They say that about the New York Yankees ...”love to hate them.” Why ...Jealousy? They always win? The ‘Yankee Mystique’? All the attention? The ‘Big Apple’? Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Roger Maris ...? They are in a class all by themselves. Yankees, “The Yanks” ...America. Beloved.
They also say ‘you always hurt the one you love’. It’s complicated. It’s also a popular song recorded by many artists over the years from Brenda Lee, Willie Nelson, Connie Francis, Fats Domino, The Impressions, Frankie Lane ...and the Mills Brothers https://www.bing.com/search?q=you+always+hurt+the+ones+you+love&form=PRUSEN&mkt=en-us&httpsmsn=1
Although Donald Trump is not “beloved” like the New York Yankees he is from New York City and he copped a lot of that love-hate mystique through association. He’s the quintessential New Yorker. It’s an interesting dichotomy though. Trump was and is what most of the rest of America criticize New Yorkers and New York for ...being out of touch, elite, snobbish, arrogant. It’s imbedded in our American popular culture ...https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=salsa+commercial+new+york+city ...
How Donald Trump became President of the United States of America is also an interesting dichotomy to consider. The man, seemingly, is an as**ole, and it has nothing to do with being a New Yorker and obviously not a deal breaker for becoming president. If you grew up in New York City and you’ve followed Trump’s career through the local news channels as a real estate developer and local bon vivant tabloid playboy you would have a totally different perspective of him than the people out in America, his base, who just know him as a brazen, shoot-from-the-hip, take-no-prisoners businessman, which he appears to be to them. They don’t really know his background and the “true” side of him, and they don’t care. He seemingly is the right man for the job, the man who will drain the swamp and save America ...and make America great again.
He’s saying the right things ...singing their song of anger and rage at the way things are.
I get that. I understand their thinking. But they’re not seeing the whole important picture and they’re not thinking it through completely. They’re buying rhetoric. Sadly, these voters are ill-informed and they are voting for a dead horse.
Trump’s personality doesn’t fit the office he holds as president, however, the office of the president fits his personality. Meaning, he revels in the trappings and the power, but he’s in way in over his head cognitively, intellectually and functionally. He’s trying to be a ‘tough guy‘ for reform, shake things up, take charge, but his mindless performance is an empty showbiz illusion that everything is all right.
Trump is brazen but he’s not smart. He’s a bully not “bullish” like Teddy Roosevelt. He is a classic narcissist so self-absorbed that he has no time or space in his psyche to execute the duties of his job. Which he isn’t. Infrastructure ...‘The Wall‘ ...health care ...his attitude toward anything he doesn’t understand ...like foreign policy ...diplomacy ...basic right and wrong. He has no boundaries, no filter. He never responds, he always reacts, and usually like a 6-year old.
Here’s his genius, however ...either by design or unwittingly (my money is on unwittingly) Trump has worked himself into a faultless position. He’s a ‘bad boy’ and America loves a bad boy. He’s Ray Donovan. But at the same time he can claim to be a ‘victim’ ...”everybody hates me!” If everybody hates him, and they do, there will still be a significant number of the voting population who will buy his pitch and actually feel sorry for him ...sorrow is a function of love. Last but not least, he’s a stand-up comedian. Everyone loves a stand-up comedian. He’s Rodney Dangerfield.
It’s a psychological ‘perfect storm‘ ...if you’re a ‘good guy’ good luck with that, there is nowhere to go but down. Someone will bring you down. But if you are perceived as a ‘bad guy‘ it’s a fun, exciting, and rewarding vacancy to fill and to bend the popular thinking around to perceive you as a good guy ...even a great guy. Nowhere to go but up. Imagery is everything. Case in point: ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid‘ ...bad guys but actually you love them, so they’re good guys https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=think+you+used+enough+dynamite+there+butch+youtube+clip+from+butch+cassidy...
Better yet, like Robin Hood, but in Trump’s case he robs from the poor and gives to the rich. Go figure.
Trump is certainly not a genius (maybe unwittingly he is). He’s not even a good guy. And I don’t think he’s a bad guy either, but I do think he is an as**ole. (As**ole: A stupid, irritating, contemptible person). I can understand why many voters like him though, even love him. He’s a phenomenon based on misinformation and misperception. A shell game con man.
I grew up in New York City and know Trump as the rich playboy wannabe he was. He placed himself in front of television cameras at every chance. I worked at an advertising agency there that did some ads for him. He was difficult. Rude. We resigned his account. Trump was lucky to inherit his father’s business and money. He became famous for his lechery and adultery, his poor business acumen, shady dealings and braggadocio. He perfected this image and somehow rode the wave right into the White House. Go figure, again.
New York City is a very media savvy town. You can’t swing a dead cat and not hit a headline in the New York Post or Daily News tabloids that won’t rock or shock you. One of the most famous was in the Post, ‘Headless Body Found in Topless Bar’. The copywriters at the ad agency got a kick out of that one. Well, this is where Trump lived in New York City, not the topless bar but in the tabloid headlines. His dallying and philandering, his first marriage to Ivana, the kids ...the affairs, the crooked deals ...his second scandal-imbued marriage to Marla Maples which produced Tiffany ...then Melania and Barron. It seemed like everything he did ended up on the front page then, and of course now as president.
But media savvy can backfire if you are on center stage every day and everything you do is either wrong, stupid, or both, and you continue to say foolish things.
Being an as**ole is not a crime. But is that the image you want the President of the United States to portray? Is that the role model you want for your children? Trump feels he can somehow get away with anything. He lies, lies, and lies and he doesn’t even realize it. In his mind, he’s making America great again ...one lie at a time.
Heredity or Environment? ...Design or Unwitting? You be the judge. Either way, you gotta take note of the guy love him or hate him.
John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-george-kushma-379a5762
http://newsbout.com/a/John+Kushma
