Last week, I turned my back on Trump. Today, I’m giving Clinton the flick. If you’re going to force me to take sides, then I’m against everybody.
Considering last night's Round 2 debacle (where humanity lost big-time), I want to clear up my position completely.
Since I’ve given Trump a bit of air time here, I thought I would write about Hilary Clinton today.
But today, who cares?
Like usual, Trump is totally dominating the front-pages. The media just can’t get enough. Clinton is just a side-show.
You might think that’s a plus for Clinton, but remember the saying, “any publicity is good publicity”? That exists for a reason.
And now everyone is saying that these Trump Tapes are going to end Trump’s campaign. (Haven’t heard that before!)
But I’m not so sure.
(And just to be clear, I’m a spectator here. I’m interested in how the world works, and what it says about human nature. I’m not here to take sides. But if you force me to take sides, like last week, I would say Trump is an angry baboon. Don’t vote for him.)
Anyway, the Trump Tapes remind me of the time the Tiger Woods scandal broke, with reports of 120(!) extra-marital affairs.
At first, his sponsors were falling over themselves to get away from the stench. Everyone pays lip service to family values. Nike is a ‘family’ brand.
But then a strange thing happened.
As the scandal rolled on, pictures of the women involved were released. And one after another, they were drop-dead gorgeous. A few were lingerie models. (A few were porn stars).
And with his fans and his market (the kind of people that buy the stuff he endorses), the general attitude was “as if you wouldn’t.”
That is, if you were a mega-rich and mega-famous sports star, and you had the opportunity to make love to some of the most beautiful women on the planet, as if you wouldn’t.
Or at least, it was totally understandable if temptation got the better of you… 120 times!
Remember Woods’ market is all about success – golf gear, fancy watches, sports cars. To them, endless temptation from beautiful women just goes with the territory of success.
The scandal simply reinforced the brand proposition: Tiger Woods = Success.
(Again, not saying that’s how it should be, just saying how it is.)
And so his sponsors apologised for hanging him out to dry and came back to him. And paid him more money. And in terms of the Woods brand, the affairs didn’t leave a scratch.
(I’m sure it hurt him personally, but that’s another story.)
Now think about the Trump tapes, which show a tomato-coloured baboon gloating about the sexual advantages that come with wealth and success.
Everyone is shocked and appalled. Like we did with Woods’ affairs, we are called on to publicly condemn such appalling behaviour.
Disgusting.
So the Trump campaign is over right? Literally nobody wants to stand with Trump right now.
But is it? Because really the question is how this all plays with Trump’s market (voters).
And on that front, what do we know now that we didn’t already? Trump has some out-dated attitudes to women. Trump is rich and successful and uses that to his sexual advantage (have you seen his wife?) Trump doesn’t buy into political correctness and uses very salty language.
To me, there’s nothing new here. If these things were going to put you off Trump (and I could totally see how they could) you would have joined camp Clinton long ago.
And I think that you could even argue that to a brand built on success, power, and the balls to tell it how it is, all of this just reinforces the central brand proposition.
So whatever it says about him as a person, I just don’t think it’s the campaign killer everyone thinks it is.
And you’ve also got to remember the context – this is shaky ground for Clinton. Talk of extra-marital affairs just raises the memory of Bill and Monica et al (as Trump was quick to do).
I don’t think this is good ground for Hilary Clinton anyway it goes. It makes people wonder about her role. Either she covered it up and is seen as an “enabler” as her critics like to say.
Or, she is the poor, helpless victim at the hands of her sex-addicted husband. That archetype has serious weight in the collective consciousness.
But ask yourself, do Americans want a “poor, helpless victim” as their leader? Is that who you’d send into bat against Vladimir Putin?
So all this is cat-nip for the media – sex, power, politics. But I can’t see it being the end of the Trump campaign.
But let’s test it out. Has this drama turned anyone’s opinion about Trump – from “maybe would have voted for him”, to “now I probably wouldn’t”?
Let me know below.
And so what to say about Clinton? Personally I feel a little sorry for her. She should have been on the right side of history. If it was Clinton vs Jeb Bush, she would have romped it in.
But then Trump came along and made everything crazy.
