In 2016 the pundits missed the undercurrent of unlikely voters who swept Donald Trump to victory. Axios now asks what the pundits and pollsters are missing this time, then answers their own question:
“To his diehard supporters, Trump isn’t just a candidate. He’s a lifestyle choice, and a vehicle for self-expression, a way to continually flip the middle finger at big media, big business, big government…”
— Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, The Trump Identity and Fashion Statement, Axios.com, September 15, 2020
Whatever it is that generates this zeal for Trump, Joe Biden has it….not so much.
Scott Ott, Bill Whittle and Stephen Green analyze the news of the day in the context of time-tested principles, thanks to our Members, who believe so much that the world needs more of this Right Angle, they put their own money on it.
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Bill Whittle Network · What the Pundits Are Missing This Time: Zeal for Trump on Parade, for Biden…Not So Much
23 replies on “What the Pundits Are Missing This Time: Zeal for Trump on Parade, for Biden…Not So Much”
By the way, I think those days of politeness and statesmanship were only because what we now call the Democrat media complex were in complete control. I personally believe the only reason things have changed is the advent of the Internet, and people like you three. For the first time, Americans are able to see both sides of the story and see the truth
Paraphrase of Lazarus long: when you treat a known scoundrel with fairness, you put yourself at a terrible disadvantage. Trump knows that these people are bullies and thugs, and he knows that you can’t treat them politely. They are his enemies, and ours, and he treats them as such. Like you, Scott, I remember the days of politeness and statesmanship. Those days are long gone. And not by us. But we must adjust to the reality. Personally, I like winning!
Scott, I think you made it very clear that you like winning, too!
Why do well intentioned people like Scott become blind to the reality that Trump is President BECAUSE he isn’t a nice guy… I’m way past apologizing for my guy. When you sick the dogs on the enemy you expect them to get bit.
Ben in reality he is a nice guy. He’s just not too polite with those who scorn him. And that is his upside.
His combativeness didn’t gain him anything? It gained him the Presidency and may have saved the country! Do you imagine country club golf wimps like Mitt and Jeb would not have been once again rolled by the combination of the Clinton Gang and the media? When the other side is swinging chains and pipes and purchasing phoney dossiers and having them given credence by the FBI and the CIA, a half hearted strongly worded statement isn’t going to work. Look at the rogues gallery of evil on the other side, in addition to the Clintons there’s Holder , Podesta, Axlerod, Sundstein, the various Emmanuel’s plus their farm team of the Squad and others. Do you imagine Mitt/Jeb would have stood by Kavanagh? Or Israel? Or fracking? Or deregulation? Not a chance. Any of those wimps would merely have slowed our speed off the cliff from 90 MPH to 75 MPH. Hopefully that wimpy Never Trump Republican Party is as dead as the Whigs.
I am with Scott 1000%. Could not say it better.
I live in Washington State, and I have seen literal thousands of Loren Culp (the republican challenger for governor) signs. I have never seen a Jay Inslee (our current governor) sign. I don’t even know what one looks like. I’m really hoping my state gets a change in leadership, and the tides seem to be turning
Anecdotal evidence only: Over Labor day I drove through from VA to NY (just outside NYC) and back. Through PA on I81 and I78 I saw many large Trump and Trump Pence signs and banners. Almost no Biden signs. It was probably 10 -1, and only the Trump/Pence ones were huge. Again anecdotal, but if you are going to hang a big Trump sign from a piece of heavy equipment at your business, I think your enthusiasm is pretty high.
I’m wondering if Scott Ott didn’t vote for Trump last time does he realize that whoever he did vote for, though I’m sure he’s well grounded enough not to vote for Harpy Hillary, was de facto vote for her anyway? By not casting his one vote for Trump, he empowered exactly one vote for Hillary.
I’ve said before that as a person and a personality I don’t like Donald Trump at all. My reasons for that have been well laid out and if you want to dig through my previous comment posts you can see them. It doesn’t matter what I think of Donald Trump as a person or a personality, he was the lesser by far of the two evils in the last Presidential election. The way I saw it, I had a choice between a genuine crook who would destroy America and Americans for her own personal ambitions or a clown who might accidentally have some success at keeping us from sliding into the abyss …
So I chose the clown because anything else just helped the crook. Do you see what that means? It means I more voted against Hillary Clinton than I that I voted for Donald Trump.
