How Trump broke the rules of modern politics, and won anyway
How Trump broke the rules of modern politics, and won anyway
Donald Trump took the rules of modern politics, trashed them and became the last man standing for the Republican nomination anyway.
After one particularly salty salvo, Trump explained: "That's what I mean about being politically correct, every once in a while you can have a little fun, don't you think?" Plenty of candidates may think it, but Trump said it: "I'd like to punch him in the face," he said of one protester.
To listen to a Trump speech from start to finish is to enter an alternate grammatical universe.
The billionaire is proud to campaign on the cheap, milking free media in a way that other candidates could only envy.
Or asking supporters to "bundle" contributions from friends and neighbors.
[...] I have spent almost nothing on my run for president and am in 1st place.
Other candidates spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on surveys to poll-test their words and messages, and track their standings in primary states.
Trump goes with his gut and mines public polls for intel.
Candidates love to trot out five-point plans and lofty position papers — some more detailed than others.
Trump makes a virtue of leaving enemies guessing about U.S. intentions.
Trump has publicly lip-synced the F-bomb, blurted out the S-word and hurled an offensive term at rival Ted Cruz.
Remember how 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney was tarred by critics as a ruthless corporate fat cat?
Trump kept winning even as he rolled out a stream of remarks that could be a turn-off to huge swaths of the electorate.
Throughout his campaign, he's had harsh words for women and their appearances, mocking the looks of Carly Fiorina, retweeting an unflattering photo of Heidi Cruz and accusing Hillary Clinton of playing the "woman's card."
Trump isn't afraid to pick a fight, even with a conservative powerhouse like Fox News Channel.
Why?
Because this thing is too hard to comb, he said at an appearance in Iowa last summer.