Seriously, folks – what does Trump have to do?
This may be Andy Kaufman’s greatest gag ever, but it’s getting away from him.
Some time back I floated the theory that Donald Trump is actually Andy Kaufman and I’ve suggested that this election is an elaborate piece of performance art. You may think I’m being silly, but that theory comes closer to explaining the last few months than most “serious” punditry we see.
This morning I see that at least one poll has him losing to Clinton by four points in Georgia. I repeat, in GEORGIA! That’s in the heart of freakin’ racist cracker Dixie.
If the goal were to destroy the GOP, what more could the man possibly do? No, hold on. That’s actually a real question. You can’t go too nuts because if you do you’ll give it away and spoil the joke. So nuking Disneyland is off the table.
But Kaufman – err, “Trump” – has to be wondering how far out on a limb that tipping point is. You court racist violence in rallies and it helps. You get some major fact wrong every other day and your base stays with you. You lie flagrantly. You attack beloved icons of your own party. You slander the parents of a soldier who died in Iraq.
You push the envelope. You ease out, trying to find the fine line of lunacy and tapdance on it.
And the worst that happens is that some Republican pols try to shame you. Stern, righteous lecturing it is, but here’s the thing: none of them retract their endorsements. Okay, okay, a couple with nothing to lose have, like one rep who isn’t running for reelection and Meg Whitman, who’s never been elected to anything to start with, plus a few staffer types. But the only big dog who’s stood up to you so far is Sen. Eddie Munster Ted Cruz.
KaufmanTrump has to be baffled right now. I mean, the gag has gone on way longer than even he could have dreamed and been disturbingly successful. Seriously, what does he have to do? He’s probably the only GOP candidate who wouldn’t be leading Clinton right now. She’s the most unpopular candidate the Dems have had since … ummm … no, wait, I’ll think of somebody. Give me a minute.
Let’s come back to that. I don’t exaggerate when I say that Trump could have locked himself in a closet and refused to speak from the moment he wrapped up that last delegate all the way up to election day and had a better chance at winning. Hell, that might have been enough. Because every time he opens his mouth his support fades a little more.
But still, he hasn’t found the tipping point. He hasn’t figured out what he can do to once and for all dynamite the whole works. He could advocate bombing Canada and a return to lynching and he’d still win 25 states (the lynching plank might actually put him back out front in Georgia, now that I think about it).
Clearly he’s trying, though. Disneyland might not be off the table, after all.
lullaby pit 
I think Trump doesn’t have to do anything. He is spontaneously combustible.
As for the GOP representatives, Trump has them checkmated. Damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
On the other hand is it possible that Trump has been planted as the GOP nominee by the Democrats, only Trump doesn’t know it yet 🙂
He hasn’t actually tried out his theory about shooting someone on 5th Avenue yet.
(kidding)
sorry someone keeps locking up my computer. the good thing about trump is he is no politician. we have enough of them that have been schooled in trying to shirt the laws. speaking of school you same are some literature major it sounds like possibly teaching in college. colleges that have now made it so expensive to go you have to have a student debt that would buy a house. only the privileged can now go. we need change not more of the lawlessness show us especially by hillary. to stand behind a party that would put a person with her character in office, well I just do not understand it. name calling, nukes, scare tactics to put a criminal in office, well I just do not understand it. yellow journalism at it’s best. not much of a writer I will admit it but I know economics and science and this country is headed in the wrong direction. our fearless leader has doubled the national debt in 8 years, wow, what an accomplishment. that will be good for your kids and obam bam care we make it much worse. Clinton will really step up the printing of dollars to make those that have saved all their lives money useless. we will see in a few years if this is where you wanted to go sam, I do not think you will even like it even if you have a lot of money. professors do now a days. it is not really serving the country living off the poor students but that seems to be the way it is going.
Ummm, Art, it was just this week that Trump was wondering why we can’t just nuke people. If you opened yourself up to real news coverage instead of the kinds of crap you’re clearly listening to (me, yellow journalism? You’re delusional) you might pick up on some actual facts.
And yes, there is a great deal wrong with higher ed. So far Trump and the rest of the GOP have said nothing that would help it. In the least. In fact, the GOP is a huge reason why so much is already wrong.
I appreciate that you read and want to engage, but these days you rarely contribute much other than noise due to the fact that you aren’t informing yourself with anything past FOX and Rush and Breitbart talking points. There are plenty of reasons not to like Clinton. The problem is that you don’t know what any of them are. You hate her for reasons that are pure fiction and ignore all the legitimate problems with her.
I know we’d all appreciate if your future rants were a little more fact-based.
ok, i guess i called it right you are a professor right. literature? it certainly is not in the business school and i doubt it is the sciences. sorry but when i hear you rant about crap it tends to, well, make me not listen very hard to what you are saying. so you want facts. her latest that we know of is delete her email files. she was given a get out of jail free card….
Lots of noise, very little signal. And denigrating a guy’s PhD when you have no idea what it’s in? Yeah, that reflects poorly on you.
So since you’re in love with the email scandal so much, let me ask a question. Just for fun, how come I have never heard you say a word about Colin Powell doing the exact same thing? Ditto Dick Cheney. Or how about Karl Rove deleting 22 MILLION White House emails?
There are two possibilities. Either a) you don’t know these things, which means I’m 100% right about your “news” intake, and also that your credibility in a discussion like this is zero, or b) you’re a hypocrite.
Neither is a good thing.
Our comment policy insists that people contribute to and advance an intelligent conversation. You are not doing that and haven’t for awhile. I wish you would. You seem like somebody who could offer useful comments if you were at least a little informed (and perhaps a tad less dominated by blind partisanship). Regardless, you need to up your game here.
Also, let’s minimize the silly name calling.
the university are putting themselves out of business through cost increases. they are a lot a like and very similar to government. no competition to keep prices low and a lot of waste. oh i forgot big salary increases also. just a thought. i really do not care for my self i have come and gone. the kids now a days will be denied that education and i feel sorry for them. the rich won’t care that is for sure they never have for the most part.
Art:
1: We do not approve all comments for posting here at S&R. We never have.
2: There is no right to have a comment posted at S&R (or any other blog, for that matter).
3: Our decisions about what to post rely on how well the comment conforms to our stated guidelines.
4: In truth, at least half of the comments we have posted from you do not conform to those guidelines and as such probably shouldn’t have been posted. If anything, we need to be more strict, not less.
If you like, you can review the policy in these two links.
https://scholarsandrogues.com/2013/01/28/sr-makes-major-change-to-commenting-policy/
https://scholarsandrogues.com/2013/11/23/a-word-about-srs-comment-policy/