When asked to describe Donald Trump, perhaps for many the words “idiot,” “racist,” or “orange” come to mind; however, maybe the word “genius” will prove to be more fitting. While his campaign may seem to be a bit ludicrous and disorganized at times, it is impressive nonetheless.
For starters, nobody has ever come from a non-political background and been a legitimate candidate for presidency, let alone become the single representative for their party in the election. On Trump’s pre-campaign career, Senior Mark Genzer states, “The Apprentice… that’s all I’ve got.” Few have associated Donald Trump with politics, yet he’s in the running to be our next president.
More impressively, Trump was able to gain the support of conservatives across the country and back the Republican Party into a corner. If the RNC attempted to bring down Trump because they didn’t want him representing their party, he would have just run as an independent and made a Republican victory nearly impossible.
Trump started campaigning well before his campaign officially began. In 2012, just after Mitt Romney lost the race to President Obama, Donald Trump put a patent on the term “make America great again.” He also began making connections with conservative leaders by donating to their causes, attending their events, and hosting them on his own property. By doing this he was able to make friends with influential conservatives and get them on his side.
Trump is also an expert at media manipulation, which helped his campaign greatly. In the years prior to his campaign he was able to promote himself via Fox News for free. Through the media and social media, he was able to establish himself as one of the most talked-about people in America.
What makes Donald Trump more of a household name, however, is his outlandish statements. His remarks are why many people consider him to be an “idiot,” but, upon deeper inspection, these prove to be products of genius. Sure, the comments about him haven’t always been positive, but he was the the most talked about nonetheless, and this was no accident. Donald Trump knew what he was doing, and his “idiotic” statements were a part of his plan. It was all a successful matter of exposure.
These uproars actually benefit Trump in some cases. For example, he has been accused of making racial slurs about Mexicans, saying they are “criminals” and “rapists,” and that we need to build a wall and deport them. Obviously, these comments are going to generate a lot of hate, and this is exactly what conservatives want to hear. Trump knows that to win the votes of Republicans, he needs to tell them what they want to hear, which no one has done like Trump.
Perhaps the reason he is so comfortable and carefree about these comments is because he has nothing to lose. If he loses this presidential election, he will still be a billionaire. This makes him very dangerous and almost impossible to attack; aside from not having a political career to target, he is also willing to say anything he needs to in order to fire back and regain the edge on his competition.
A lot of Trump’s statements seem absurd, but their timing and delivery is highly strategic. Many are familiar with the predicament regarding Donald Trump’s comments on the race of Federal Judge Curiel. These comments do not change any viewpoint that people already had about Trump. “Oh, another story about Trump saying something racist, eh.” Does it really take anyone by surprise? No. So this really didn’t cause him to lose much popularity since some people already had the pre-existing opinion that Trump was racist.
However, this occurrence dominated the news, and it was absolutely genius. Since the racial comments that Trump had made were being talked about, the case itself was not. It was all a decoy. And it worked. Judge Curiel had issued the release of certain documents containing very disruptive information about Trump University. It was no coincidence that Trump made these comments on the very same day that the documents were released, and instead of hearing about the fraud that took place within Trump University, America heard about the comments Trump made regarding the Judge’s race.
There is a lot of negativity surrounding Donald Trump and his campaign, but his strategy is working. I mean, the guy could very well be the next President of the United States. I am not saying that Donald Trump will make a good president, nor am I saying that I agree with his beliefs. What I am saying is that before you decide to label Donald Trump as an “idiot” or “racist,” realize that there is a method behind his madness.