And the biggest criticism of Clinton is that she’s “crooked”. Clinton is just ‘corruption as usual.’
My response to that is, “well, of course she is.” The only way anyone can rise to the top of a corrupt power structure is to be just as corrupt.
The only way that Clinton isn’t corrupt is if the entire American political system isn’t corrupt, and I’m not buying that for a second.
I mean seriously? 33,000 State Department emails, secretly held on a private server… and then deleted AFTER they were subpoenaed?!?
C’mon. But that’s just how the system works. As Clinton lamely said, Colin Powell (a paragon of honest politics) also had an illegal private server.
Lame.
But it’s nothing personal. Clinton is the product of the system, and that corrupt system is exactly the ball and chain around her ankle now.
So if Clinton was up against another insider, history would have continued its march, and she would have become the first female president – a honour she’d deserve.
Unfortunately, she’s up against an outsider, and so it’s a whole other ball game.
Because Clinton’s promise of more of the same isn’t much of a promise – corruption, money politics, Wall St cosy cosy, declining industry, growing income inequality, environmental havoc…
And that’s why her entire campaign has now boiled down to a single offer: Vote for me because I’m not a tomato-coloured baboon with nuclear weapons.
Sell it, baby, sell it.
Have you gone from loving Trump to hating Trump?
Does Clinton have anything different to offer?
p.s – *** This Friday I’ll wrap it all up and tell you what it all means for your success. Don’t miss it!***
Rick says
The main stream media wants us focused on these personal foibles. They are terrified that ordinary people might start to understand the bigger issue – that justice, freedom and prosperity are at stake in a life and death struggle between two competing worldviews.
One worldview is full of fear. Its vain hope is to “solve” the world’s problems by abolishing all national sovereignty and centralizing power under the UN – an organisation with a corrupt bureaucracy, faith in the failed philosophy of socialism and 56% of members that refuse to give their own people a vote.
The other worldview, despite being filled with normal human failings, is willing to trust the Word of the God who “set the boundaries of the nations” (Acts 17:26) and has only good intentions toward us (Romans 8:28-39).
The fearful worldview has had its way for 50 years. The result has been to enrich corrupt rich people in poor countries at the expense of poor tax payers in rich countries. Trump and Brexit are heralding a widespread cry for a change. It is a cry for a fairer world order, fair trade to replace free trade and an end to the multi-cult-ism that is undermining the Christian values on which justice, freedom and prosperity for EVERYONE depends.
Trump, with all his human flaws, is probably tough enough to win that battle.
Andrew says
Problem is not that the media is focusing on foibles. Trump has defined this election by focusing on them. Look at the way he got rid of the rest of the republicans during the nomination process. The fact that he will loe to someone more flawed than him is telling.
KiwiAl says
Rick, I have to agree with what you say about the Fear strategy, and I “agree” the UN is an absolute nightmare disguised as a wet dream. Look at what their policies are doing, all over the world. Creating unrest, strife, dischord, disruption, hatred.
As for Christianity, more than 2/3rds of the US population claim to adhere to one of two main Christian religions. Therefore, in that respect, they hold the vast majority.
So why does America not behave like a loving, caring Christian nation? Why do their children keep taking guns to schools and universities to kill their classmates? Why have they spent just 20 years of their nations’ existence at peace, with the rest of the time spent at war in some other country? Yes, killing innocent people in their own countries, blowing up someone else’s heritage, defiling someone else’s national sovereignty. Not to mention, plundering that other nation’s wealth in the process. The US is the most greedy, warring nation on Earth. So long as they aren’t fighting on their own turf!
Well, I can understand why terrorists are now bringing that destroying, killing and defiling home to the Americans on their own soil. While personally, I believe most of that terrorism is fabricated by Americans themselves for the purpose of engendering fear in order to make their own country yet more fascist, they are, perhaps inadvertently, doing a fantastic job of leading the way, showing the nations full of America-hating terrorists out there “how ya do it!”
