Photo Credit: Michael Vadon
Here’s my two cents on the whole Donald Trump running for the Presidency thing:
There’s three things that you need to keep in mind:
- Donald Trump is currently, at this moment, running for the Republican nomination — he’s not running for the Presidency.
- He’s not an idiot.
- He’s a businessman. He’s ALL businesses. For practically his entire life, he’s always been ALL about business.
Based on these three things, I’m going to make a prediction: IF Trump wins the Republican nomination, watch for the character of his rhetoric to change drastically.
Why do I make this prediction? Look at the three points listed above. First, consider #3 — Whether you think he’s a good businessman, or not, it is undeniable that he is an extremely experienced one. As such, he knows all about identifying targeted markets and then developing and selling to those markets to gain market-share. And, that’s how you beat the competition and turn a profit.
People who have no marketing or business experience might not be very aware or familiar with this standard of marketing philosophy. The average person has a backwards view of marketing — they think that a marketer develops a product and then figures out how to best sell it. This is, in most cases, wrong. Instead, a marketer first identifies a market and then develops a product that will appeal to that market. It’s much easier that way; your chances for success much greater.
So, as a marketer, most times, you don’t sit around and try to think up an idea for what would seem to be a good product, and then go looking for who to sell it to and how to sell it to them. You look around for sizable markets and when you identify one, you work on developing a product that would appeal to that market — a product which, by the very nature of the already existing market, they’re already eager to buy. Trump knows this. It’s marketing 101.
Right now, Trump is running for the Republican Primary. That’s what he’s focused on — winning the Republican nomination. And, he’s approaching the task from a business/marketing standpoint. He has made a strategic assessment of what he needs to do to win. He has identified a market within the Republican voting population which he believes, if he can sell to successfully, will give him sufficient market share to win the nomination. He has identified this market and he has developed a product that they want to buy. And, that’s what you’re seeing. The product is his public persona. The market is the “‘Murica-Fuck-Ya! God & Guns! Kill the Towel-Heads!” demographic within the Republican population. Trump has performed his market research and has made a strategic marketing assessment that this is the market that will give him the best chance of winning the Republican nomination if he can develop a product out of himself that they will line-up to buy.
So, watch for his rhetoric to change if he actually wins the primary. Why? Because then he will no longer be running for the Republican nomination. He’ll then be running for the Presidency. So, being the businessman he is, upon winning the primary, he’ll reassess the situation and adjust his strategy. It is very likely that, while successfully selling himself to the Moron-Right provides the best odds for winning the primary, it will not gain sufficient market-share to win the Presidency, given the increased voter pool of much more disparate viewpoints and ideals.
Once the primary is won (if it’s won) Trump will reassess the situation, identify a new market that winning over will provide sufficient market-share to win the Presidency, and he’ll then begin developing a product desirable to that new market. It is very likely that he will assess the drooling “Learn-to-Read-Morans” segment of the right as simply not being a big enough player within the entire left & right voting pool to provide sufficient market-share to win the Presidency. So, you’ll see him stop making such outlandish statements that they lap-up. His rhetoric will become markedly more subdued. He likely won’t abandon it altogether, as he wont want to alienate too much of that segment he’s already won, but he’ll start with rhetoric that he feels will work to gain supporters in the newly identified targeted market, and tone-down the rhetoric no longer needed to grab the market segment that’s already subscribing. You’ll see him changing his policies to a more centrist flavor. Of course, even if that segment comes to realize they’ve been duped in some way and become disillusioned with Trump, they still absolutely will not vote Democrat.
This is Trump’s approach. He’s marketing. He’s selling. He’s using his business skills and experience to win the political game, just like he does when attempting to win the commercial games he’s been playing throughout most of his life. Right now he’s duping the Right — and being quite successful with it, it seems. But, the Right wont win him the general election, and he knows this. He’s going to have to start trying to dupe more centrist independents, and perhaps some of the more centrist of the center-left. So, his rhetoric and policies are going to change. You watch. There’s going to be some awfully pissed off right-wingers come the general election.
So, does Trump truly believe all the nonsense he spews? My guess is that he doesn’t. But, he knows who will buy it — who will lap it up — who will love it. And, that’s who he’s identified as being the market he’s got to grab in order to turn the profit he’s trying for. Trump is not an ideologue. He’s a salesman.
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