Love or hate him, one must stand in awe of the mojo of Donald Trump.
With very little money, next to no ground game, no pollsters, mainly newbies on his staff, shooting totally from the hip often without even a teleprompter, unaffiliated with the Republican National Convention — at odds the whole way in fact — engaged in endless sophomoric Twitter wars, he rolled over his 16 opponents for the nomination, including Mr. ‘low-energy’ himself, moneybags Jeb Bush.
He singlehandedly dismantled the Clinton and Bush machines.
How did he manage to pull it off?
The public has for a long time been displeased with politicians.
Even so, it is not easy to understand Trump’s success in the face of his outright lying, his demeaning of, among others, minorities and women, and his general crudeness. Would he have succeeded if he had been less brash?
Perhaps not.
The public was fed up with “politically correct” double talk from politicians.
Trump’s brashness created an effective image that he was not your regular politician — but a true rebel.
He tapped into a discontent that politicians had totally misunderstood.
Was his brashness a deliberate tactic or is this the real Trump?
Over the coming months we will find out, but so far, every time the press or public anticipates him settling down, such as after winning the nomination, or after winning the election, he’s gone right back to his basics.
Theodore Theodorsen
Manhasset
Readers Write: Trump tapped into discontent
