Donald Trump and the Californication of American Politics

26Apr/110

Donald Trump and the Californication of American Politics

Thomas Sowell's commentary in National Review today about the dangers to Republicans in a serious Donald Trump bid for the presidency, while excellent, missed a couple of important points about the other current candidates, declared or no, along with the phenomenon that is the rapid ascent of Trump's popularity among the rank and file.

While Sowell correctly identifies the reason for Trump's rise, namely his fiery denouncements of all things Obama, it's difficult to wholly accept his statement about the rest of the 2012 field being milquetoast when it comes to this area:

But how many Republican catch phrases can you remember? Republican rhetoric tends to range from low key to no key.

Seems to me that Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann aren't exactly lobbing Hostess Sno Balls out there. Not that the MSM is broadcasting anything they say unless they see it as a gotcha moment. It's so refreshing to know in a world of $4.23 a gallon gas -- that's the price I saw today in my little corner of the San Francisco Bay Area -- kinetic military action minus agenda purpose or plan in Libya, an economy that's stuck in neutral and is being driven like a manual transmission car negotiating the hills of the City by the Bay, a crushing and growing national debt, a disintegrating dollar, and budget deficits destroying state after state, the digital ink-stained wretches of the media are on the case diligently seeking out squirrels wherever they may be imagined to be found. But I digress; back to Sowell's column.

While the notion of Trump as a serious candidate gives little cause for glee, the enthusiasm with which he is being received says much about both the genuine hunger for someone, anyone, to come out shooting against the socialistic policies and practices of the Obama administration and what is referred to in the title: the Californication of American politics.

An explanation. As a California native and almost lifelong resident of the state, I have had more than ample opportunity to observe firsthand how things are done, or not, in the increasingly tarnished Golden State. Out here, politics is as much a matter of style as substance. It's not who has the best plan laid out who garners the most votes. It's the candidate who communicates them the best. The one who plays well to the spotlight. The one whose demeanor most says they are a star. It's all about the personality. Sometimes we've been fortunate and found someone who had personality plus principles along with sound political beliefs and policies to match (see Reagan, Ronald). Other times, not so much.

In Trump we are seeing not a small amount of, to simultaneously quote and paraphrase Anthony Kiedis, hardcore soft porn done politics style. Trump brings a fair amount of star power to the genre. A whole lot of folk gravitate to such. If that's what it takes to get them to pay attention, so be it. Hopefully they'll slide away from that shallow reason and become engaged over matters of substance. However, chances are they won't, especially if they rely on the same media which Trump has mastered for their information.

This is the greatest danger of a Trump candidacy. Not that he'll win the Republican nomination, although theoretically it is possible. It's that even as Trump introduces hard issues, which in all fairness he does do particularly in our economic woes, these things and more serious candidates will be ignored in favor of that which most satiates the seemingly endless thirst of pop culture consumers for the trivial.