Why is Trump Making Headway in His Campaign?
We know who he is.
You can test this yourself. Name five presidential candidates. Can you? Hopefully you can. I can name three. I’m more than common ignorant. Trump’s at the top of the list. Not because I like him, or even because I particularly don’t like him. I’m honestly neutral about the guy. I hope he doesn’t become president, because he’s annoying and seems to say dangerous things, and I think he’s the kind of person who the world would do well to take power from. But more than anything I think he’s kind of dopey.
No, the reason he’s right there at the top of my list is that he’s always there.
Where? asks you.
Everywhere, says I.
Whenever I go poking around the spoilerverse (internetz) he’s making weird faces at me. He’s winding people up till they let loose all their articulate irritation. He’s in a prominent place in my carefully organized sphere of attention. And I don’t like it.
He is getting free press. You are giving it to him.
He’s inescapable, like that rash that appeared after that time you got too drunk to remember what happened that night.
It’s all a popularity contest at this point. All this politicking. It’s not politics or governance yet. It’s a practice in analytics. The parties involved are just trolling to see who can get the most followers. They are just spreading themselves around to appeal to that horde of nonexistent yet frighteningly powerful individuals: the average American. If the average voting American goes into the primaries armed with the average media coverage the likeliest result is the advancement of the most known candidate. The “average voting American” is, in a democracy, the most powerful force: the united lowest common denominator. And the media is currently a free-of-charge Trump expo.
That’s it. No politics. No manipulation. Just notoriety. If you’re bothered by Trump — if you really want to negatively impact his campaign — ignore him. Don’t rant about him. Don’t analyze him. Don’t write about him. He’s running a marketing plan based primarily on a preexisting notoriety base, and you are part of the problem.
That’s just human nature. It’s frightening. It’s unnerving. We all know it’s true.
Do you find Trump disturbing? Do you wish he’d just stop trolling the system?
Yes?
Then do something about it.
Ignore him.
The next time you get angry at the sight of that weird hair piece and his strange lips and his pokey, beady little eyes, instead of writing anything defaming him, no matter how tempted you are or fired up or truly patriotic, pause to reflect. You’re making him more known. Instead, redirect that energy to something more creative: do some research on the other candidates. Write about them instead. I don’t care which. Literally any other candidate would be pleasant to hear about right now.
Do you want to hurt Trump’s campaign?
Do a little research; write something about one of the other guys.
p.s. Here’s a way you can keep up with all the politicos:
