me>.”

 

 

 

So.

 

 

As I typed those three things I wondered which one bothers me the most … and I landed on the fact that one thing aggravates me and another thing scares me.

 

 

The aggravation? Diminishing.

 

This is an infamous bad leader tactic but on steroids with Trump.

 

He cuts down everyone else and builds up himself.

 

He looks to lower everyone to lowest level so he can create a perception of ‘better than’… and then doubles down on the tactic with braggadocio to put himself higher.

 

 

And he doesn’t even do it under the guise of constructive criticism but rather simply second-grade like ‘they are dumb’ rhetoric <it hearkens back to the famous “because” response you get from a child without real experience in articulating a rationale for what they say>.

 

 

The scary? The results aspect.

 

 

The way he speaks of results is what dictators say.

 

My people love me, everyone loves me, because I have made everything better for everyone … all the while ignoring the path to that ‘better.’

The end justifies the means … regardless of the means.

The dictator says “the path to better comes at a cost and one of the costs is if the weak can’t keep up they need to make room for the strong.”

 

I hear this between the lines of what he says.

 

 

 

When I listen to him … after I finish laughing & groaning … and think of what he said and how he said it … it scares me a little.

 

Dictators thrive on fear and promise solutions … at any cost.

 

scared what you seeI admit.

 

He scares me <on occasion>.

 

 

 

Ok.

 

 

Yes.

 

He plays into a thread of what everyone thinks and wants to say. Unfortunately he is choosing the doubt and fear and uncomfortable thread that always resides within us. He plucks that thread over and over again … and will do so regardless of how frayed that thread gets.

 

 

My voting views here are irrelevant. This is about leadership … or lack of good leadership.

 

 

And while sometimes it’s just fun to watch as he offends entire segments of the population at will, constantly gets facts wrong <or just makes things up> and most of his policy positions are relatively ludicrous or naïve … the underlying arrogance remains ugly.

 

 

And he attaches a massive sense of false bravado to the arrogance.

 

Question to Trump:

“So the difference between Hezbollah and Hamas does not matter to you yet, but it will?”

Trump response:

“It will when it’s appropriate.

I will know more about it than you know, and believe me, it won’t take me long.”

 

 

 

Look.

 

 

Unlike many people I do not expect even a president to know everything.

 

Skewering someone over not knowing something in the detail, even an important detail, is silly and naïve. That’s why you hire good people … to know shit that you do not know.

 

 

 

But.

 

 

It is more in HOW he answers.

 

angry steaming

“I will know more about it than you know.”

“It won’t take me long.”

 

The tone of bravado combined with an underlying “I am smarter than you … when I decide to show you” is the kind of crap a manager pulls to diminish and ‘put an employee in their place.’

 

 

I know he cannot be a simpleton and he is well educated and quick on his feet … the problem is Trump cares for little else other than Trump.

 

 

He is a dangerous narcissist.

 

 

His particular kind of truth about some issues reflects the views of only someone with no filter can and, practically speaking, all he really does is echo the generalized broad frustrations of the average American without trying to correct some of the misperceptions behind the frustrations.

 

 

Either he avoids substance because he has none or he’s got an agenda he doesn’t want to state until he can actually do it.

 

 

I am not suggesting the main lesson here is lost – telling the truth and not pandering to what people want to hear.

 

 

I admit that the candor, while buffoonish, is refreshing.

 

 

But <part 1> his type of candor is dangerous.

 

 

To Trump … dissension is unacceptable.someone says aggravating in meeting

 

He admits he holds grudges.

 

And not only does he hold grudges his actions reflect his grudges.

 

Trump first denied the Register press credentials to an event late last month, after the newspaper’s opinion writers published an editorial calling for him to exit the race. His campaign aides said that as punishment, they were barring the Register’s reporters from Trump’s rally in Oskaloosa July 25.

 

 

He does this under the guise of ‘strong leadership’ but it is really just a bully using a bully pulpit.

 

 

But <part 2> his type of candor is dangerous.

 

 

To Trump … plainspeak unfiltered is ‘truth’ … which makes me wonder if it is all a little disingenuous truth.

 

I say that because I assume while he sounds like a buffoon he is not one … and that he is smart and understands nuance & complexity <or at least I assume he does>.

 

 

He speaks to those who believe that cheap foreign labor, bad trade deals and immigration — legal or otherwise — have cost Americans jobs, and that the so-called political establishment has failed to address these problems.

 

 

At best all of that contains a thread of truth.

 

The truth, in a globally connected world, is more nuanced and complex.

 

Comparing labor between countries is like comparing apples to oranges.

 

Different standards of living means people demand different levels of things and set some expectations with regard to costs of goods sold and quality.

 

 

 

Suffice it to say … candor is fine if it isn’t tied to empty promises or fear … and, yet, those are the foundation for all of Trump’s candor.

 

To be clear.

 

 

I do believe leaders have a responsibility to the people – leading by hope versus fear.

 

And, to be clear <part 2>… acknowledging fear and pandering to fear <or anger> is miles apart.

 

 

And I understand that candidates are out there selling anything they think you will buy … the message and the personality and any leadership qualities, including charisma which can cloak ‘thinking’ flaws … anything they can attach to themselves.

 

trump sarcasm rude

In the end … I saw Ricky Martin wrote something the other day about Trump …“let’s not allow a political hopeful to plant his campaign in insult and humiliation.”

 

 

I don’t want my president to plant his campaign in insult & humiliation … and empty unrealistic promises.

 

 

I want someone who has the ideas and the initiatives and the policy positions to navigate not the ‘negotiation at hand’ but rather understand the job is about negotiating the future.

 

 

This is not a job to be done ‘on the fly’ or ‘at the negotiation table.’

 

 

This is not a job to be done by someone who is insulting in believing he is the smartest one in the room <any and every room>.

 

 

This is not a job for someone who showcases the insipid management style he portrays.

 

 

I didn’t write this because I dislike the man … I wrote this because I dislike his management style <which I assume would be indicative of how he would attempt to run the country>.

 

 

This may be the best show on earth at the moment … but it is a dangerous show.

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Written by Bruce