The LuLac Edition #3013, August 25th, 2015

MESSAGE FROM BERNIE THE INTERN

The Yonk is enjoying the fact that Joe Biden might enter the race. In the meantime we're working on some things. Thursday is big day when it will be determined if he'll need the cornea transplant. We'll keep ya posted.

WHY TRUMP IS RESONATING

(Photo: Ebay).

We thought we’d do a David Letterman Top Ten list and give you the reasons why I think Donald Trump is resonating with the American public. I could go on a long diatribe but thought I’d put his rise in a short perspective that would capsulize what is happening here.
10. Trump is a familiar commodity to Americans. He has been on the scene since the mid 80s when he helped form his own football league the USFL. He famously sued for damages against the NFL. The number one sport in America is Football. Donald Trump and Football.
Just an example.
9. The Reality Show. Trump has been on TV for the last decade with “The Apprentice”. The show has had its ups and downs but you’d never know that if you listened to Trump. We are a TV nation.
8. There are some who say Trump, being a billionaire can’t possibly know what it is like to raise a middle class family. Very true on the surface. But Trump does give to charitable causes and can speak the language of the everyday guy. Part of his success is that he can relate. In a way, Trump has that Reagan like quality where even if you disagree with him, you can’t challenge him on what seems to be his belief in what he is saying.
7. Belief in what he is saying. A long time ago at a traffic hearing for a friend I was a witness. I told the truth but I did a terrible job. After the hearing I had breakfast at Neddoff’s. One of the local pimps (since deceased) who was in the Courtroom (he was also a witness for my friend) chastised me for the way I presented what I saw. I defended myself saying I told the truth. But he said that I did not tell it with enough conviction. He said “When that Attorney asked if you if you saw Jesus driving that car, as absurd as it sounds, you declare yes I did. Loud. You not only have to tell the truth, you have to proclaim the truth!” When I responded that there are always nuances to every statement, he looked at me scornfully and said “Nuances don’t mean anything when you’re trying to convince one guy, the Judge”.
He was right and I see what he was saying with Trump. Trump hasn’t backed down on anything. Most people have no idea how he’s going to get the oil out of the Mideast…..but they believe he’ll get it.
6. Force of personality. Ed Rendell was being interviewed on PCN for his tenure in office. Rendell spoke of how the force of one’s personality is just as important for a politician as is his agenda. Rendell seemed to be saying that a politician that can move the agenda does so by the force of their personality. Prime examples are FDR and LBJ in getting legislation passed that literally changed the face of America.
5. Americans love glamour. From the early days of movies, the public has always tried to aspire to what they see on the screen. If you look at Depression era films, and see how average people dressed in those days, that upward mobility portrayed in cinema became part of the everyday norm. (I won’t go into how current day films have put us on the opposite track, that’s another story for another day). But Americans at the start love the glamour. At some point Trump will be knocked from the pedestal but right now people are digging the plane, the copter and the young wife.
4. The Republicans are sick and tired of being lied to by their party. Reagan proclaimed he was Pro Life but in all the time he had a majority on the supreme Court, Roe V. Wade as never overturned.
The GOP Revolution of 1994 was seized by the wily Bill Clinton who co-opted a few of the GOP goals and used it for his own political gain. The GOP was promised a tight, conservative compassionate government in 2000 but instead wound up with huge deficits and two wars.
3. Trump as FDR? In a way yes. Trump is in effect running against himself and the very wealthy who have the means to heard their voices heard with the players. By not having to bow to the interests of the “donor” class, Trump in effect is saying he will truly be his own person. That will last long enough until Trump makes a decision that will be a nod to his big business roots.
2. Who is the real Republican? Who is the real conservative? By his argument and the portrayal by the media you have to say Trump. Trump says he will create jobs so that people will build themselves up. Notice he is not for the minimum wage but is for business. For private initiative. He vaguely says he will take care of the disabled and disadvantaged but I get the sneaking suspicion he’ll want the country to be a series of mini Trump subsidiaries. That said in the purest form there is, Donald Trump, it can be argued is the true Republican.
The challenge for him is to win over the other 50% in his party and then deal with a Democratic opposition that better be ready for him by issues.
1. The number one reason Trump is leading in the polls and has captured the imagination of the American people is because Trump, like Bill Clinton is blessed with enemies around him. No one else is making cogent arguments of any kind. The platitudes are great GOP boilerplate but no one has come up with an issues oriented solution on anything. If you disagree with Trump on Immigration at least there is something to disagree with. You know where he stands but because he has been flexible in the past, Americans right now prefer a candidate who will not talk about a deal or compromise but someone who will do the deal. Let’s never forget that both parties have failed this country.
The GOP was supposed to stop the President on what they perceived was his journey on the road to socialism. They had the majorities to do so. They failed.
The President was supposed to put America on a path to a new era. Indeed he has done some transformative things but not enough for some. Perhaps too much for some.
Enter Trump. What better candidate to bridge the gap between these two chasms than the person who relishes in “The Art of the Deal”.

THE MORE YOU KNOW THOUGH.............

(Photo: Onecitizenspeaking.blogsite).

It is with great trepedation that we say this but the one thing that might derail Trump is his lack of specfics. People love his fire and candor but once the political nerds start deconstructing how much a wall with a pretty door will cost, you might see some movement away from him.
However if Trump prevails and wins the nomination, you will see a Republican party debacle like 1964. How can any Hispanic voter embrace a party that decreased its totals when Mitt Romney suggested "self deportation?"
Can Trump and the GOP fair any better when he actually wants to throw them out, send them back like a conga line?

LULAC REWIND

Here’s what we wrote earlier this year regarding Iowa. Grab a corn dog will ya?
http://lulacpoliticaletter.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-lulac-edition-2825-january-26th-2015.html

AL GORE IN 2016?

 

(Photo: CNBC)

So with the slow water torture that is Hillary Clinton’s e mail saga comes the story that former Vice President Al Gore just might throw his hat in the ring. This story indicates a few things.
1. The lack of strong Democratic candidates on the bench. Martin O’Malley and Lincoln Chaffee do not seem to be the beneficiary of Bernie Sander’s so called Socialism and Clinton’s issues. The fact that there has been talk about Joe Biden, Al Gore and John Kerry, tells you the Democrats are a few inches from total disarray.
2. Gore, if he chooses to get in has the same issue as Jeb Bush. He has been out of the game for a long time. If Gore runs, and that’s a big if,  I hope he just lets loose and runs without handlers. He should avoid rehiring that gas bag Donna Brazile from ABC News and just be Al. Hell grow the beard again. But for heaven’s sake be yourself. And run as if you aren’t afraid to lose. All that said, will voters buy a recycled Al Gore?
3. With the specter of Donald Trump hovering, how can the Democratic party portray itself as the part of change and the future when they are reaching back in the oldies bin for the classic hits.

Anyway, here’s what I wrote about Gore a year ago in regards to stopping Hillary Clinton.

LULAC REWIND # 2

http://lulacpoliticaletter.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-lulac-edition-2690-july-7-2014.html