http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm...ulist-8643

Analytical piece on the threads of populism Trump followed and why others didn't get it.

"Critics would argue that Trump’s populist strategy was inauthentic, haphazard, and borne out of desperation: he initially had few other choices to win the Republican nomination."

I think that just about sums it up.

Trump's populist movement is above all things, pragmatic. To the ideologue pragmatism is heresy.

He has two things. Charisma and a blind zealot following. He could shoot somebody on Main street and not lose them. He can flip on China. He won't lose them. It's a cult of personality.

(04-17-2017 12:49 PM)Machiavelli Wrote:  He has two things. Charisma and a blind zealot following. He could shoot somebody on Main street and not lose them. He can flip on China. He won't lose them. It's a cult of personality.

lol, someone forgot about the previous 8 years. Hard to get elected without either of those two, no matter the candidate.

HW and Nixon are about the only ones elected since the Great Depression who didn't have the charisma thing. You could argue that Hillary Clinton, Romney, McCain, Kerry, Gore, Dole, HW, Dukakis, Mondale, Ford, Humphrey and Nixon were all losers who were lacking in that.