What superpower does Trump have?
You know that game people sometimes play? The one where you choose which superpower you’d want?
Sometimes the choices are limited, such as in this typical group: “Telepathy, teleportation, super-strength, invisibility or the ability to regenerate your cells.”
But I’ve never seen a list that includes the one Donald Trump seems to possess, which is the ability to drive your enemies crazy and make them do stupid things.
We first saw this in evidence, at least somewhat, during the 2016 campaign. The Republican challengers were surprisingly flat-footed against him. And since his election we’ve seen it over and over and over with Democrats, the press, and NeverTrumpers.
I think what’s going on is twofold. The first is that Trump is very very different from their usual opponents. He’s unpredictable. He hits below the belt and above the belt. Whatever he does, they don’t see it coming.
But the second is that they really truly are convinced that he is the crazy stupid one. Therefore, if they can just rile him enough, he’ll reveal this unequivocally to the world. Plus, he’s not just crazy and stupid, he’s also corrupt, and so – like the boy in the joke about shoveling manure in the barn because he knows there must be a pony somewhere – they know that if they just dig and dig and dig they will find the pony that will sink Trump. This is not a pose on their part; they believe it.
All of the above, Neo. You illustrated it nicely yesterday, as well: he smashed the carefully constructed and long standing partisan dynamic, at least at the national level. Throughout the postwar era, and largely until Trump arrived on the scene, American liberalism set the tone of our national discourse and the Democrat Party was the default party. Conservatives operated within this sphere…sometimes fighting it strenuously, but often content with nibbling at the edges. Those who advocated going further (like Goldwater) were hopelessly unsuccessful
Reagan was the one exception, but only briefly and mostly in his first term. Since Bush I, the GOP had grown very comfortable being the “controlled opposition”. Again, there were a few exceptions…the Gingrich revolution of ’94 and W’s period of goodwill post 9/11. But they were brief; both Gingrich and W quickly and comfortable segued back into the paradigm set by liberalism.
Since W, the Overton window has moved dramatically leftward (on social issues, in particular). Much of GOPe was entirely fine with this, provided they could maintain the (albeit limited) power, prestige and influence they had. I think most Democrats were fine with that; it was a happy, comfortable arrangement. Indeed, given how indifferent many Democrats were about Hillary, I think a fair amount of them would have tolerated Jeb or Rubio winning the presidency in 2016, provided he did nothing to seriously challenge the liberal paradigm…which was almost guaranteed. One term for a non threatening Republican before electing President Warren, or Harris, etc.
Trump smashed this entire arrangement into a million pieces. Whatever the future holds, for him, for both parties, for the country as a whole, the arrangement will never, ever be put back together. Deep down most Democrats and Never Trumpers know this. And, it makes them furious.
The charges against Trump, which keep coming apart, appear to me to be projection. Democrats manipulate elections and systems to win, so they are convinced, or try to convince others, that’s how Trump wins.
I’ve seldom seen a more clear demonstration of how self-destructive intense hatred can be. But they’re trying to destroy my country along with themselves.
Sarah Palin also had this ability, but not as much of it, and she didn’t know how to capitalize on it.
Those whom the gods mean to destroy, first they drive mad.
To quote InstaPundit: faster, please. Trump is also blessed by enemies who are ridiculous. I generally agree with Ackler’s assessment, the previous status quo is no more and our “betters” are furious. We’re talking foamin’-at-the-mouth furious, and that causes them to do dumb things. Predictable things.
I wonder if Trump lucks into enraging them, or if has a sense of how he can offer up the most stinkiest of bait, and proggies swallowing the lure.
There have been three exceptional presidents in my lifetime; Eisenhower, Reagan and Trump. All three managed to confuse and confound their enemies. It’s almost like they all might have read Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”.
One of my favorite Eisenhower quotes:
“Don’t worry Jim, if that question comes up, I’ll just confuse them.