As for God’s good intentions for us, I don’t think so. ‘His’ hopes, ‘his’ wishes, yes. But ‘he’ won’t protect us from ourselves. ‘He’ gave us an opportunity, some guidance and some rules to live by, to see if we could do it. Love one another (that was Version II.) We Cannot! Just look…
If you understand the Bible correctly, you will understand that our existence here continues ONLY by virtue of a Treaty made between “the gods” (and their sons – Genesis 6:1-13) and our forebears, a couple of thousand years ago. (After ‘he’ first destroyed a couple of different faulty batches of us.) It also clearly states that our time will run out, and that everything will be destroyed, in the end. (Mark 13:10, Matthew 24:14). But only after the Bible has been preached in all the nations. Interesting future for us.
Anyway, I do agree with you that Hillary is not going to help, and, since Don looks like he’s trying to throw the corrupt money lenders out of the temple, maybe he will…
Tara Tate says
Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women, not just having an affair. That is a big bloody difference! I don’t remember reading anywhere that Monica Lewinsky claimed to be forced against her will. He is a racist, fascist, misogynistic business failure. How many times did Daddy have to pick up the tab? And he is owned by Russian interests. Not to mention the lie after lie after lie. The man (and I use the word loosely) even lies about lying. Clinton isn’t even close to being in the same league. Go check Politifact and you will find she is surprisingly honest. Regardless, any idiot who claims Climate Change is a hoax of the Chinese and has to stay up all night tweeting insults and telling people to “go check out a sex tape” shouldn’t be anywhere near the White House and definitely not in possession of the nuclear codes.
Thelma & Louise says
Hillary “is surprisingly honest”…! That’s an interesting comparative! “Surprising”, considering how criminal and evil it seems she is? Or, is this all Bill’s bad work?
Oh, now I understand why they stick together, despite Bill’s philandering. Partners in crime. They put Bonnie & Clyde to shame…
If you don’t have 45 minutes to watch the video (I don’t), try this:
http://www.trueactivist.com/50-instances-anti-clinton-activists-were-found-dead-under-mysterious-circumstances/
Scott says
Hi Tara,
Hillary defended two charged rapists, one of whom is still her husband and many of his victims claim she bullied them badly. I will give a Clinton government 100 days as war clock before war with Russia. Scott.
Andrew says
Initial polls, post the tapes being released, suggest thatTrump has lost support by at least 2+%. Hard
core Trump voters are still going to stick with him regardless. One survey reportedly said 8% were encouraged to support him more because of his comments.
If you want to see people who have changed their opinion over his comments,look at the dozens of high ranking people in his own party who have stated outright that they will not vote for him. Now truth be told, and as his campaign states, these may have been people who were never on his side anyway “the republican establishment” their statements can’t help him.
The problem for Trump is that status quo for him right now is a killer. He doesn’t have enough of
the electorate on his side to be successful. He has a level of support that will remain stable through thick and thin but he needs to gain voters to win and this is where it hurts him. Indeed, favourability for Trump with women seems to be dropping.
Trump was asked if he had engaged in the manner in which he spoke about. He tried to dodge the
question twice and when pushed again denied ever doing it. Interesting when it is a matter of public record that he has been sued for doing exactly this.
The comparison with Woods isn’t valid because people expect
much higher standards of behavior from politicians than from sportsmen. Can’t think of one sportsman who has lost their position because of this. An Australian
example would be Wayne Carey. AFL playercaught having an affair with the club captain’s wife. His punishment: Traded to another club. Would a politician be treated like this?
NOYB says
I suppose it is too late now for the Americans to just say, “F* off with the both of you, a pox on both your houses – you’re BOTH FIRED! Bring on the new candidates – the second’s in line will do, JUST AS LONG AS WE RID OURSELVES OF THIS DEMEANING CRAP THAT IS MASQUERADING AS POTENTIAL WORLD LEADERS. America cannot win, take a trick with either of these two bozo’s competing for the job of US President. And it is not just Americans that will pay for this garbage in the White House, the rest of the world will be paying for it too, in a big big way.
