By Victor Davis Hanson
Thursday, August 04, 2016
Early 20th-century modernism ignored classical rules of
expression. But late 20th-century postmodernism blew up those rules altogether.
Barack Obama was a modernist candidate. He turned out
vast numbers of young and minority voters, mastered new social media, and in
2008 overturned the old-guard Democratic furniture such as Hillary Clinton.
In contrast, Donald Trump has simply destroyed normal
politics. Unlike Obama with his record Wall Street fundraising of 2008 and
2012, Trump has raised almost no money. He ignores endorsements from political
kingpins. Trump has organized no serious voter registration drives. His
convention was bizarre, showcasing his kids instead of party bosses and
special-interest groups.
How about internal polling? Trump seems to have none.
Sophisticated opposition research? Zilch.
Standard talking points? Not so much.
Teleprompted speeches? Trump prefers ad hoc stream of
consciousness.
Candidates are supposed to avoid the pitfalls of press
conferences as much as possible — and prep for days when they are obligated to
give them. Not Trump. He thrives on unscripted rants to the press without much
worry about what he says.
Candidates dislike and fear reporters, and so seek to
flatter them. Trump openly insults them and occasionally kicks them out of his
press conferences.
Modern politicians generally avoid getting pulled into
nasty, lose-lose fights. Trump welcomes brawls against all comers.
Hillary Clinton has taken huge quid pro quo contributions
from rich people as she damns the influence of big money in politics. Trump
cannot seem to find any big donors. He trashes crony capitalist insiders on the
grounds that he used to be one himself.
Traditional politicians such as Mitt Romney were
perfectly groomed and rarely appeared without tailored suits. Modernist
politicians such as Obama like to be photographed on the golf links appearing
young, hip, and cool, wearing shades and polo shirts.
But Trump defies both traditional and nontraditional
tastes by wearing loud, long ties, combing his dyed-yellow hair over a bald
spot, and tanning his skin a strange orange hue.
Politicians attack each other while faking politeness.
The coolest do it with nuance. Not Trump. He uses taboo words like “liar” and
“crooked.”
Modernist candidates voice platitudes about border
enforcement. But only a postmodern one would demand that Mexico pay for a wall.
For a modern politician, a gaffe is an inadvertent
truthful statement. For a postmodern Trump, the only gaffe imaginable is to
stay silent.
All presidential candidates court top party officials,
former presidents, and defeated rivals, and seek praise from newspapers and
magazines.
When Trump either does not win such approval or is
ridiculed by major media and those in his own party, he pouts, saying his
critics are losers without much clout anyway.
The bible for modern politicians is political
correctness. They must defer to every imaginable hyphenated group and
“community,” employing euphemisms or self-imposed censorship while sidestepping
race, class, and gender land mines as much as possible.
Again, not Trump. He says what he pleases. If he blows
himself up with a politically incorrect outburst, what is left simply flows
back together, as if Trump were some sort of political version of the
Terminator.
Trump was supposed to fade last summer. His crudity was
said to guarantee that he would lose Republican primaries.
Then, pundits said Trump’s vulgar style of primary
campaigning would not translate well to the general election.
Now, even seasoned politicos confess there are no rules
that apply to Donald Trump. He just keeps shouting that things are getting
worse and no one will admit it.
We live in a politically correct age in which President
Obama is unable or unwilling to mention radical Islamists as the terrorists who
have killed hundreds in Europe and the United States.
No one dares suggest that the more than 300 sanctuary
cities in the U.S. are a rebirth of the illiberal and neo-Confederate idea of
nullification of federal law. Black Lives Matter is idealized as a civil rights
group despite the chants at its protests about violence toward police.
Doubling the national debt to nearly $20 trillion in just
eight years is regarded as no big deal.
The public is growing tired of two realities: the one
they see and hear each day, and the official version that has nothing to do
with their perceptions.
Trump comes along with a ball and chain and throws it
right into the elite filtering screen — and the public cheers as the fragile
glass explodes.
If most politicians are going to deceive, voters
apparently prefer raw and uncooked deception rather than the usual seasoned and
spiced dishonesty.
Will Trump fade in August, implode in September,
self-destruct in October — or win in November?
No one knows. There are no longer rules to predict how a
fed-up public will vote. And there has never been a postmodern candidate like
Donald J. Trump.
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