I know it’s my Jersey upbringing, but the solitary thing I like about Donald Trump is his ability to talk smack. He’s a pro. Here he is during a recent interview with Robert Costa of the Washington Post:
The interview did not focus on his opponents, and Trump spent almost no time talking about them. He has often said he is a counter-puncher who attacks primarily when provoked. But he appears to have at least one exception: Mitt Romney. Asked about recent criticism from the 2012 GOP nominee, Trump made clear he fired the first shot. “I don’t blame him because I’ve been very tough on Romney,” he said. “He’s a choke artist.”
Trump claimed credit for keeping Romney out of the 2016 race though he bowed out long before Trump ever became a candidate. Dismissing the suggestion that it was former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s fundraising prowess that kept Romney from the race, Trump insisted, “He got scared away by me! By my mouth.”
It’s not even delusional. It’s just a put-down. He doesn’t care if it’s even plausible as long as he can get a reaction.
Mr. I like people that weren’t captured kept Mr.47% out of the race. Too funny.
Reaction politics…goes along with America’s empty nutrition diets and zero-fact news media. Not to mention the zero-local-content goods at most stores.
Everybody likes “smack talk” when the object of the ridicule or dismissal is someone they dislike. Dumping on Romney works across the board, but adding that he is responsible for scaring away Romney from a 2016 run only resonates with that half of the GOP primary electorate that felt they had to suck it up for a loser. Smart move for the GOP primary contests.
Non-Republicans are more likely to appreciate his smack down of his opponents that want to “start WWIII over Syria.” But will they like a modified version that he could use to smack down Clinton? How furious would that make partisan Democrats?
Overall, “smack talk” is cheap talk. And if voters were informed and adults, “smack talk” would be punished because it denigrates the importance of governance to all our lives. To make the case that Romney was wholly unqualified to be President would be responsible, but Trump isn’t exactly the person that can do that, can he?
>> if voters were informed and adults
and if frogs had wings they wouldn’t bump their asses.
He is a morning drive radio host searching for a hook to keep you tuned in.
Nothing more.
True as to his presentation style, but he’s actually more. Do the right wing radio hosts criticize all the corporate monies flowing into GOP coffers? Call for efforts to overturn CU or assert that CU is fine and dandy except for campaign money from Unions and Hollywood? Are they on-board with the GOP candidates that are willing to risk WWIII over Syria or are they with Trump? Finally, while crude and racist, Trump’s immigration schtick does hit at an emotional and simplistic level for Americans that know the US economy isn’t serving them well.