To Press Secretary Jim Hagerty who pleaded with Eisenhower not to answer any press conference questions about the delicate Formosan Strait crisis, March 23, 1955. (Eisenhower was, indeed, asked if using atomic weapons on China was an option. He delivered a long, confusing reply which was effectively indecipherable.)”
Reagan was known as an “amiable dunce”. He only managed to scare the Iranians into releasing the hostages and his “the bombing starts in 5 minutes” intentional open mic “gaffe” was part and parcel of his plan to dismantle the Soviet Union.
Trump has a carefully cultivated image of being a naive bumpkin, an impulsive naif, somebody to be disposed of before lunch on Tuesday. In reality he is a combination of Claudius, Machiavelli and Columbo. I doubt that he has uttered an unguarded word since he was 7 years old.
He launched a successful hostile takeover of the Republican Party and then proceeded to thoroughly discombobulate the media and the Democratic Party. Lucky? Who cares. I thank Providence for this very, very good man.
Trump’s “super power” is the ability to make his enemies act like idiots.
Roy Lofquist: “I thank Providence for this very, very good man.”
I share the sentiment.
Roy,
Amen. However the DC cabal will turn over every stone they can find to prevent another outsider from breaking their rice bowls.
Parker,
Winston Churchill, in a 1942 speech concerning the Second Battle of El Alamein, said “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
My eyes grow dim. I’ll not see how this plays out. But I take comfort in the thought that things will be better during my next turn on the wheel.
So far he has been annoying, but not dishonest schemer…
if he was at all.. he would have been done for…
Trump’s enemies are acting completely rational. If you were one of his enemies, and you had done what they have done, and you knew he was going to expose you, you’d act the same way.
You would have two choices:
1) Go to prison.
2) Act insanely in the hope against hope you can get rid of him.
#2 is a perfectly reasonable choice – though not one I support obviously.
Trump was a successful real estate developer in NYC where you have to deal with crooked politicians and crooked unions every day to get anything done. Washington DC is just more of the same. Trump has demonstrated he is capable of dealing with corrupt dishonest politicians.
The Dems and MSM have become accustomed to GOP members that humbly apologize and slink away to find cover whenever they’re attacked. Surprise! That’s not the way Donald Trump does business. I only wish a few more Republicans could learn from his example.
“Trump has a carefully cultivated image of being a naive bumpkin, an impulsive naif, somebody to be disposed of before lunch on Tuesday. In reality he is a combination of Claudius, Machiavelli and Columbo. I doubt that he has uttered an unguarded word since he was 7 years old.” – Roy
Indeed.
We also seem to be involved in a reality show scripted jointly by Frederick Forsyth and John Grisham. Too farcical to be le Carre’s work, but not yet into 007 territory.
There is one more thing Trump is doing:He is distracting the media and his other enemies with his tweets so that little attention is paid to the significant things really going on. He is giving average people a chance to see his results without subjecting them to 24/7 policy discussions on CNN.
What superpower does Trump have?
That’s an easy one: his emenies.
President Trump is using a lot of tactics described in his book, The Art Of The Deal.
I’d think that the DNC would assign that as required reading for candidates and lobbyists. Evidently they haven’t; he keeps setting the same traps for them, and they keep falling for them.
Example: out of the blue, Trump suggests something that seems outrageous. Everyone pounces on him, demanding that he retract it. He doubles down. The fury is dialed up to 11, and eventually dies down a little. THEN Trump backs down a little, which now seems like a compromise (but is probably what he wanted all along).
Variation: he says something true, but outrageous, with no proof. Enemies pounce. How unprofessional to say something like THAT without evidence! He waits until they’ve drawn all sorts of conclusions about the lack of evidence… and then he produces the evidence. Enemies are furious, helpless, and beclowned; Trump smiles.
We’ve seen these patterns, and others, over and over again. Amazingly, they work every time.
Think a minute
What Trump is doing is not an accident.
