Campaign 2016 - Part II Offense or Defense
Trump And Clinton
If you have played Bridge,
and know all the rules by heart,
you know trump cards win.
How strong is the new breeze?
The advantage is with the attacker.
It has become a phenomenon how quickly Candidate Trump has surged to and maintained his lead in the 2016 Campaign for the office of president of the United States of America!
He has done it by attacking everything in sight and made adversaries from Mexico to China, not to mention current President Obama, a "do nothing" Congress, democrats, and even members of his own party (if you accept that he is a Republican.)
In a country where a majority of people (92%) hold Congress in low esteem, and the current administration's numbers are not much better, attacking is an obvious strategic, and popular choice.
What such a choice does for Mr.Trump is this: it makes all the other candidates choose up front whether they will also be attackers or spend their time defending themselves from his attacks. Defense is not a winning tactic.
Mrs. Clinton, the other front runner (so far) is vulnerable to attacks. She faces the hurdles of overcoming Mr. Trump's attacks, the attacks she has inevitably faced from Republicans anxious to win back the presidency, but also the possible and growing attacks from members of her own party who see her as increasingly vulnerable.
Her long, and very public, track record offers grist for the mill. Her vulnerabilities are numerous. Not the least of them is her most recent claim that voters can trust her at a time when it appears that her efforts to control her own emails as Secretary of State Clinton appear coming back to bite her in terms of possibly mishandling top secret messages and failing to turn over documents in the timely manner her own department required...if at all.
The Trump Mystery is becoming clearer.
Mr. Trump is a curiosity. Trying to ignore him is no longer possible. Trying to make him into a joke has only endeared him more to many of his supporters; and the average Jills and Joes who had given up ever having a voice of their own, hear him saying many of the things they have longed to be heard saying.
Even Mr. Trumps "political gaffs" have won him the label of someone who is not afraid to speak his mind, even when those who mind find his remarks those of a buffoon.
There is also a certain fascination in watching Mr. Trump's bombast rooted in the impression that he is wealthy enough in his own right not to have to be politically correct in order to finance his campaign by riding the backs of rich "donor tigers" who have so often devoured their previous passengers.
It's far from over....
Surely with 15 months left until Americans vote things can change. Front runners can fade as offense and defense become refined.
Senator Sanders is drawing large crowds in a surprisingly effective early challenge for the nomination of the Democrats. Mrs. Fiorina shows progress and is a challenge to split the votes of America's women voters whose votes were once conceded to Mrs. Clinton. Ben Carson is a fresh face in a field of otherwise white faces. Jeb Bush carries good and bad baggage of family inheritance and has, so far, avoided heavy, direct attacks on Mr. Trump.
Interestingly all this has aroused some actual interest in potential voters who don't usually vote. 24,000,000 watching a not-too-easy-to-view first Republican debate, spoke of real interest in seeing how Mr. Trump would comport himself when faced with real politicians.
Given that real politicians are fair game for everyone these days, Mr. Trump appears to have chosen correctly in choosing to attack everything in sight, even targets over the horizon.
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© 2015 Demas W. Jasper All rights reserved.