Presidential candidate Donald Trump is depicted by his detractors as a buffoon, a bully, a liar, a bigot stoking fear and hatred, and if ever elected, a danger to the most fundamental values that underpin the nation.
He claims he's smart. And he's accomplished a good deal to suggest he's right. He turned a small fortune into a huge one. He became a TV celebrity. And he's leading the Republicans in the polls for their party's nomination for president.
Much evidence suggests that Trump is crazy like the proverbial fox. His behavior appears spontaneous and reckless. But some observers have signaled an artful method to his madness. BuzzFeed reporter KcKay Coppins depicts Trump as a "masterful marketer" and notes that he "spent years methodically building and buying support for himself in a vast, right-wing counter-establishment -- one that exists entirely outside the old party infrastructure and is quickly becoming just as powerful." Coppins reports that "Over the past four years, Trump has been laying... foundations with a careful campaign ..." According to a Washington Post review of Trump's speeches, he is, for the most part, "a disciplined and methodical candidate... [revealing] a pattern of experimentation." Are his infamous comments that appear sexist or even misogynous for real or just for show? His former female employees testify that he was a superb mentor, helping them succeed and even to rise into upper management in the male-dominated construction industry. His vulgar attention-grabbing showmanship could explain why his support appears to be greater than revealed by surveys conducted by live callers where, because of a "social desirability bias," folks fear being judged negatively for supporting him. He polls six percent higher in non-person-to-person online polling. The case for his being smart is also supported by the fact that whereas many high level politicians and CEOs ruin themselves by stupidly breaking the law, from all evidence - and his enemies have been digging deep to find damaging dirt - Trump has played by the "legal" rules.
So let's suppose he's really smart in getting what he wants. He wanted to be not just rich, but super rich, so he did what was necessary. He wanted to be a TV celebrity, so again he did what was necessary. He wanted to be married to a beautiful woman, so he serially did that too (to "a wasp-waisted babe" whom, columnist Kathleen Parker claims, "every man secretly wishes were his").
So with all that accomplishment, what next? Why not the greatest possible achievement, President of the most powerful country in the history of humanity? So how to get the project going? Establish a base with a significant portion of a major political party fed up with politicians who appear spineless and bought by big money. Present them, as Trump did in the first Republican debate in August 2015, as prostitutes to monied interest: "I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And you know what? When I need something from them, two years later, three years later, I call them. They are there for me... And that's a broken system." This resonates with folks on both the left and right.
So, to become President, do what it takes to quickly draw attention. Try making politically incorrect and even outlandish statements and see if that works. If anything was learned from turning a small fortune into a huge one, or becoming a TV celebrity, it's you've got to take chances. You're decked by a few bankruptcies or other setbacks. Get up off the mat and throw some other punches. Like in business, so in politics, take the risks and see if they score. Show independence and toughness. So long as the polls show increasing support, stay with the program. If they start slipping, tack again and continue adjusting until the Republican nomination is bagged. Then recalibrate to attract a broader base that includes more democrats. Win the election.
President finally, so now what? The only thing left is to become a great President. But how is that done? Study what it was about past Presidents that make them so revered today? Coming out on top are those who spearheaded measures that improved the lives of the general public and not just a privileged segment of the population such as the wealthy. But weren't those measures rather liberal? Afraid so. But if Trump is as Machiavellian as he appears, that should matter little. After all, he once supported single-payer national health insurance. So staying with the Machiavellian script, he's got to do what's required. And that is how Donald Trump becomes the next progressive President!
When this scenario was expressed to a friend, the response was "you're dreaming cartoons!" Yeah, probably so. He's probably just not that smart. Moreover, a recent Harvard study has found "strong evidence that Machiavellianism leads to deviant behavior." He'd just carry through with some right-wing program, eliminating the minimum wage, cut taxes, gutting programs that benefit the general population, continuing with policies that devastate the environment and ruin the economy, and taking the nation to increased polarization and civil strife. But maybe there would be a silver lining to this. As Milton Friedman wrote, "Only a crisis--actual or perceived--produces real change." Or as those on the left put it back in the 1960s, you've got to "heighten the contradictions" to get real change. Only when misery has reached a certain threshold will folks awaken to the full extent to which they've been had. That's what the suffering of the Great Depression did. Americans turned against the ideology of the rich and embraced policies that for 40 years decreased inequality, increased social mobility, democratized education, and provided some of the best economic growth in U.S. history.
So is it the case that the progressive cause could only win should Trump do so as well? More cartoon dreaming!