The Donald’s Captain Queeg Speech
LARRY THORNBERRY
November 16, 2015, 5:54 pm
For those who have an hour and a half to abuse, you could listen to what I call the Donald’s Queeg speech here. I’m not saying I recommend it. In any case, you’ve probably seen clips on TV of what for almost any other candidate would be a political-career-ending rant. (Howard Dean hit the skids over one lousy scream in 2004 — Trump’s speech was Dean-scream-squared.)
At least Captain Queeg’s unraveling came under tough questioning from a take-no-prisoners prosecutor. Trump’s performance here is unforced.
The Donald’s message in Iowa (which he brought in at a Castro-like 95 minutes), even with the rambling and the shortage of complete sentences, is clear enough: Elect me because I know more than anybody you can name about anything you can name. Dr. Trump diagnoses and dismisses Dr. Carson (pick this up at about 1:25). He knows more about IS than the generals. And he certainly knows more than those dumb-ass Iowa voters (highly-paid political consultants as we speak are trying to parse the brilliant new Trump strategy of winning votes by insulting voters — the equivalent boxing strategy would be leading with your chin).
This is a borderline delirious rant, descending at points into incoherence. It will be a while before we know how Republican voters will react to it. If they continue to give this guy a pass on, well, on everything — competence, knowledge, articulateness (not even W scrambles his sentences the way Donald does), temperament, believability, civility — everything, this would raise uncomfortable questions about the future of self-government.
spectator.org |
