Tuesday, August 4, 2015

David Brooks, "Donald Trump’s Allure: Ego as Ideology": And What About Hillary?



According to David Brooks in his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Donald Trump’s Allure: Ego as Ideology," "We are now living in a time of economic anxiety and political alienation." (Who would have ever known that?) Contending that these factors have set the stage for another Donald Trump presidential campaign, Brooks says of Trump:

"The times are perfect for Donald Trump. He’s an outsider, which appeals to the alienated. He’s confrontational, which appeals to the frustrated. And, in a unique 21st-century wrinkle, he’s a narcissist who thinks he can solve every problem, which appeals to people who in challenging times don’t feel confident in their understanding of their surroundings and who crave leaders who seem to be.

. . . .

Never before have we experienced a moment with so much public alienation and so much private, assertive and fragile self-esteem. Trump is the perfect confluence of these trends. He won’t be president, but he’s not an aberration. He is deeply rooted in the currents of our time."

But if Trump is today's supreme prophet of narcissism, what is Hillary, if not its high goddess. On Sunday, Maureen Dowd spoke of her "patina of entitlement and inevitability," as she engaged in "destroying digital messages and thwarting official investigations while acting all innocent about wiping out sensitive material."

And what is Facebook, if not the holy grail of narcissism from which we all sup?

"Economic anxiety" and "political alienation"? How about "economic collapse" and "political abhorrence"?

Unfortunately, it's too early in the morning for a ritual shot of vodka.

1 comment:

  1. On Monday night, some of us were watching 14 contenders at a Trump-free "Voters First Forum" in N.H. on C-Span:

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/08/04/at_nh_forum_a_respite_from_trump_127646.html

    Trump “gave various reasons for not coming here,” New Hampshire Union Leader Publisher Joseph McQuaid said on C-SPAN prior to the event. “The last one, interesting, is he determined ... that our newspaper would not be endorsing him for president.”

    as for Hillary?
    http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/250153-trump-free-forum-provides-rehearsal-for-gop-contenders

    "...Businesswoman Carly Fiorina has also won solid reviews on the trail as one of the party’s sharpest critics of Hillary Clinton.

    That continued on Monday night, with Fiorina saying Clinton “stood over the bodies of the fallen” and “lied about Benghazi.” Fiorina also accused Clinton of lying about using a personal email account as secretary of State.

    “I think Hillary Clinton thinks these are political inconveniences, but they’re far more than that,” Fiorina said. “These things go to the core of her character.”

    Fiorina, who is also likely headed to the earlier forum rather than the prime-time debate, took an implied dig at Fox News Channel’s criteria for determining who gets on stage by thanking C-SPAN for, “reminding the political class that we don’t have a national primary and for managing to get all of the candidates here to the first in the nation primary state.” "

    fwiw, my prediction for the Thursday debate is that Trump will be figuratively chest-slammed by Christie, Carson might be the only one to say 'you're fired', but the knockout will be Gov. John Kasich, just by being Kasich:
    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/08/03/ohios_kasich_from_zero_to_gop_debate_stage.html

    "...The governor’s unscripted style and “talk from the heart” is resonating ..."

    Roger Simon's candidate grades/assessment : http://pjmedia.com/diaryofamadvoter/2015/08/04/14-no-trump-grading-the-candidates/?singlepage=true

    [now listening to C-Span call in follow-up with Union Leader moderator Joseph McQuaid]

    k

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