Hillary’s excuses and blaming; Trump’s victory

I am watching discussion of Hillary’s blame-Comey-and-the-Russians tour on Fox’s MediaBuzz.

The Clintons could save themselves a lot of criticism not to mention time if they would just adopt the West Point answer to the question “Why did you screw up?”

No excuse. West Pointers David Petraeus and Bob McDonald (VA head) used it when they screwed up. Flynn did not use it, or attend West Point. The commander of the US submarine that killed Japanese fishing students when it crashed surfaced to impress VIPs who were on board went to Japan and apologized saying it was my fault he made no excuses. He was an Annapolis grad. I do not know how they teach that aspect of character but close enough.

Then there are the Clintons. They “take full responsibility” for various screw-ups, then instantly blame everyone but themselves.

When will an interviewer ask the obvious question: “You say you take responsibility which implies you screwed up. What exactly did you do wrong?”

And when they dodge the question as they surely will, point out that the take responsibility claim is obviously false.

Don’t hold your breath.

Why I think she lost

Why do I think she lost? She has a low Q rating; is the quintessential establishment, politics-as-usual, more-of-the-same; stand-by-your-sleaze-meal-ticket-husband hack.

She over-relied on an imagined public thirst to finally have a woman president.

Absurd overconfidence and underestimation of Trump

She and her campaign were grotesquely overconfident mainly because they and their media subsidiary grotesquely underestimated Trump. Actually, I understate. They thought Trump’s candidacy was the biggest joke in the history of the republic. The Dems talked themselves into believing their own BS about Trump.

The Formula

The Dems thought there was a demeanor formula for becoming President: Ivy League, measured, filtered, political-cliche spouting, nothing-saying, dignified.

Trump, they thought, did not get it. He did not understand the first thing about looking presidential. He was none of the correct demeanor things. Technically, he spent his last two years of undergraduate education at Ivy League Penn, but he does not act Ivy League. He acts blue collar.

“But that is not the formula!” the Dems scream. Apparently, The Formula is NOT the formula because Trump is President.

Trump has been a master PR guy since he was 25 years old! He took over The Trump Organization in 1971. He was a master showman getting himself and his buildings in the media incessantly. He was on the cover of TIme multiple times before running for president. Also 60 Minutes and almost every other prized media exposure.

He became a major figure in high-rise real estate development in Manhattan. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. He became a major figure in two sports: football and golf. He was a major gambling industry figure in Atlantic City casinos (a failure). He had an airline, a clothing line.

He was a major TV figure as owner of two annual beauty pageants (Miss USA and Miss Universe) and star of a reality TV series (The Apprentice). He was a celebrity with a successful image not only in the US but also abroad with successful properties in Scotland and other countries.

He showed range and an ability to laugh at himself hosting Saturday Night Live, appearing in the ring in WWF/WWE wrestling matches, and being the target of a televised roast special.

Few discussions of Trump omit the word “branding.” He is a master of it.

Is his life The Formula? No. Are his many did-it-my-way career adventures and accomplishments therein relevant to running for President. Hell yes!

Je ne sais quoi

Then there is the je ne sais quoi aspect. There is a schizophrenic phenomenon with Trump. The media hates him and relentlessly mocked, put down, criticized, and condemned him. But, at the same time, covered his live appearances and tweets slavishly. Live broadcasts of Trump manifest not hatred but love or maybe an addiction to Trump. His opponents complained bitterly about all the free media he got.

They were right, but it was not voluntary on the part of the media. It was often said that people could not take their eyes off Trump. That equals ratings and while media people can spin clips and out-of-context quotes, they must broadcast compelling live events to avoid losing market share to other channels who do.

They cannot spin live broadcasts of Trump speeches—at least not until after they are over—at which time many viewers changed channels or went to the bathroom. The pundits are less compelling.

The amount Trump paid per electoral vote in campaign expenditures compared to Hillary’s spending looks like a typo.

Ultimately, Trump got across a message that he would be different, shake things up, and that he had a coherent (to ignorant voters) plan to make America great again through Americans-first trade policies, deregulation, tax cuts. In contrast, Hilary’s message seemed to be, “I’m Bill’s wife. I’m not Trump. I’m a woman. I’m in favor of the Democratic party platform, whatever it says. I paid my dues. It’s my turn.”

She lost in equal parts because she was a lousy candidate who ran a poor campaign and because he was a born showman, a compelling personality, authentic, comfortable in his own skin, and managed to look just presidential enough. The Dems lost because they assumed they knew The Formula and Trump had no clue about The Formula. It turned out that the Dems had no clue about the fact that there is more than one formula and that the Establishment wore out its welcome.