ron goddard says
well jonno the verdict of sensible emailers from usa is that trump won the debate..mainly because hilary went for the ‘vaginal’..women and children and america. nothing she said helped anyone but herself, and she got more UNINTERRUPTED floor time. she was stopped 3 times by the convener. whilst trump was interrupted over 25 times.. almost the same as last time. the sight of her parroting made me turn the tv off after 5 minutes. trump is only attempting to upset the elites. and why not? thats what we want isn’t it? so he acts the buffoon and off sets the jewry of the americas. we all want equality and fairness, i think. but it ain’t necessarily so. life is fair. we get what we deserve. like all women hilary got emotional. she definitely isn’t pres. material. and its not trump’s ambition to nuke russia. he wants to extend the hand of friendship to putin. this man, putin, is the only one capable of stopping america’s elite, warmongers and banksters. if you really want ww3 vote hilary. and oz may not be that well off with an american base in darwin. russia is light years ahead of america in weaponry. the yanks brag too much.about their ability to win everything. they haven’t woken up yet that they have lost almost every
war they’ve been involved in since the civil war(they couldn’t lose that one lol) they invade, topple the ‘dictator and put in their own puppet. its a well worn scenario and totally unbelievable..but they have all the rights around the world. so who’s gonna stop them? the oz military couldn’t stop a runaway tram going uphill. oh dear me i must have a quick gin before i get lost here. happy days and good luck everyone.
Kay says
That is what I want to hear. I can not change the disaster that is US politics, but I sure can make sure that that disaster does not affect me. It is the best I can do for the world right now. It is like watching a slow moving train wreck, which ever way it goes, it has done nothing to help us feel that democracy is good.
ron goddard says
i just read tara tate’s comment about clinton. i presume she is a female. i feel that she is near the edge of the lunatic fringe..hilary not tell lies ha ha ha ha ..tell that to the hundreds of thousands who have been slaughtered in wars inspired by her, libya, ukraine, syria, and the clinton body count of those people who wanted to testify against her. emails disappearing in the paper mincer..oh tara where have you been.? and the $560,000 odd she received to stop americans getting new found treatment for cancer. she, as secretary of state agreed with big pharma to suppress the drug. she said good and pocketed the aforesaid $560,000. she is now being revealed as the bigoted greedy woman she is. her voice says ‘not me” but her eye ‘talk’ says something else.
Tara Tate says
I wasn’t going to bother coming back to read any of the comments because I figured how they would be and I was right. Yes, I am female, the same species that Donald Trump bragged about repeatedly assaulting. Lunatic fringe? No, that would be the people who think Donald Trump is sane and just trying to upset the apple cart. Please. I have never read such one eyed garbage in all my life. You sound like someone who watches Fox (not the) News too much. I didn’t say that Hillary doesn’t ever lie, I said when you check the website politifact you will find that for a politician she gets a pretty good score on the Truth meter. Edd above is right, the TPP is a massive threat and Hillary says she opposes it, so let’s wait and see.
edd says
There is a huge IGNORANCE and INDIFFERENCE with some people (Jon is included) here. People with some brain should concentrate to what is happening to our country in secret… Jon write about TPP trade pacts/agreement and its impact on Australians.
Please watch:
Paul Miles says
Tiger Woods wasn’t running for President of the United States, about to be able to determine the fate of billions of people around the world, and about to get his finger on the nuclear button! I don’t know about you and some of your less rational serial correspondents (here’s looking at you, Ron), but I would rather like to survive the next 4 years.
And Woods is not a person clearly hovering at times around the edges of sanity, much less common sense. Like Trump clearly is. Certainly Woods wasn’t a paragon of virtue in his compulsion for extra-marital affairs, but I can’t see any comparison between him and Trump approaching even 1% of Trump’s pathological dishonesty and lack of any integrity whatsoever about absolutely anything whatsoever. And sorry, can’t you see that Trump is a 70 yr old man-child who was spoilt so rotten that he has never had to grow up and is still having tanties at the drop of a hat? You want that running the free world? Not to mention that he clearly hates nearly everyone in the world. He just hasn’t quite got round to telling poor middle class whites what he thinks of them yet, because he still needs them for the next four weeks. But on past behaviour, he’ll screw them too, as soon as he has (or hasn’t) got what he wants. It’s clearly all the same to him. The only person in Trump’s universe is Trump. He can’t even talk about his own daughter without objectifying her!
