How did this political apprentice blindside the country and deliver what Bill O’Reilly described as “the greatest political upset the planet has ever seen”?
In order to understand Donald Trump, the pundits and his political opponents read and re-read his dazzling book, The Art of the Deal, looking for the secrets of Trump’s successes in business, his ambitions and moral flaws. This was the folly, which led them to a critical misconception about Donald Trump.
Instead of reading The Art of the Deal by Donald Trump they should have read The Art of War by Sun Tzu, a Chinese warrior-philosopher who wrote it two thousand years ago. Sun Tzu taught that the central importance in war is deception. “Even though you are competent, appear incompetent. Though effective, appear ineffective. One with great skill appears inept.” “Wear them down by fight, foster disharmony, use their anger and pride against them,” advised Sun Tzu. We all remember the midnight tweets, “Lying Ted,” “Low Energy” and “Crooked Hillary.”
Trump meticulously created the image of a dumbbell to mask his multi-faceted personality. He had succeeded to the point that the Democrats genuinely believed that he was a joke, a clown, whose campaign was poorly organized and underfunded, who would be easily defeated in November. In the state of political intoxication many predicted an election Armageddon; a landslide Democratic victory, taking over the White House and the Senate, and the destruction of the Republican Party. Mark Cuban was even betting on the demise of the Trump brand and his personal bankruptcy. Some speculated that Trump had an ulterior motive that he was skillfully concealing.
It never occurred to his opponents or to the supporters that it was all part of a calculated strategy.
Trump understood long ago that the moral imperative of the president of the United States is to look out for the interests of this country; hence he framed his campaign into a movement of bringing the nation back from the ideological retreat it suffered with the election of Barack Obama. Trump had expertly used massive political rallies, media, and press conferences to deliver his promise to renege the iniquitous policies that caused the misery of the American people and offer innovative solutions to the nation’s problems. In the process, Trump had orchestrated and dominated almost every news cycle.
During a meeting with the president of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, Trump demonstrated superior to his interlocker political acumen when he prudently pushed the most explosive issue of building the wall to the margins of the agenda while Enrique Peña Nieto raised it, only to his own detriment. Those signs of political cleverness and intellectual prowess, a prelude of what was to come, contradicted to the accepted postulate and were mostly ignored by the Democrats and, over time, discounted by the Republicans leaving mutual incomprehension intact. As to preserve the ambiguity, Trump, after exhibiting aptitude, would retreat behind the veil of ignorance resisting the temptation of reassuring his supporters and consequently revealing the strategy prematurely. “The inscrutable win, the obvious lose,” taught Sun Tzu.
It all came to fruition during the last month of the campaign when the real Donald J. Trump had shown up. Intelligent, ruthless in his attacks, single-minded in the pursuit of his objectives, he exuded authority, evoked trust, inspired confidence and moral imperative. While Trump was talking about the replacement of Obamacare, bringing jobs, improving education, keeping America safe and rebuilding American inner cities, Hillary, who presumed superior maturity, suddenly found herself woefully unprepared for a substantive discussion of the issues. Desperate to contrive a response to Trump’s substance and populism, Hillary had allied herself with the radical elements of the socialist movement acting like Leon Trotsky of the United States, attacking capital more viciously than ever and advocating “fair” wealth distribution. Having nothing to offer she continued attacking Trump’s character bringing back his alleged mistreatment of women and disparaging remarks about Muslims and Mexicans.
Whereas Trump was going forward with the issues that concerned Americans, Hillary was going backward, recycling what had already been digested by the public. Economic and political realities compounded ideological differences. Rising costs of Obamacare, dismal economic performance and Hillary’s string of scandals were hardly a blessing for her presidential aspirations. Again, Trump adroitly exploited Hillary’s vulnerabilities and the extra dose of demagoguery and lies did not save her campaign and the Democratic Party from crushing defeat.
There was something at once heroic and heartrending in Trump’s immense steadfastness: heroic because only a person of great self-confidence could withstand the extraordinary pressure coming from all sides to reform his campaign and even abandon the race all together; heartrending because of an undercurrent of panic among Trump closest supporters doubting not just his ability to manage the campaign but challenging his sanity.
And yet the Democrats and the media will continue to question Donald Trump’s aptitude to govern this nation. The critics may devote themselves to revisiting some of Trump’s statements and point to a few tactical blunders he made during the campaign to elevate them into unfitness for the office. Given the current state of affairs the prophets of Trump’s demise shall not fall prey to the illusion that the voters are not conscious of the choice. Whether by intuition or infinite wisdom the American people have elected a brilliant man to be their 45th president.
By Alexander G. Markovsky (www.alexmarkovsky.com), author of Liberal Bolshevism: America Did Not Defeat Communism, She Adopted It, was born in the Soviet Union and now lives in Houston, Texas. He holds degrees in economics and political science from the University of Marxism-Leninism. He is a contributor to FamilySecurityMatters.org and his work also appears on New York Daily News, RedState.com, Israpundit.com and WorldNetDaily.com
@ ArnoldHarris:
@Ted Belman
??
Actually, what I have been trying to do with varied degrees of success is click on the highlight and quote or reply to button and then cut and paste the whole post to chit chat. Problem is it doesn’t notify the person it’s addressed to or take you back to the post being commented on. Sometimes, it just disappears no matter what I do. It would be great if there were an additional button for “reply to in chit chat.” And one that worked, of course. Difficult enough doing that when conversations wend on and of topic. I just wrote in “@Ted Belman” as you see. It won’t be in red and it won’t notify him.
Is this site customizable, I wonder.
