Donald Trump supercharged by super idiots

A DONALD Trump US presidency now looms as increasingly likely. Should he succeed, he will have his enemies to thank, says Tim Blair.

Donald Trump

I’M no Donald Trump fan, as my previous columns, online commentary and “Down with Donald!” neck tattoo will confirm.

Trump is a greasy opportunist with no workable or coherent policies and the instantly adjustable philosophical commitment of a Greens voter who’s just been told he’ll lose his inheritance if he goes to another coal seam gas protest.

Trump has changed his political affiliation more times than that Greens voter has bought new underwear (five times since 1999, to be precise, which is many more times the undies-purchasing rate, or even the undies-changing rate, of your average Greens voter). He’s a frequent Democrat donor who invited Bill and Hillary Clinton to his 2005 wedding.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump / Picture: AP

Hillary — now running for US president against Trump and others — was recently reminded of her attendance at that wedding.

“He used to ... he was basically a Democrat before he was a Republican,” she said at a campaign forum, “and he was, you know, somebody that we all knew in New York.

“And he was supportive of Democrats. He was supportive of a lot of the causes that I cared about and that people I knew cared about. Now he seems to have taken another road.”

And he’ll take another one in the future. It’s just his way.

In the meantime, however, you don’t have to be a Trump admirer to be impressed by the way he’s working the current presidential contest.

The chameleon Trump has hit on strategies and themes that in any previous election cycle may have seen him thrown out months ago. In 2016, though, they’re ideal.

For a start, Trump is running following years of crushing political correctness under President Barack Obama, who was aided by a compliant and timid media. No wonder that there is an appetite for someone perceived to be “telling it like it is”. (This also applies, in a lesser sense, to Clinton’s rival Bernie Sanders.)

Second, billionaire Trump’s wealth is an absolute positive during a time of unimaginable US debt. When Obama came to office in 2009, the total national debt stood at $10.6 trillion. Now it’s closing in on $20 trillion. That’s $20,000,000,000,000 — or more than three times Australia’s total wealth.

Third, consider Trump’s opponents, such as they are. Clinton is so unloved that she’s struggling to shake off elderly socialist Sanders, let alone compete directly with the Donald. No Republican is generating anything like the enthusiasm seen among Trump supporters. And then there are Trump’s opponents from outside the race, who keep providing the real estate mogul with yet more media coverage and campaign momentum.

In St Louis last week, anti-Trump activists repeatedly interrupted the candidate’s speech and were hauled away by security staff. Rather than being rattled, Trump turned the interruptions into a positive.

Greasy opportunist Donald Trump / Picture: AP

“Can I be honest with you? It adds to the flavour,” he told cheering supporters. “It really does. It makes it more exciting. I mean, isn’t this better than listening to a long boring speech?”

Then in Chicago Trump cancelled a scheduled speech at the University of Illinois when raucous students filled the venue and began scuffling with Trump supporters.

“We stopped Trump!” the protesters chanted, when in fact they’d done the opposite. Trump’s cancellation became front page news across the US. He scored greater coverage than any of his rivals for an event where he didn’t even turn up.

“It is doubtful the Left has actually shut the Donald down,” wrote pundit Richard Fernandez. “They’ve most likely supercharged him.”

Absolutely. Even as the protesters were celebrating, one of them posted this cautionary note on Twitter: “Is anyone else out there frightened that tonight’s events might result in more votes for Trump and not less?”

These clowns are attempting to put out a fire using pressurised nitromethane and oxygen. And a fire it definitely is. Voting is voluntary in the US, which usually means low numbers at primary election contests. Ignited by Trump, Republican voters have set records in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina already during 2016, and that was before his candidacy really began moving.

It seemed improbable mere weeks ago but a Donald Trump presidency now looms as increasingly likely. Should he succeed, Trump will have his enemies to thank.

WHERE ARE THE FIREWORKS IN OUR ‘EXCITING’ ELECTION YEAR?

“THERE has never been a more exciting time to be an Australian,” declared Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, and he’s right.

The entire nation is waiting in a state of delirious excitement for the PM to tell us when the Budget will be delivered. It’s thrilling!

Contrast our sleepy election year to the manic antics in the US. We have two parties battling with each other to present the most risk-free, safety-first campaigns ever run.

Mr Turnbull has done precisely nothing since coming to office, which makes you wonder why he went to so much trouble. The man has less movement in him than a Tuesday afternoon Baptist disco.

And Labor leader Bill Shorten, aware he has no new ideas, has lately decided to run a repeat of the 2007 election.

“We’re going to fight the election with climate change as one of our big issues,” he said last week. “Climate change is both a challenge and an opportunity for Australia.”

There has never been a more exciting time to be a Kevin Rudd replicant, nine years after Rudd was briefly popular. As you’d expect, the inertia from both major parties has led them to a two-party-preferred tie in polls. This may lead them to become even more cautious, because a single error between now and the election could cost victory.

Instead of attempting to score votes with actual policies, Labor and the Coalition are squabbling over preferences. Liberal powerbroker Michael Kroger is trying to put together some form of preference deal with the Greens, on the basis they are now only partially insane under new leader Richard Di Natale.

This is not going down well with Labor, who traditionally pick up Greens preferences in the manner of a farm tractor’s wheels gathering manure.

“The Greens are behaving like a cancer on progressive politics in this country,” Labor senator Sam Dastyari complained. “While once the Greens took pride in standing up on principle there is nothing their current leadership won’t sell out on.”

Labor figures may raise an eyebrow at the senator’s invocation of pride and principle. Meantime we are going to be stuck in the do-nothing zone for at least two more months.

“At the earliest opportunity ... we will be putting the Australian Building and Construction Commission legislation to the Senate,” Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said yesterday. The excitement just never stops.