Ill-tempered White House race is long on rhetoric, short on substance
YOU would be forgiven for wanting to build a wall to keep out all that is outlandish about the US presidential race. With just over six weeks to go before Americans head to the polls to elect their 45th president, the campaign continues to descend into an ever-increasing farce. Of course, claims of political incompetence are par for the course during election campaigns as rival candidates try to punch holes in their opponent’s credibility and ability to work in high office. That’s politics. In America, however, the ‘ Trump dynamic’ continues to polarise opinion on what exactly constitutes an effective political campaign.
In Trump’s case, it has certainly been an unorthodox campaign but that may not be surprising considering he is not part of the political establishment and there’s sure to be plenty of coal added to the fire in the weeks ahead from this ‘outsider’.
For now the focus on Hillary Clinton’s pneumonia wobble at the recent 9/11 commemorations produced such a level of farce it was almost unbelievable.
The recent sight of Donald Trump appearing on a live TV show, removing a doctor’s letter from his pocket to indicate his physical readiness for the job must rank as one of the strangest move in modern US politics.
Would Trump not have scored higher among voters had he simply wished Hillary well on live TV? You would think so, yet his odds continue to shorten as the weeks go by.
Doing the straight forward thing is not how Team Trump does business, a stance aided and abetted by the quick quip and transitory gratification inspired by social media.
To date, Trump’s top card is to awaken the fears and insecurities of blue-collar Americans; a tactic easily built on issues such as immigration, terrorism and simple American values.
On the flip side, allegations that Trump is using the presidential campaign as a cheap marketing ploy are not without substance.
He chose the plush surroundings of his $212 million hotel in New York as the venue for his latest gibe at Barack Obama’s birthplace. Trump’s golf course in Aberdeen is the last place in the world one would expect a would-be president to field questions about American foreign policy but no doubt the course’s reputation has been enhanced no end since its summer unveiling before the world’s cameras.
Things are likely to get much worse before they get better as the race for the White House intensifies with insults and personal ridicule escalating as candidates near the first of the live TV debates.
On the latter, Hillary’s team might want to change tack slightly. So far Donald Trump has dictated the pace of this campaign with his truculent style and some say Hillary is foolishly trying to go toe to toe with him.
But this campaign has so far fallen short on the kind of pertinent issues that affect the lives of everyday Americans such as health and education.
This is what the protagonists need to focus on and given Clinton’s more rounded experience on Capitol Hill, this might just end up being her Trump card.