Someone once said, "Publicity costs less than advertising...and is usually more effective."
Not only that, it's often free. Please follow below the squiggle.
In this era of big donators holding up fledgling campaigns by assisting their campaigns with "not-so-directly-affiliated" super-pacs, we have someone who has hardly spent anything on their campaign and yet he is leading (and is some cases lapping) the field. Donald Trump is doing half the work and spending less than half the money of his competitors, yet he is leading them all for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.
I was horrified as I watched a large portion of Donald Trump's rally in Dubuque, Iowa. I think I swallowed a bug from my mouth hanging open for so long. I could not believe that people were buying his rambling, ADHD-like speech going from making college more affordable to saying, "I love THE Mexicans." (yet bashing them for coming into this country) and then implying that he could take out ISIS in three days.
All of this was caught in its full glory on CNN and MSNBC. (Funny, he didn't make it on Fox News.) This means that the entire speech was a 50 minute FREE infomercial for Donald Trump on more than one station. Millions of people tuned into this vomitus diatribe for free. The Donald ripped apart the Citizens United argument. He talked about how someone wanted to give him $5 million for his campaign, but he wouldn't take it. How this kind of money is a corrupting influence in politics. He's right, but remember his party is the one who is the biggest player in this mess. "Nobody's going to buy me." was his biggest applause line. He's one of the rich guys they always genuflect to who is taking them apart.
He uses Twitter and he gets headlines. The same goes for Facebook. Anytime he opens his mouth, he makes news, which means that he gets publicity...which is free. No need for the Koch Brothers to bankroll any part of his campaign, CNN will give all the free time he wants. A few weeks back, a long interview with Anderson Cooper. Last week, a long interview with Chris Cuomo. He is using his celebrity status to get a pass...and the media is letting him do it. The Republican Party is letting him do it. We're not seeing any real push back from his own party. There are no ads showing his not-so-right-wing positions and how bad they would be for the country. I believe it is because they don't want to attack one of their own. (You know, a rich guy. Though how rich is debatable).
Without that, the Republican Party is adrift. They brought us Citizens United. They went all-in for amassing boatloads of money to whomever would take it. The problem now is that this crazy dude is getting all of the attention, but the big money guys aren't doing anything about it. They won't attack one of their own.
His entire campaign is redefining "the silly season".
At times, he sounded like Bernie Sanders. At times, he sounded like Attila the Hun. He assailed to the crowd that he loved Generals Patton and McArthur. How, if they were alive, they would have squashed ISIS in 3 days. (He seems to forget that McArthur felt he could have squashed all of China in 1951...right before they launched a massive surprise attack that embarrassed him and pushed his army back across the Yalu.) He also talked about raising taxes (tariffs, really) to punish corporations like Ford. "I am going to have you pay a tax on every part you make outside of our country." Yet, he has also hired Mexicans to make his shirts.
So, is he going to levy a tax on himself for using Mexican labor? By the way, Presidents don't have the power to do this. Congress does this. But following the rules doesn't seem to stop Donald Trump.
I wonder if he is bipolar. It was a full-on rant that was all "Please love me", "I am perfect.", "Everyone is jealous of me.", "They are coming to get me and you know they are coming to get you." It scared the hell out of me. He seemed part comedian, part Charles Manson.
Don't dismiss him. Donald Trump is the reason that Democrats NEED to make sure that LOTS of people show up in 2016. The first three Republican primaries are Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. He is way ahead in all of these. Some of the other candidates have tried to destroy him for the last two months. They are failing and there are only four months to go. And if he gets on a roll like that...
All I can say to Republicans is be careful what you wish for, I think you just got it.