Compared to What?
By G Murphy Donovan
“Less is more.” – van der Rohe
Donald J. Trump is often his own worst enemy. The recent assassination attempt followed the Republican convention in Milwaulkee are examples.
As Trump rose with a bloodied, yet defiant visage, midst a pile of Secret Service agents, he shouted one word, “fight.” That one word with Trump rising under an American flag became one of those iconic images that define American history – for good or ill.
Trump’s economy of thought and word at that moment of near-death should have been prophetic.
The convention that followed was a great success with a stable of speakers that can best be described as eclectic; a clutch of American archetypes that ran a spectrum from Trump’s lovely and charming granddaughter to rapper Kid Rock.
Unfortunately, there was no icing left for what might have been a great cake. If Trump’s acceptance speech had opened the party, the week in Cleveland would have been anticlimactic, indeed a bust. Fortunately, Trump’s acceptance opus was so late and so long, so digressive, you could argue that many of us were asleep – saved by a bell that didn’t ring.
Trump has great political instincts, if the question is just policy. And Trump has something to say, but he takes way too much time to say it. He is by any definition a pragmatic business tycoon, somebody who makes things, someone who likes to get things done. Unfortunately Trump’s common sense policy message often gets lost in a word salad of irrelevant and often aimless digressions.
Brevity is not the soul of the Donald’s wit. Tedious is not a virtue. Alas, Trump is Trump.
The question now is; Trump compared to what?
The Democrat Party candidate sweeps; between Hamas riots, anti-Semitism, and the Biden closet coup, is now a hot mess. The American left seems poised to throw a hapless Biden under the bus because he is polling so badly. Yet, they cannot ignore that giggling, left-wing matron waiting in the wings. Democrats are likely to double down on Kamala Harris, play the race and sex cards to a fare-the-well, and select some articulate male attack dog as a running mate.
If we can put aside the euphoria and gloating on the right at the moment; a new narrative on the American left is about to emerge, one that is even more radical and potentially toxic than Joseph Robinette Biden. It may be late in the day, but 2024 is now a new ball game.
The Biden coup and the Trump assassination attempt will be out of the news in a matter of days.
A good portion of the American electorate believes neither party has put up a winner for 2024. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s candidacy speaks to those phenomena.
Albeit, RFK may bleed off enough votes, or Democrat stay-a-homes, to put Trump back in the Oval Office.
Republicans have a unique opportunity in 2024. The common sense right would be wise to help pare down the rhetoric and premature gloating, focus on policy, and encourage Donald Trump not to let his mouth get in the way of his message – or the messenger.
In politics, as in good dining, sometimes less is more then enough. Trump’s economy of thought and single word at that moment of near-death in Pennsylvania might serve him well for the rest of the campaign.
“Fight!” Indeed.
Nevertheless, Trump needs to take some cues from wife Melania, whose quiet grace and dignity says all that need be said about public prudence, in word and deed, in a year when chaos is the norm.
G Murphy writes about the politics of Intelligence and national security.