… And I was perfectly correct about him as a person and a personality, but …
This time I’ll be voting for Trump, not against the opposition. For all his faults Donald Trump has tried harder to do what’s right for America and the American people and has not only arrested our slide into the abyss, he’s actually put us on a path to avoid that abyss altogether. I took a chance, held my nose and voted for a New York Tycoon Playboy, warts and all but now I’m very pleasantly surprised at how well he’s done for this nation.
I don’t know about talking the speech of the everyday working person or having “the common touch” as Steve puts it. I know that Trump “gets it”, and I get him too solely for the reason that it’s not what you say, it’s what you do that counts.
So I have to wonder how many people are out there like me who will be voting not against the opposition but for a man who has done such a good job for our side. Our side being the United States of America. There are a lot of hide-bound Democrats and they have no monopoly on the binding of hides, who will vote for the nightmare the Democrat party has become no matter what. But are there a lot of people like Scott who withheld their support because they didn’t like the personality of Trump and had not yet seen the performance of Trump?
If so, then that is what these so-called pundits who are afraid they are missing something are actually missing. That this time Trump is going to have a lot more people who are voting for him and not against the Democrat candidate. If he won with a significant fraction of anti-votes cast for him against his opponent last time, how much bigger will be the win with the pro-voting phenomena working in his favor this time?
Thank you, Scott, for an especially clear summation.
I think everything is moving voters towards Trump except for two classes of voters: (1) Never-Trumpers on both sides of the aisle, both the people who really believe he told people to drink bleach and the John Kasichs; and (2) voters who are either truly low information/not paying attention and/or who believe the media’s narrative. Of these two groups, the latter is far more worrying.
In most elections, you have about 30% on either side who vote for one party and will not vote for the other one. It’s the 40% in the middle who matter. Unfortunately that’s where all the people who genuinely believe that the media is unbiased are, and it’s where most of the people who vote emotionally are.
The question is, how many of those people who vote emotionally “like” Trump? Voter enthusiasm is a huge indicator but it’s not a slam-dunk. Last election a lot of people didn’t bother to vote, either because they thought it didn’t matter, or they didn’t like either candidate. And, as Bill has pointed out before, Trump was elected by unlikely voters, not likely ones. So a lot of people who didn’t bother to vote last time are probably going to vote this time. But are they people who like Trump, or who hate him? I think the people who consider their vote rationally, like Scott, will vote for him unenthusiastically, but I think they are a small percentage.
I am hoping that all of the factors shifting voters towards Trump prevail. The biggest one might turn out to be people who can’t bring themselves to vote for Trump, but also cannot vote for Biden or Harris, and so won’t bother to vote. In other worse, the enthusiasm. I hope it prevails.
Laura – I worry less about those that believe the media than I do those that get their information from social media. My rationale is that if I add up all the viewers of MSM news programs, it is a small percentage of the population. Those folks have already made up their minds. Those who get their “news” from FB et al, are the ones who concern me. Their are a lot of them and the good news is stifled. Try to find a FB story or Twitter that is positive about the M.E. deals just done. Almost impossible.
Scott i understand you reticence at voting for trump because of the way he speaks and how he attacks the left in a somewhat boarish manner but i think you are incorrect that it is unhelpful and not necessary. The progressive left has, as you yourself have addressed, taken to painting the conservatives especially and even those who are left but not left enough as something less than human. They have taken control of the media, education, government and private industry to push an idology that would put the world in chains.
These people do not allow thought and reason into their minds because they have burrowed so deeply into depravity that to face the truth is excruciating. The only person who is willing to speak the truth to them in a manner that can bypass the mental gymnastics and make them face the truth for even a monent is The President and he can do that because he speaks in a rough manner that doesnt seem to care about the pain they will be inflicted with by witnessing the truth.
Is it more kind to expose lies and decite whatever the manner of speech or better to attempt in vain with niceties and platitudes that appeal to a sense of morals and etiquette they do not possess and do not want.
I freely admit that part of why i voted for Trump was that he was willing to say things that others would not or could not, because it was greatly amusing to watch the left explode but i have come to see that his manner of speech is exactly what was needed in these turbulent times and i thank God that we got even a small chance to turn aside from the headlong rush into destruction that etiquette and platitudes were forcing us down by allowing us to take the civilized path of compromise where we always gave just a little and they always take a little and demand more.