Speaking of fish, I bet your wife would get a big kick out of Mel Brook’s “indian icthiologist” I posted earlier. I was playing a commencement at Nassau Coliseum and they sang a school song and had a motto just like out of some English public really private school from another era like in “Tom Brown’s School Days,” and I thought, well, don’t fish travel in schools? Now what might be the school anthem and motto in an elite fish school? Maybe “Roe, Roe, Roe your boat” and “Caviar Emptor?”
The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964) Official Trailer – Don Knotts, Carole Cook Movie HD
https://youtu.be/pSm6oQcsc3I
Hamas ‘seizes Israeli spy dolphin’ off Gaza
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34001790
“…Al-Quds said that the newest recruit was “stripped of its will” and turned into “a murderer” by the Israeli security services.
It shows the extent of Israel’s “anger” and “indignation” at the formation of Hamas’s naval combat unit, the paper reports.
Israeli authorities have not commented on the media reports…”
Do you think that whatever these Morlocks are smoking will ever be legalized here?
The Time Machine (4/8) Movie CLIP – The Morlocks (2002) HD
https://youtu.be/2KGv86GLvXo
1960 George Pal – “The Time Machine” (Morlocks excerpt)
https://youtu.be/5_S4eGrczdQ
Did RedState stop being #NeverTrump to allow this post?
Markovsky gets the points correct, but really needs to use simpler words. He should learn from Trump. bigly.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
SZ, your experiences sound familiar. Back in the mid 1970s, my wife and I bought a bluff-side rural property in a forested part of southwestern Dane County WI.
Not long afterward, we sought and took on professional employment in our specialized fields. Stefi got a job with the US Fish and Wildlife Service as a field archaeologist, checking out potential prehistoric remnants on that agency’s properties where they had proposed construction. For that assignment, Stefi was stationed in Minneapolis.
My position was as senior planner and later agency chief of a regional and bi-state economic development commission, working in Rockford IL.
We commuted to our jobs late on Sundays, then returned home in south central Wisconsin on late Fridays.
After a couple of years of that, we both smartened up. I bought one of the first IBM-PCs in late 1981, used it to teach myself to program in Xbase language, a skill I still use today in a relatively advanced version of the same language.
Now we commute every day to Madison WI for a couple of cups of Starbucks dark roast + decaf, followed by a workout at one of the supersize gymnasiums where we have been members since 1996.
Urban realities being what they are, we tend to avoid Chicago, except for Amtrak intercity rail departures and arrivals. But most parts of Milwaukee are still relatively safe, and that place is only about a 90-minute drive from our house.
(Any time now, I expect a warning from Ted Belman to continue these off-topic wanderings to his chitchat comment box.)
Arnold Harris, Outspeaker
@ ArnoldHarris:
Tell me about it. I wound up garaging my car in a cheaper area on the edge of the highway when driving back from jobs in Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Long island, upstate NY, or the outer boroughs and taking the subway home. Driving is much cheaper and faster than mass transit or cabs for long distances, especially if you are car pooling and you can go directly from one job to another. Plus, if you are a musician, they will hire you first because you can transport the others.
But, many drivers are just attached to their cars and will drive 2 blocks to the store.
Taxis are extremely expensive though now we are starting to see flat fare cab shares in some areas like Via and Uber during rush hour.
Driving navigation is much easier than before for drivers because of Israeli developed apps like Waze (I just had to get that in.) When I first started driving, I used to buy laminated maps of the local area I had to go to from Barnes and Noble and then return them with the receipt after the job.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
… if you are dumb enough to be driving a car in Manhattan. Not for no good reason did HaShem invent taxicabs.
Arnold Harris, Outspeaker
@ ArnoldHarris:
Well, for starters:
“16. While heading the profit of my counsel, avail yourself also of any helpful circumstances over and beyond the ordinary rules.
17. According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one’s plans.
18. All warfare is based on deception.
19. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
20. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
21. If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.
22. If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
23. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.
24. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
25. These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.
26. Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.”
http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html
In other words, waging a successful war effort is just like looking for parking in Manhattan.
I have read both Donald Trump’s “The Art of the Deal” and Sun Tzu’s “Art of War”. I also have been playing chess since I was nine years old. And I have a master’s degree in urban and regional planning.
But to balance off all of that, I devoted about 15 years spare time organizing sub-machinegun matches, for which I was trained and certified as a gunrange safety officer at the Knob Creek, Kentucky super-extensive machinegun range in 1995.
And now in relative old age, I still run a small business writing code for large-scale database programming.
But just what in the hell does any or all of that count for anything regarding political smarts?
In any case, as most of the Israpuditites know, I have been backing Trump against all competitors since mid-summer 2015, when I first saw all the 16 or so would-be Republican candidates, and watched Trump put down Megyn Kelly with unsurpassable panache.
Arnold Harris, Outspeaker
Watching the meltdown of the Left has been an absolute joy.
Watching the Leftist pundits being utterly embarrassed has been an absolute delight.
Watching Donald Trump outsmart the media had me reaching for more popcorn every day!!
Liberals blamed everybody but themselves but Donald Trump deserves tremendous credit for pulling off an incredible victory.What an amazing campaign that was!
Trump listed “The Art of War” as one of his top ten reading recommendations, as I mentioned – and corroborated – in an earlier post in response to a post that parroted the liberal media’s incessant bleating that he never reads.
And maybe Hitchcock, as well. He would often tell you the answer to the mystery early on and then quickly distract you with mis-direction so you would remain clueless until the end, e.g., “Ten Little Native Americans” (just being politically correct here.)
Alex Markovsky nails it. Was the best show in town, watching it go down. The hits keep coming. Don’t touch that dial!