His tweets often have a devastating truth or rhyme in there somewhere
His jokes work because of this unmentionable nugget of truth,
unmentionable by anyone but Trump
And at at the bottom Trump has a real love of America and Americans
And just plain, very confident, common sense.
That is why he treats the Paris Warmist circus so harshly.
In the cold light of dawn it is a total and destructive and anti-American
scam.
We are supremely lucky to have this Orange Haired Man as President.
This is the funniest and most fun presidency I have ever lived through, and my first vote was for Reagan in 1980. I only hope to God Trump gets re-elected, but He may not have to help. The Devil’s retarded stepchildren in the Democratic Party are doing it for him.
>>Trump has a real love of America and Americans
And THAT is Trump’s superpower.
Agree with TheMadKing!
Trump’s superpower is that he recognized that our ‘elite’ class is infested with stupid, incompetent hacks that have delusions of grandeur. And being the rude bastard that he is, he treats them with utter contempt which drives them insane.
“they know that if they just dig and dig and dig they will find the pony that will sink Trump. This is not a pose on their part; they believe it.”
Just as with Reagan, Trump has his own set of Teflon armor.
Bill Gates has clearly, for some decades, had The Shadow’s Ring… “Which has the power to cloud mens’ minds…”
Seems as though Trump got ahold of it, and he’s using it relentlessly against his opposition… To the point where their frustration is driving them gongwipdoo…
https://youtu.be/zdChPkM77C8
The question no one ever asks in these “what superpower?” games is “What’s the price of this superpower?” In other words:
— What would I have to give up to get it, if anything? –and–
— What would it cost me to use it?
For all things must have their price; it’s in the nature of the universe. One of the things that makes the typical comic-book superhero implausible is that his powers exact no price from him. So: What’s the price of President Trump’s evident power to make his enemies froth at the mouth and tip over backwards?
I can’t think of one. Indeed, using his drive-’em-nuts power seems to confer not one but two benefits on him. First, he “drives ’em nuts.” Second, he positively enjoys the process. But what’s the price? Anyone?
Maybe this isn’t a superpower. Maybe it’s a deficit in today’s ever more shriekingly hysterical Left that any decent man could exploit. I rather enjoy it myself!
What is the price? Perhaps it is forgoing the life of a world famous billionaire with a beautiful family and mansions and resorts and airplanes and anything anybody could possibly want and trading it for the vicious slanders of a howling, crazed mob. Perhaps. But I sense it is something else. Hearken to the words of another president, one who’s face is carved into a mountain alongside Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
Ever watch boxing?
Ever heard of a guy named Iron Mike Tyson? Trump has.
Trump was associated with some of Kid Dynamite’s most fabled bouts… including his devastating win over Michael Spinks.
In that fight, Tyson displayed his most awesome attribute: the Aura of Invincibility.
The Aura of Invincibility has been possessed by a very select handful of fighters. It makes opponents hesitate… just a millisecond… before throwing a punch because they’re so worried about what’s coming back at them.
But at the world class level, a millisecond is often all that separates the Undisputed Undefeated Heavyweight Champion of the World from the pretenders.
When you have the Aura of Invincibility, your opponents won’t attack you like they should, even when you’re clearly vulnerable.
Trump has developed a similar attribute… an Aura of Fallibility… where opponents see weakness where there is none and attack when they shouldn’t. Then they get bounced around the ring like Trevor Berbick.
BTW, I have a three-way tie for best superpower:
1A Unconscious Probability Manipulation (LUCK)
1B Precognition
1C Telepathy
That’s a superpower rock-paper-scissors right there.
