24th October 2016, 6:11 PM
(This post was last modified: 24th October 2016, 10:33 PM by A Black Falcon.)
That is a very troubling possibility, yes, but there is an important factor that helped push Trump towards success: that he was already an extremely prominent national figure. If some random Republican started talking sort of like Trump in 4 years, would the press hang on their every word like they did Trump's? Trump wasn't just someone, but surely one of the better-known people outside of politics in this country, at least in real estate and reality television anyway. The Donald used his name and prominence to get ridiculous amounts of free positive press and television coverage; this was key to his success. I am not convinced that some other person could replicate what Trump has done, since who else would be guaranteed that volume of free PR and TV air time?
I think that his longtime national prominence may have helped him get away with the lies too, because what else would you expect from this guy but bluster, lies (remember, he was the leading figure in the Birther movement), and a stubborn refusal to ever admit wrongdoing? Could some other person get away with lying as much as Trump without the press tearing them apart from a much earlier point in the campaign? You're probably right that at some point we will see more people in their party try his "just keep lying" campaign strategy in the future, so we'll see, but I do think there is a good possibility that it wouldn't go as well for most other people as it did for Trump.
I think that his longtime national prominence may have helped him get away with the lies too, because what else would you expect from this guy but bluster, lies (remember, he was the leading figure in the Birther movement), and a stubborn refusal to ever admit wrongdoing? Could some other person get away with lying as much as Trump without the press tearing them apart from a much earlier point in the campaign? You're probably right that at some point we will see more people in their party try his "just keep lying" campaign strategy in the future, so we'll see, but I do think there is a good possibility that it wouldn't go as well for most other people as it did for Trump.