Email: “Is Trump about defiance?”

 

Here’s the email:

Technically, it appears to be a pro-Hillary article, but the crux of it still lines up with what you’ve been saying about Trump being a ‘Murder Weapon’.

Key quotes:

“This election isn’t about greatness, the future, or even Donald Trump. It’s about defiance.”

“To his supporters, a vote for Trump is a way to flip the middle finger to the system, the media, the elite, the liberals, the know-it-alls and the people who pretend they’re better than “us.”

Every dangerous and disgusting thing Trump says proves he’s not fit — and that’s the point. He’s not fit for the current “system.” And that is exactly his appeal. When he opened his apology by saying, “I’ve never said I’m a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I’m not,” he was making it clear:

 

I’m not “pretending to be perfect,” like “Hillary Clinton and HER KIND.””

“Most Republican voters disagree with Trump’s grotesque, lewd words on an intellectual level — but they still back the man because they feel defiant. That matters.”

“Saturday, in a hotel lobby in New Jersey, I spoke with a woman who’s terrified that Trump is going to win. Her husband is a lifelong Democrat and he’s voting for Trump, because he’s “sick of how broken Washington is.” That matters.

The phrases I’ve heard over and over from Trump’s supporters in Ohio, Colorado, Virginia and elsewhere are: “he’s not another politician” and “he’s flawed, like me.” That matters.”

 

This doesn’t get to it. Michael Moore, who did grow up in blue collar Michigan, has said something similar and says the enraged electorate sees Trump as a molotov cocktail to throw into Washington to blow it up.

Let me explain it so well that any Trumpster you meet or is reading will nod and say, “That is 100% true!” We have to go back in time a little.

The REAL reason for Reagan’s appeal

You have to go back to Reagan. What did people see in Reagan? Reagan is the most influential American politician of this half century, easily. Both Democrat and Republicans emulate him. Was it his charm and wit? Was it his personality? Was it how he used TV? Was it his conservatism? What was it about Reagan that made him such an impacting politician in the hearts and minds of people? So much has been written on it, but it has all missed the point.

Reagan was a very famous man as far back as the Truman Administration. He had the Hollywood lifestyle. He was handsome, famous, and a movie star. This guy had it made. So when Reagan enters the political process, there was intense resistance from not just Democrats but Republicans as well. Reagan was loved because Americans saw a citizen taking blow after blow for them, the people. By blows, I mean rigged cheap shots. Take a look at this:

The Difference With Trump

There are many similarities between Trump and Reagan. Both of them were seen as outsiders to the political class, both connected directly to the people. Both see themselves as leading a movement. Both of them are intensely patriotic.

The difference is that Reagan presented himself as a type of hero. His stories were heroic. His rhetoric had a heroic charm.

Trump is deliberately presenting himself as the villain. This is why he gets endless media coverage. He knows how to say something that will connect to his base, differentiate himself from the competition, and gain the attention of media. A good example of this was his Muslim ban during the primaries. None of his competitors would say something like that, he connects and grows his base, and the media endlessly report it giving him endless free advertising.

 

Trumpsters have one dominant emotion: that of having been BETRAYED

Not anger. Not rage. Not fear. Not racism. The overriding emotion is one you have when you have been BETRAYED.

This is not the betrayal one feels of voting for someone who does something else.

This is not the betrayal one feels of having been lied to.

This is the betrayal of someone who sent their son to Iraq under the guise that the mission was for America, who comes back in a body bag all for the true mission of ‘nation building’. There are no words to describe the emotions of such a betrayal. I will not even try.

One of Trump’s central planks early on was the focus on the military veterans. There was one primary debate, I think it was the last one Jeb Bush was in, that Trump was literally screaming at Jeb about the Iraq war. It was very uncomfortable to watch, but looking back it seems Trump was trying to channel in that feeling of being betrayed at that moment.

The subject of immigration is also a major betrayal moment. Reagan made a deal where the border would be secured, a fence would be built, and amnesty given to those already here. The amnesty part was done, but no fence was made, and the border still unsecured. Democrats, who were running Congress at that time, could not be trusted on the issue of illegal immigration.

But with the presidency of George W. Bush, it became clear that Bush couldn’t be trusted either. Bush tried to push amnesty, and blowback from the Republican base stopped him. With Bush, Republicans controlled the House, Senate, and Presidency. What did Bush do? He let Senator Kenney write the education bill. Bush really did nothing… except go to war.

Another betrayal was Bush and Republicans going along with the bank bailouts of 2008.

The reason why George W. Bush had such low poll numbers in the 30s or high 20s approval numbers at the end of his presidency was because of Republicans feeling betrayed by Bush. People say, “Obama’s approval poll numbers are around 50%.” This is because Obama has not betrayed his electorate. Had Obama put in conservative Supreme Court justices, let Republican law makers write bills and major planks of the legislative agenda, and put up a border wall with deportations, then Obama would lose his base like Bush had.

