Dumbagoguery

Donald Trump recently said something so politically stupid and rude that he prodded his somnambulant rivals into much-belated criticism and simultaneously secured his place as ranking Republican Dumbagogue. Yet like a lot of Trump’s apparent off-the-cuffisms, his disparagement of John McCain’s status as a war hero was more calculated than it may seem — and probably less damaging. 

Over the weekend, a new national poll shows that the Donald is now leading the Republican field.  By a lot. (24% vs. the next highest, Scott Walker at 13% and Jeb Bush at 12%).  It’s unclear whether the poll was conducted before, during, or after Trump’s insults became the latest media flapadoodle. I suspect, though, that his poll numbers will not plummet precipitously, at least for a good while. Maybe the insult was not so politically stupid after all, despite the fact that veterans comprise a healthy segment of the Republican base.

Reason #1:  The Republican base to which Trump appeals does not like John McCain.  They do see him as a loser (another Donaldian insult) and as a politician who has not reliably forwarded their agenda (yet another yadda yadda . . . ).  

Reason #2:  That base enjoys and endorses argument-by-insult.  Look at the eight years of scurrilous attacks on President Obama (abetted by Trump’s disgraceful birtherism and show-me-your-college-transcript posturing).  Look at the thunderous silence by the ‘Republican mainstream’ following Trump’s profoundly offensive comments about Mexican immigrants, comments that jump-started the billionaire’s rise in the polls.  Look at the base’s long love affair with rude loudmouths like Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, and, when he was in his hey-day, Chris Christie, or during his full shut-it-down glory, Ted Cruz.  To many Trumpophiles, rudeness equals truth-telling authenticity . . . because they’re too ignorant to know or care about the difference. Dumbass name-calling equals civic and civil discourse!  Or trumps it!!!

Reason #3:  A distressing percentage of Americans are often stubbornly, willfully stupid. Opinions and prejudices substitute for facts. ‘Experts’ are dismissed as pointy-headed liberals. Logic and reason are sacrificed at the altar of undigested gut reaction.  Fear and anxiety about the country’s changing demographics, economics, and majority views about cultural issues are paraded as patriotism.  Take our country back! 

Reason #4:  The rest of the Republican field does not showcase intelligence either. Scott Walker’s flood of dumb comments (about bombing Iran on Day One of his [shudder] presidency or that Reagan’s greatest foreign policy achievement was standing up to the [U.S.] air traffic controllers’ strike). Lindsey Graham’s condemnation of ‘Al-anything,’  Mike Huckabee’s pugnacious Duggarism. Ben Carson’s comparisons of the Obama administration with Nazi Germany. Rick Perry in general (although he came out with a big Trump-slam today, one that would do a Thesaurus proud but is welcome nonetheless).  Most of the Republican candidates’ hysterical and to-hell-with-the-constitution condemnation of the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision (Ted Cruz?  Bobby Jindal? Bueller?).  All Republican candidates’ immediate (even before-the-fact) and stunningly unthoughtful condemnations of the ‘Iran nuclear deal,’ not to mention their wussy reluctance to endorse scientific consensus on everything from climate change to evolution to homosexuality not being a ‘choice.’ 

Reason #5:  Trump calls everyone else stupid, particularly his rivals.  Perry, Bush, Graham to name a few, not to mention McCain and Ebola-fighting doctors and all Democrats who’ve tried to accomplish anything at all for the common good.  Since everyone Trump doesn’t like (or is in competition with) is dumb, by the law of reverse idiocy everyone who likes/agrees with Trump is highly intelligent.  Just like he is, as he never ceases to assert.  Dumbagoguery works!  The stupid will be smart and will rightfully inherit this exceptional, English-only speaking piece of the earth.

I don’t think Donald Trump is stupid.  I think he’s slick and quick (quicker on the draw than his opponents) and out for who knows what, eventually — maybe just ‘winning’ in an obnoxious Charlie Sheenish way before votes actually need to be cast.  Trump knows how to hog ‘earned’ (read: free, because it will draw ratings) media and drown out his competition. He knows how to appeal to a reality TV audience dumb enough to believe that what they see is ‘real’ — unscripted, genuine, the gritty stuff of real life.  He knows how to transform troglodytic positions enshrined in decades of Republican Party platforms into rallying cries for ‘low-information’ (read: absolutely uninformed and unthoughtful) voters who want a demagogic champion who ain’t no RINO. As the Donald spews out rivals’ private cell phone numbers or ridicules their lack of material success, guts, and IQ scores, he presents himself as a bilious blend of P.T. Barnum, Gordon Gecko, Don Rickles, Pat Buchanan, and Machiavelli.  And god help us, a significant and growing percentage of the United States electorate eats up this diarrhetic mess and begs for more.  

Tomorrow, Trump is ‘going to the border’ for what no doubt will be another crass media stunt to whip the mouth-breathers into back-slapping frenzy. The equally but differently whipped commentariat will remind us that Herman Cain and Michele Bachman were embarrassing grease fires in the political pan, about this time in 2012, so not to worry — either way, lots of must-watch, breaking-news fodder.  In contrast to Cain or Bachman or Gingrich or the rest of last cycle’s losers, however, Donald Trump has enough money to keep his cleverly calculated piece of performance art going for a good long time — certainly through the upcoming debates, which promise to be the TV event of the summer.

Mark your calendar for August 6.  It would be perversely stupid not to watch the first Republican debate . . . for gaging how the non-Trumps deal with the actual Trump, for the much-anticipated entertainment value, and for reminding ourselves that there is, ultimately, an antidote for dumbagoguery.