The slowly boiling frog effect.
I think it was Bill who said long before Trump was a contender for POTUS that if we, meaning the conservative side, are ever going to win we’re going to have to stop losing the pop culture wars and use that tactic against the left. As the left had used it so very well against us. The point being, the only way to fight fire is with fire.
Frankly, I’m sort of embarrassed by the things Trump says, sometimes not always. I can’t speak for Scott Ott of course, but I know he has a good education and like him I do mourn the passing of the august, eloquent, wise elder statesmen from the stage of American politics. I wish we had a Donald Trump who could at least speak like Ronald Reagan. But alas, those days seem to be gone and …
As you say and as I wholly agree with you, Trump is a blunt instrument were likely nothing but a blunt instrument will serve. In fact, it is the very bluntness of the instrument that is having the most effect on those who anything sharper and more subtle would fail to penetrate.
The left has bludgeoned us and beat us with pop culture, derision and condescension for decades. It worked for a long time. In the process they lowered the bar so far that when they laud and flaunt a child molesting serial rapist like Bill Clinton in their latest National Convention they have lost any and all standing to criticize a New York Tycoon Playboy for lesser transgressions.
They made this bed and now they get to lay in it. I rejoice at the delicious irony.
You’re right and I agree with you, Trump is what he is because that’s what works. It’s hard to argue with success, what works, works. That still doesn’t mean I have to like him as a person but I sure as heck will vote for him, again.
You can’t play by marquis of queens bury rules with people who will not admit any rules apply to them.
We are living through a pandemic, have missed out on weddings, funerals, graduations, reunions, retirement parties, have seen an unprecedented economy decimated, have lost elderly loved ones, have lost jobs and businesses and our children’s education and on and on.
And what does the “Harris/Biden” ticket offer us to build our morale and give us hope? More lockdowns, more mask mandates, a Green New Deal that will wreck the economy further and cramp our lifestyles, more closure of restaurants, salons, stadiums, theaters and churches, more encroachment on our First and Second Amendments, more regulations, more chaos and violence. What has their Democratic-controlled Congress accomplished in the last 2 years? And they wonder why there is enthusiasm for Trump?
What I find flabbergasting is the the so-called “pandemic” is one of a promotion of tyrrany rather than the acclaimed virus. COVID-19 has just been a convenient excuse to foment panic in the minds of useful idiots.
What “they” missed and will always miss is that experts are wrong a very high percentage of the time. Then “they” go on as if their experts are correct all the time.
Expert opinion is almost always different from what actually happens. Sometimes by a wide margin. See the record of an expert at winning at a casino for instructive detail. In the long run, the casino wins and the expert loses. The game is loaded in favor of the casino. THIS is not a prediction. This is how it is designed. Reality does what it does and does not take the expert opinion into account.
Why should we believe the experts? Unless it is a very simple mechanical or chemical system, prediction of the future is nearly impossible. Any complex event has so many factors affecting the outcome, you can’t know them all. Even predicting the direction of the trend is all but impossible for the same reason. Yet we follow breathlessly their pronouncements and bet our lives that they are right.
You might say “Who am I to know? I rely on the experts.” Your life depends upon your knowing. How is depending on an expert going to solve your problem? Do you even know how to select the expert to believe in? I question that you go beyond the pretty words coming out of the mouth of the experts. A fatal logical circle!
When your core supporters believe that western culture itself is evil and must be destroyed, people who are of that culture are probably going to have strong feelings against you. And for anyone who will stand up to you.
Just recently in Cincinnati, 9000 people did a “parade” around I-275 supporting Trump, which is 85 miles in a loop going around Cincinnati, and through parts of Kentucky and Indiana. The organizer said they expected at best a couple of hundred. Even the local media could not ignore that. (And as far as I could tell, they did not mock it either.)
My in-laws (they’re from Dayton) were helping my wife and I move from our apartment into our new house here in Cincinnati. As they were driving down I-75, they drove past the parade and said it was huge. My father in-law, like you said, heard that they were just expecting a hundred people or so. I don’t know how many of those people are out of state, but it was great to see all of the support!