Chuck Todd and others have come up with a list of six reasons why they believe Donald Trump has staying power.
Look, if you're going to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks, you're obviously not aware of what's going on. All of the reasons given, could have been applied to any of the other GOP candidates with a modicum of truth to it, but none of them explain what gives Trump his staying power.
I understand his staying power. I predicted it back in July, when everyone thought that his candidacy would sink over his comments about John McCain. I predicted that his numbers would dip, but then come right back. I even said that he could do this over and over again, recovering each time.
Ask yourself this simple question: Is speech consequential?
If it is, then speech may not be as unencumbered as is wont to be described as free. Trump's supporters fervently believe that speech is completely unencumbered as to be free from consequence, and Trump is the ticket to that right to inconsequential speech.
As a practical matter, Trump's supporters are against what they believe is politically-correct speech; whether or not they understand the meaning of being PC is irrelevant. In their eyes, it is a right to be politically incorrect. Trump even says so himself, but no one in the Commentariat believes him.
Now, as I said, whether or not they understand what PC means, is beside the point, because unlike someone like Bill Maher, to them politically incorrect speech does not require defense -- it is a completely unencumbered right to express any belief without consequences. Maher clearly understands that speech has value and therefore consequential, and defends what he says, rigorously, but many of Trump's supporters do not comprehend this; in that sense, many of Trump's supporters are poorly educated, and the polling data correlates to this.
If you distrust or disbelieve what I am telling you, through the next few weeks, apply my filter to every GOP candidate, and see what happens. Is the verbal scolding by Rubio or Cruz hurting Trump? Is another disgusting or questionably moral stand, hurting Trump? Is there a verbal outrage so disgusting that Trump cannot recover from?
Finally, there is a reason why this is happening primarily to the GOP and generally not to Democrats: The GOP have been stoking anger against what they term to be PC speech, for decades, going back to the days of Newt Gingrich. The final straw came with Mitt Romney's candidacy, whose loss is often seen under the belief that he continually attempted to navigate around PC issues by changing his opinions on them. To many GOP, Trump is fresh air, where a candidate expresses his opinions and sticks to them. Again, notwithstanding, the meaning of PC speech; obviously the 47% wasn't an issue of being PC or not, but of factual context.
No, I'm not writing a book, but there are still many issues to be expounded on this topic, including the rise of the Tea Party, and a full dissection of the conservative's indoctrination of America on the 1st Amendment. Maybe some other time?
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