I can understand this turning to this ultimate naughty boy out of the revulsion for politicians everywhere, because lately they all seem to have taken leave of their senses and any integrity they once had. And that doesn’t only go for politicians – they’ve clearly affected much of society as well. I am becoming a subscriber to the idea that formed the basis of the recent US political parody/comedy series “Braindead” which explained all the sheer intransigence and argumentativeness of people these days (especially the US Congress) by the fact that alien bugs had crept into their ears while they were sleeping at night, eaten half their brains, and those whose heads didn’t explode were helping the bugs to take over the planet. It’s as good a reason for the Tea Party and Pauline Hanson as anything else. (I thoroughly recommend this series – thought-provoking and hilarious.)
Mostly, I think that this thoroughly childish wish of many now in both the US and here (and obviously in England) to kick down the whole sandcastle because you don’t like who seems to be running it these days is like a 2-year old child’s tantrum – the child won’t listen to any facts and sings la-la-la while putting hands over ears when you try to reason with them. You see – hands over ears – more evidence for the brain-eating bug theory.
And this Trumped-up topic seems to bring out the most completely stupid comments from people who spend too much time consulting conspiracy websites. Now any person with a modicum of modern education must realise that you can’t trust everything you read in newspapers, especially any owned by a person whose name begins with “M”. But OK, even they may give some of the truth occasionally, at least from one side of the story. But the internet and the really way out or off websites are another ball game entirely. I should know. I bloody work in the field.
And my gosh, Knowledge Source’s comments page is starting to be one of them.
KiwiAl says
Paul, not quite sure what you’re trying to say. Maybe it’s that brain eating conspiracy theory bug you’ve caught?
So, what is the answer to this little US Presidential dilemma? To me, it’s pretty simple.
Hillary represents the worst possible version of the status quo. She’s nothing more than a politician. She has absolutely nothing to offer. The US “global train wreck” will just pick up speed under her two blind eyes.
Donald is well and truly the cat among the pigeons. The system, the country, desperately needs change. He’s gonna “Bring It!”
Dunno how that will look, but consider this: He’s one man (some people disagree, but never mind). How many already in the system like, and will defend, the evil status quo? And what lengths are they prepared to go to to do so?
I consider Don an extremely brave man. My $5 says if he wins, he’ll be dead within 2 months.
Hillary might even get a second chance. Oh, is it 3rd?
Don Hill says
Hi Jon,
Can’t vote for either, but definitely wouldn’t vote for Hillary. -> no change.
Can’t wait for the wrap up.
The longer this goes on, the more it appears like the Presidential Race is nothing more than a huge, nasty joke upon the American people (and the world). Barack Obama may just be the best President America has seen since JFK or may see again. Now, it seems more like a contest to see how unsuitable, inappropriate and downright abysmal a candidate can get themselves elected to the Presidency.
BTW, does anyone know whether Obama was actually born in the US?
D Paul says
Whoever attacks Trump need to reflect honestly on their sexual escapades starting with Robert De Niro.
The whole jingbang are up to their necks in sordid sexual affairs maybe ten times more than Trump.All the accusers need to be investigated and put on trial. Remember it is America and drugs alcohol and violent sex is normal it seems. Trump sometimes brags too much.Thats his style.Take it with a pinch of salt.Women will be much safer with him than Predators like Clinton. Trump will try to go after these predators.
All the Elitists fear him as their lifestyle will be at risk. Trillions of dollars from all over the world may already at play to stop him.So much is at stake if he wins
KiwiAl says
WOW!! Hillary Having Seizures
Stumbled upon this just now, by accident. This, and a lot of other evidence suggests that Hillary has some serious brain disorder and is having seizures. She’s also got an occasional, wild, uncontrollable minor cough, which you can see on other clips. Coughs like that are a common side-effect of many drugs – perhaps whatever she takes to control the seizures… This video is quite shocking. She obviously has a brief seizure, then tries to cover it up. Check the head movements. But look at the eyelids and the whole face during the seizure…
And Bill is a complete goner at 69. It’s shocking how old and vacant he looks.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3714048/Favorite-night-Bill-Clinton-discovers-inner-child-plays-110-000-balloons-dropped-end-DNC-celebration.html
Trump may be a goat, or whatever you like to call him, but as far as I can tell, he’s mostly still there…