In the service of tearing down the walls around him, there’s nothing Trump won’t hurt. And even if he loses, there is still a massive amount of damage he can inflict on American democracy. This is why his threat to investigate and jail Clinton was so significant, breaking as it did with the core democratic idea that the opposition is legitimate. He’s clearly shown that there’s not a single norm he’s not ready to violate, nor is there any institution—certainly not the Republican Party—that can rein him in. Nothing will stop him from attacking the fundamental legitimacy of the American system. The rest of this election is going to be a bloodbath. The repercussions will last a long, painful time."
M.N.: Trump-Samson destroyed the GOP, alarmingly, tragically, destructively and self-destructively. The party will be reborn from this crisis and this bitter lesson. But he will not be able to destroy the country. This is the consolation.
The present and future historians and political scientists will try to analyze and understand the 2016 Presidential Elections in depth. It looks like the some of the major contributing factors, among others, of GOP looming defeat, are the "technical issues": Trump's political immaturity and unprofessionalism, and his campaign managers' lack of political acumen, in comparison with the much better prepared, experienced and strategically adept Democratic party operatives, in addition to the substantive issues: the nature and character of the political appeal of the candidates and the structures of their respective electorates.
<a href="http://Esquire.com" rel="nofollow">Esquire.com</a>-Oct 10, 2016
"And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, ... There is no modern parallel to what Donald Trump did prior to ...
New Republic-Aug 16, 2016
Like Trump, Samson was famous for his hair, fought against foreign ... down the pillars of their temple, preferring to die while destroying his ...
Trump was never a happy warrior, exactly, but he had some zest in the primaries. There was a hearty gusto in the way he insulted Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio. That gusto was gone tonight, replaced by pure agitation and irritation.
Trump was ill-tempered the whole night, constantly interrupting not just Clinton but also moderator Martha Raddatz. He was curt and dismissive to both, as if could barely tolerate being on stage with them. This wasn’t just a question of manners, but cut more deeply into the core message he was conveying. Donald Trump was pissed off—about the release of the video in which he admitted to a pattern of sexual assault, about the Republican leaders who’ve denounced him and fled his campaign in the aftermath—and he’d had enough. In the first debate he complained about the microphone; in this debate, his trouble was with the moderators (not to mention, of course, the truth). But this anger is
likely to appeal to his core supporters, who will see him as a fighter against a corrupt establishment that includes Raddatz as well as Clinton.
The clearest indication that Trump was going to follow through with a “tear it all down” strategy took place before the debate; when Trump held a press conference where he invited three women who have accused Bill Clinton of rape as well as a woman who, when she was 12 years old, was a complainant in a sex-abuse case where Hillary Clinton defended the accused. During that presser, Stephen Bannon, former head of Breitbart and now CEO of Trump’s campaign, could be seen in the background
smirking. This was a perfect Bannon move: a nihilistic middle finger at the entire political system, both left and right. Trump also invited these four women to be in the audience of the debate.
This was a massive violation of the rules of decorum. Politically, it only makes sense in terms of satisfying hardcore Republican partisans, who already hate Hillary Clinton and now have a chance to see their champion humiliate her. It’s a move of pure retribution and tribal warfare, one that has no discernible upside in terms of winning the election—but considerable appeal in terms of revenge. And for the fire-breathers on the right, Trump scored a big win. As Ann Coulter
tweeted, “WOW! Trump killed it tonight. Media have their work cut out for them.”
In the closing weeks of his campaign, Trump has decided on
The Samson Option, the idea that “if I’m going down, I’m going to inflict as much pain as I can on Hillary Clinton and both political parties as I can.”
In the service of tearing down the walls around him, there’s nothing Trump won’t hurt. And even if he loses, there is still a massive amount of damage he can inflict on American democracy. This is why his threat to investigate and jail Clinton was so significant, breaking as it did with the core democratic idea that the opposition is legitimate. He’s clearly shown that there’s not a single norm he’s not ready to violate, nor is there any institution—certainly not the Republican Party—that can rein him in.Nothing will stop him from attacking the fundamental legitimacy of the American system. The rest of this election is going to be a bloodbath. The repercussions will last a long, painful time.
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