Some days he wouldn’t say
A pleasant word all day
Some days he’d scowl and curse
But there were other days
When he was really… even worse…
Some men are heroes
Some men outshine the sun
Some men are simple good men
This man… wasn’t one
And I won’t miss his moods
His gloomy solitudes
His blunt abrasive style
But please don’t get me wrong
He was the best to come along
In a long, long while…
–Stephen Schwartz, “Pippin – I Guess I’ll Miss the Man”
Trump reminds me some of Mikhail Tal, the world chess champion for only two years (1960-1961). Tal electrified the chess world with his shocking, speculative attacks which turned the Soviet scientific style on its head. He defeated Botvinnik, the godfather of the scientific style, with relative ease for the world championship when Tal was only 23 — a record which stood until Kasparov managed it at 22.
You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.
–Mikhail Tal
Top grandmasters eventually found ways to counter Tal’s mad attacks and Botvinnik retook the championship. However, when Tal first appeared, no one quite believe what Tal was doing.
Politicians will find ways to counter Trump’s style, but it’s going to take more than a few years.
Plus much of Trump’s strength rests on the broad support of voters who have figured out the Democrats and the Swamp. They are quite angry. It will take Democrats more than stylistic changes to pour oil on those troubled waters.
I think, I am sure, that they concluded years ago [back in the earliest ‘dead white man’ days] that there is nothing they can do to seduce all of middle America into collectivism; as an irreducible number of people in this country seem to have an innate attachment to liberty which is stronger than any attraction they might feel toward the collectivist promise of security and ease and “pleasure”.
Therefore their plan is to magisterially cull that population from the polity through calculated economic squeezes and imposed limits, to socially de-legitimate expressions of the liberty preference, and to then swamp whatever relict population of “Neanderthals” (as they frame it) remains, under a wave of more tractable – so they imagine – people.
For them its an evolutionary holy war, and your “selfish” and ‘depraved’ indifference to their psychological need to be treated as godlets whose quirks exist to be worshiped, is a crime that can only be rectified through your extinction.
Your existence is a reproach and an insult to them.
The fact is, that there is just no civil living possible with people who demand from you, what you neither need nor want from them.
A prayer for Donald Trump (modified from the film Patton)
Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to protect our President from the dark and corrupt forces attempting to remove him from office. Grant us the strength to confront those that oppose liberty and shine your omniscient light upon their treacherous attempts to undermine the will of the people. Graciously hearken to us as citizens who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may expose the evil working in the shadows to undermine our President and establish Thy justice for our country.
If the effort to impeach comes up short of removing him from office, and he wins in 2020 – both of which are possible – how will they impeach again? Haven’t they shot their bolt now?
I suppose I am assuming some rationality on their part, and they have some supporters who would be pleased with an unending stream of impeachment attempts, but somewhere out among the vast middle there have got to be more people who get tired of all this.
What is Trump’s superpower? If he was a comic-book superhero, his name would be something like Truth Serum or The Revealer. In his presence people blurt out their real thoughts and motivations. We also become much more aware of their limitations. The result is an era of accelerated learning about the nature of politics and politicians. We now know that:
– a large part of the Democratic Party favors open borders and unlimited immigration
– the media is controlled by a clutch of billionaire globalists; journalists are just minions who repeat the corporate line
– most politicians and journalists are just actors who read a script
– lying is considered totally acceptable in pursuit of progressive ideals
– politicians operate in a Panopticon operated by intelligence agencies
– the American Empire is driven by profit and career considerations, while the American people have become fed up with being the world’s policeman
– the FBI and most of the intelligence agencies are corrupt, careerist, and incompetent
– globalist trade pacts written by multinational corporations have enriched the few at the expense of most working Americans
– none of the “negotiators” of these pacts had the interests of most Americans in mind
– the GOP establishment is cynical and corrupt and is quite happy to play the Washington Generals to the Democrats’ Harlem Globetrotters
And lots more. The readers here could surely add many more of these points — things that have become crystal clear in the Age of Trump.
BTW, I was born during the Eisenhower Presidency. I agree with the poster above who said that Eisenhower, Reagan and Trump are the outstanding presidents of our time.