Stupid campaigns, stupid candidates

I haven't been writing much about politics because there's nothing positive to inspire me. It's the same stupidity that we've had since 2012. Republicans still don't know how to negotiate on appropriations, so they end up caving and sticking with the status quo.

This year some of the actors on the stage are different and worse. Hillary is still secretive and having trouble admitting her mistakes. Maybe she learned a lesson from her poorly received comments about how the FBI 'exonerated' her, because she was straightforwardly apologetic about her email server during the first presidential debate. However, secrecy does seem to be her to-go method to handle any information that shows her being less than perfect, including the human trait of susceptibility to illness. Hillary and her campaign didn't acknowledge that she was ill with pneumonia until she collapsed at an event. She could have shared the truth, but chose not to. We'll have to see how frequently she hides the truth during the rest of the campaign and in her administration if she's elected.

Although Hillary has a secrecy problem, Donald Trump has more problems than I can count, and they've been erupting despite his campaign's efforts to keep him in check and help him act presidential. Trump is a braggart who is temperamentally unable to back down from a challenge. He claims to be the best in all things so he can't admit or learn from his mistakes. This was clearly on display during the first presidential debate, when Trump was able to temper his comments during the first 30 minutes, but then slid further and further into his reactive mode, being accusatory, interrupting, disrespectful, petulant, and whining (about 'not nice' anti-Trump ads).

Since the debate, Trump has feuded about his treatment of a beauty contest winner (why he was justified in calling her names) and threatened to ramp up his criticism of Clinton into new areas. Some of his comments have come as tweets in the middle of the night, so probably weren't vetted by his campaign advisers. So far Trump hasn't increased his criticism of the Clintons that much. He questioned Hillary's loyalty to Bill and her sanity, but this isn't much of an increase in rhetoric considering what Trump has said about other people.

Yet I sense that Trump could blow at any time, and start spewing all kinds of conspiracy nonsense about the Clintons from the deep well that conservative media has filled for over 20 years. I really think this will happen because Trump has met my low expectations every time. He's fundamentally remained the egotistic blowhard who can't and won't learn to be better than what he already is. He may be able to be rational for a few minutes, hours, or days, but not for an entire week or 5 weeks until the election. I have to wonder what extreme anger Hillary or the media will goad him into. I feel certain there will be more, but I can't predict the direction Trump will spew at. But I am almost certain he will erupt with devastating results.

Image: mirrorspectrum.com

Losing campaign manager announces formula to beat Trump

Stuart Stevens, who didn't run a particularly good campaign for Mitt Romney, thinks he knows how to defeat Trump in the primaries.

First, you attack Trump as a lousy businessman. Uh,,, no. That's a bunch of boring details and back-and-forth. Being a good businessman didn't win anything for Romney, and Trump isn't winning on it either. Being a successful, rich celebrity inflates The Donald's ego, but isn't at all essential to his campaign or his appeal. So Stuart Stevens has this wrong.

Second, you attack Trump for not telling the truth. Ok, but this only works if Trump is clearly a bigger liar than the person making the charge. Trump can call Cruz the biggest liar because Cruz sent out nasty mail in Iowa, his campaign tweeted misleading information about Carson, he attacked Rubio about immigration while lying about his own vulnerability, his website had a doctored photo falsely showing Rubio shaking Obama's hand... and that was only in the last five minutes. So Cruz can't make that accusation about Trump. Maybe Rubio can attack Cruz that way, but only if he's been more honest and stays more honest.

Third, show that Trump doesn't have the temperament to be president. First, you have to make sure voters are paying attention, so you point it out at a debate. Then you insult Trump and get him really angry. Then the voters see that Trump isn't presidential material.

There are some problems with this strategy. You have to get Trump angry without being a total asshole. Possibly, since he's been forewarned, Trump won't take the bait, and he stays even-tempered. Then your argument will backfire. And finally, even if he gets angry and says some obnoxious stuff, how will that be different from 'Mexican rapists' and the other incredibly offensive things he's said that have actually raised his popularity? This might work with a candidate whose selling point isn't being obnoxious. I don't know that it'll work with Trump.

The last suggestions from Stevens are a jumble, which is ironic because you're supposed to accuse Trump of having a jumble of policies, including some leftist ones. (Very funny if GOP candidates would go after one another for having fake health care policies, or tax policies, or budget policies, or foreign policies.)

Finally, you attack Trump with the idea that he can't restore America's pride because he's a potty mouth. There's no way he'll bring dignity to the White House.

Yes, I'm sure so many Americans are so straight-laced that they can never vote for someone like that. I suspect Stevens hasn't listened to rap, or radio, or TV, or teenagers, or 10-year-olds, or anyone younger than 50. I can promise him that we don't talk like Mormons.

Image: wittybitches.com

Extras. It was so much fun writing this as yet another GOP debate took place. Some of the best and/or strangest lines: (Three sources--Bernstein, Mother Jones, and my sweetie's twitter feed.)

• Rubio (I think/not sure) tells people to google 'Trump Polish Workers."
• Trump is now just randomly insulting Cruz for not having any friends.
• "I don't believe anything Telemundo says" is actually not how you win Hispanic votes Donald.
• Cruz refuses to say whether he'd trust Donald Trump to appoint conservative justices. 
• The Fruit Salad of Their Life
• Health care is an issue Trump clearly doesn't know anything about. Like pretty much every issue.
• Trump now hares off on a spiel about Cruz attacking his sister. He wants an apology. Cruz isn't buying.
• Bash: "Getting rid of state lines will solve all our health insurance problems?" Trump: You betcha.
• Trump wisely attacks Kasich to keep Rubio & Cruz off his back for another minute.
• "I'm relaxed. You're the basket case."
• Closed captioning just gave up. [CC: Unintelligible yelling]

And that's where the funny bits slowed down and I lost interest (except for the last two in the list). However, it seems like Trump got creamed. I can hardly wait for the next set of polls and/or primary results.