I have made this point before. Attacking Trump head on only fuels his anti-establishment support. It is only by occupying the ground he occupies that some of his support can be captured.
Attacking Trump – from any direction – only seems to strengthen his support. That suggests that his support is coming from those who feel that their fears are completely unrepresented by any of the other candidates. The 2016 election is dominated, I think, by the avoidance of worst fears and not by the meeting of aspirations. It could well be that nobody will be able to take away from Trump’s support unless they can articulate the same disdain for establishment politics and political correctness that he does and address the worst fears that exist.
The current headlines in the US media are now about how and why Clinton will trounce Trump. It all sounds exactly like the reasons given over the last year for why Trump couldn’t win the Republican nomination. Some of it – especially in the left leaning media – HuffingtonPost, Slate, Politico and Washington Post – are more like wishful thinking rather than analysis. They have not learned from their past mistakes and still haven’t understood the strength of the anti-establishment wave. Bernie Sanders is the only other candidate from either party who has begun to understand the mood abroad. To take away the “politically incorrect” territory from Donald Trump may be beyond Hillary Clinton.
My prediction for November is that Clinton support is more likely to collapse than that Trump’s campaign will implode. And therefore I will not be at all surprised at a very close run election and even if Trump wins.
I started compiling some of the articles since June 2015 which explained why Trump was not going to win the Republican nomination, but I found this had already been done by Moon of Alabama.
Pundits Knew It Early On – Trump Could Not Win The Nomination
- The Super-Quick Implosion of Donald Trump’s Candidacy – Huffington Post, Andy Ostroy, June 30 2015
- Donald Trump is surging in the polls. Here’s why he won’t win. – Vox, Andrew Prokop, July 2 2015
- Trump won’t win, but yes, he matters – CNBC, Ben White, July 17 2015
- Trump campaign implodes after McCain war hero insult – New York Post, Aaron Short, July 18 2015
- Trump won’t be the nominee: Want to bet? – Journal Sentinal, Christian Schneider, August 11 2015
- How Trump Loses – BloombergView, Jonathan Bernstein, August 13 2015
- Why Trump Will Never Make the Ballot – Daily Beast, Stuard Stevens, August 20 2015
- Here’s why Donald Trump won’t win the Republican presidential nomination – Guardian, Tom McCarthy, August 22 2015
- Nate Silver: ‘Calm down,’ Donald Trump won’t win the GOP nomination – Business Insider, September 10 2015
- 5 Reasons Donald Trump Can’t Win The GOP Nomination – US News, Brian Walsh, Spetember 15 2015
- Eight Reasons Trump Can’t Win – The Stream, Warren Smith, September 16 2015
- Mitt Romney: Donald Trump won’t win the GOP nomination – New York Post, October 1 2015
- Trump will lose, or I will eat this column – Washington Post, Dana Milbank, October 2 2015
- Why Donald Trump Won’t Win – Political Wire, Taegan Goddard, October 18 2015
- Numbers show why Trump can’t win – Yakima Herald, Cokie and Steven Roberts, November 30 2015
- No, Donald Trump Won’t Win – New York Times, David Brooks, December 4 2015
- Donald Trump Won’t Win Just Because More Voters Are Paying Attention – FiveThirtyEight, Harry Enten, December 4 2015
- The Donald won’t win as a Republican or as an independent – US News, Lara Brown, December 11 2015
- Yes, Donald Trump will implode. Here’s why. – Vox, David Roberts, January 8 2016
- Keith Olbermann Returns And Perfectly Explains Why Donald Trump Will Not Win – Politicus USA, Jason Easly, March 25 2016
And of course the reality is
Kasich Dropping Out Of Presidential Race; Donald Trump Assured GOP Nomination – NPR, May 4 2016
Tags: Donald Trump
May 24, 2016 at 7:16 am
[…] media is filled with anti-Trump vitriol. (These attacks are counter productive and I have written elsewhere of how Trump and the anti-establishment wave he is riding feed on these attacks). The consensus even […]