George W. Bush used to own a ranch in central Texas where he went on ‘vacation’. Boy, he ‘loved’ his ranch (Reagan had a ranch too, imagine that!). Bush ‘loved’ his ranch so much that he sold it immediately after leaving the presidency. It was all an optical lie the entire time.

In 2006, the House of Representatives becomes Democrat controlled. Did this occur because districts suddenly became liberal? No. This was the Republican base expressing anger at being betrayed by the Bush administration and the Republican House who did Bush’s dirty work. 2006 saw conservative districts putting in Democrats. Many times, Republicans will vote in a Democrat just to get rid of a Republican who is betraying them.

In 2010, you have the Tea Party phenomenon. What is that? The Tea Party was a type of political solution to the betrayed Republican base. They would use primary elections to take out bad Republicans (those who were betraying them, i.e. RINOs or Republicans-In-Name-Only). 2010 was a gain of like 60 seats for the House of Representatives and flip to control to Republicans (which it has remained since then). The Republicans in the House, again, betrayed their electorate and was going to pass amnesty. The Majority Leader of the House was defeated in a primary over this issue hours before the amnesty was done. When news got out that Brat had won, the Republican members of the House were too scared to do anything over this subject.

Trump is the Electorate’s Revenge Against Ruling Class

First, you have an electorate feeling betrayed and without a voice. This creates a vacuum and allows someone like Trump to come in.

Second, you have revenge inflicted on the Ruling Class.

Third, you have what is going to be replaced and built afterward.

The Republican primary focused on the first part, the general election is focusing on the second, and the third will come by soon.

In the past, the cycle has been ‘Democrats win power, they grow government’ and ‘Republicans then win power, they decrease government’. This cycle is being broken. Should Trump win, he will use the government as an axe against the Ruling Class. This is why Trump is feared by both Democrat and Republican Ruling Class.

This debate clip, which is this generation’s ‘there he goes again’ clip, really illustrates how Trump is seen as revenge against the Political Class. No other Republican nominee would have ever said this. Not even Reagan would say it.

The email said that Trump is about ‘defiance’. No. People do not like him just because he is a ‘bad boy’ or a bomb to the political establishment. In American history, there has been candidates that appeared to fight ‘corruption’. Andrew Jackson, for example, as liked not just because of ‘defiance’ but because he sought to take down corrupt banks.

We are at the Dawn of the Third Shift of Economic Education. The first shift was in Trade Education. Farmers did not need a school education. Neither did merchants or ship captains. But farming and sailing a ship is an extremely technical education. It is not learned from a book but from experience. Then everything shifted due to the Industrial Revolution. Academic education was needed. Farmers found themselves falling behind. Having a college degree was an asset. We are in the midst of the third shift. Now, a Financial Education is needed. Academic education may not be worthless, but it is not enough. How are you going to retire? How are you going to invest for the future? I firmly believe in this shift which is why I have this website. I take something I loved, video games, and try to absorb any business lessons I could from it. If this shift is true, then it would make sense that the future politicians will be businessmen CEOs and investors, not academics and certainly not farmers like the early 1800s. Trump’s arrival on the scene is a sign, to me, that this shift is undergoing at appropriate pace.

Trump’s values are Financial Education values. He seems vulgar and anti-intellectual only to people who highly value academic values. The trades people (what is smeared as blue collar workers) find him fine. The financial value crowd, those who are not entrenched in Washington, absolutely admire him.

As more and more people shift to financial education, the more Trump’s appeal will grow. Had Trump ran a decade ago, there may not be enough people who value financial education for a base for him. Today, that has changed. With the rising cost and decreased value of education degrees, the respect for academic values is crashing.

“But Malstrom, people with financial values are nice, polite, and are never mean.”

No, they aren’t.

A person’s own values will filter what they see. When someone says they see Trump as a narcissist, they are correct from their own value system. But someone with a financial education sees Trump’s actions not as narcissistic actions but as intentional branding (e.g. appearing on all the talk shows, talking about how great he is, how everyone loves him, etc.).

The most enthusiastic ‘core’ Trumpsters are those who place financial values above everything else (like academic values). Those who are saying they like Trump’s ‘defiance’ are… ‘awakening’ to financial values.

An unreported phenomenon going on is that a huge part of Trump’s appeal is that so many people are learning from him. They are learning financial values. For example, Trump’s big campaign plank is about ‘making good trade deals’. Most people have never even thought about it in those terms. Most people think of economic terms as in taxation and regulation rates, which is what Republicans have always talked about. Trump, however, is not focusing talking about taxes and regulations. He is talking about trade deals and trade agreements. Trump also talks about the donor class of Washington D.C., which he used to be one, and many people are realizing just what financial puppets their politicians are.

Those who really love Trump are 1) trade values 2) financial values or 3) awakening to trade and financial values. Those who really, really hate Trump are 1) academic values 2) Ruling Class.

Trump is fascinating because of the different reactions he creates in people. This is not a clear black and white liberal versus conservative. You will have Republicans vote against Trump, but you will have Democrats vote for Trump too. It is very interesting.