Monday, August 10, 2015

Trump Rejects Very Sound Roger Stone Advice

It is very clear that Donald Trump is a very unpredictable, unknown quantity.

WaPo is reporting on some very sound advice given to Trump from Roger Stone:
 Donald Trump was ensconced inside his Manhattan skyscraper early last week, preparing for his first presidential debate. The celebrity billionaire wanted to turn the summer fling that had catapulted him to the front of the Republican pack into a candidacy capable of winning the White House — and his longtime adviser Roger Stone had a plan.

Don’t get dragged down by ­petty attacks, Stone counseled Trump, but begin offering an agenda focused on the economy and hammer home what makes you a singular candidate. In a 13-page memo to Trump, Stone urged him to state that “the system is rigged against the citizens” and that he is the lone candidate “who cannot be bought.”

“A builder, an entrepreneur and a capitalist versus a bunch of politicians who are clearly part of the problem” is how Stone framed the contest in the document, obtained by The Washington Post from a Republican working with the campaign. The memo suggested a sound bite: “I’m running because when I look at this field — all perfectly nice people — I know that none of them could ever run one of my companies. They are not entrepreneurs.”

But Trump did not heed the advice. Instead, after briefly flipping through the papers, he decided to wing it — just as he had vowed to do. In a debate watched by a cable-news-record 24 million Americans, Trump followed his gut, and the theater that followed was defined more by outbursts than by substance — most memorably when he sparred with moderator Megyn Kelly over his past incendiary comments about wom­en.
I'm glad Trump rejected Stone's advice. It gives a much clearer picture of the Trump personality. If he took the advice of people like Stone, it would not be as obvious anytime soon just how much of a megalomaniac Trump is.

-RW 

2 comments:

  1. This is also a lot more fun. I won't vote for any of them so I can sit back, eat my popcorn, and enjoy the show.

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  2. Perhaps Trump is not really that savvy, then. Most of that advice from Stone sounds really good, with some excellent one liners. Trump didn't use any of it. I thought he bombed the debate compared to what he could have done with Stone's advice.

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