by Marion Marks

When another makes the case so clearly that there is little more to say, I add only a request that others watch this moving video and listen carefully to the message. The Cruel, Crude and Absurd language that came from Trump finalizes the decision Republicans must heed and cut their losses. Republican candidates must separate from the damage Donald Trump has brought not just upon the party but upon the nation. The rate at which he is spiraling into meaningless oblivion is mind boggling.

Ezra Klein makes it clear that the systematic analysis of this one candidate and his campaign has broken bonds many voters have with their party allegiances. The GOP I knew and respected cannot tolerate this David Duke-like hideous calamity.

“It isn’t how you and I would act!” … “Mitt Romney … John McCain never would have said this.” …  

“Trump could not restrain himself, he made this a national issue. And, so now he has Read more

by Marion Marks

The lesson Muhammad Ali teaches us about Donald Trump is appreciating the most fantastical American figure of his age, a self-invented charismatic character who was consistently honest and insightful. The Ali image is appealing in both simplicity and depth as opposed to the Trump contrived reality-show star shell. Ali, born Cassius Clay in Jim Crow-era Louisville, Kentucky, was a mere skinny, quick-witted kid, whose self-supporting parents were a simple sign painter and a house cleaning maid. Ali only took up boxing at the age of twelve to avenge the indignity he suffered from a bully who stole his most prized possession, a shinny red bicycle.

Ali created his amazing persona, many considered the most famous person in the world, a supreme athlete who became vindicated by the Supreme Court, an artist or wordsmith whose blend of pugilistic force, improvisational wit, ballerina balance and a jet-engine blasts mastered Read more

The 1960’s White House Press corps frustration with press releases, basically intentional lies told to the press, was a foundation for the acceptable but not-so-inside term that became a fad board game called “Credibility Gap.” Younger journalists sought evidence, often “leaks”, supportive of contentions that the administration was lying about activities not authorized by congress. All too regularly, the evidence turned up.

In December 1962, at the annual meeting of the U.S. Inter-American Council, Senator Kenneth B. Keating (R-N.Y.) praised President John F. Kennedy’s prompt action in the Cuban Missile Crisis. But he said there was an urgent need for the United States to plug what he termed the “Credibility Gap” in U.S. policy on Cuba.

What was called a Credibility Gap has turned into a modern-day Credibility Challenge, and the acceptability of press releases becomes a daily fact check by the media, bloggers and political operatives, often intent upon using the slightest factual inconsistency as the edge of a wedge to cry liar. “Gotcha” moments begin as slips in fact checking, the slight exaggeration of basically correct information or outright intentional lies. The power of facts is in the ability to bludgeon opponents with inaccurate use of basic truths by finding flaws in logic or having a spokesperson whose credibility has previously been proven Read more

by Marion Marks

Pat Buchanan, significantly fashioned the Richard Nixon image and is credited with stating “public opinion could not only be ascertained, but crafted.” Understanding how to fashion the public’s appreciation in a chief executive’s election and the image of the office demonstrated at the time that managing the press, understanding how to alter free speech or insert selective facts also gives responsibility for pinning Nixon as “Tricky Dick.”

Our world of facts may speak louder than mere spoken words, but efforts to enlarge words and empower them carry responsibilities when it comes to presidential politics. Clearly both the Trump and Clinton camps will make every effort to spin the news and make the opponent appear to be – “The Evil One!” Sadly voters Read more

Historical Interpretation of the Trump Strategy

by Marion Marks

The “ultimate contrived stunt” might be the Daniel Boorstin¹ interpretation of the manner in which Donald Trump managed his campaign to become the leader and presidential candidate of the Republican Party. The Trump methodology of employing his brand of reality show in the real world demonstrated an implementation of feeding the news cycle that other candidates failed to leverage. Every step along the way, using primaries and caucuses Trump found how poorly prepared his opposition was and how an eager electorate, with the assistance of the media, devoured his message as news addicts. Trump static, referred to here as “Trumpland”, has swamped the airwaves since his announcement to run and other candidates fight to create blips in the news cycle. As the video indicates,“Whether it’s Fox or MSNBC or CNN you can’t tell the difference… it’s All Trump, All the time!”

Never has so little conquered so much since the Big Bad Wolf wiped out the House of Straw. Trump blew through candidate straw houses of Republican rivals and they collapsed with a mild breath. Trump cast recognizable and publicly accepted tags, always denigrating, on each candidate designed to cast scorn and ridicule. And as each was singled out, the others, not believing or recognizing that they would be next, waited patiently, unable to withstand the wolf’s putrid breath.

Jeb Bush was “weak” or “low-energy.” Rand Paul took early hits from Trump, as Trump tweeted, “Truly weird Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky reminds me of a spoiled brat without a properly functioning brain. He was terrible at DEBATE!”

Carly Fiorina was labeled with a slight that all women should have risen with horror when Trump stated, “look at that face!” Ben Carson assisted Trump with his own description in his auto­biography. Trump picked up Read more