By David K. Shipler
If Ronald
Reagan was the Great Communicator, as his admirers enjoyed saying, then Donald
Trump is the Great Manipulator, with an uncanny eye for the voters’ nerves of
fear and yearning. If criticisms slid off Reagan as if he were coated with Teflon,
every one sticks to Hillary Clinton as if she were covered in Velcro. If Trump
gets better at what he does, and if Clinton doesn’t unglue the labels of
dishonesty and opportunism, the election could be close.
Trump is
dangerously clever at reading the electorate, at least the part of it whose anti-government
anger and economic despair have been energized by Republican radicals who now
wail as Trump rides the wave that they produced. Talk-show personality Glenn
Beck, who incites furious extremism, compared Trump to Hitler in 1929 and warned Americans against voting in anger. “When you’re really angry, you don’t make
good decisions,” Beck told a rally for Ted Cruz. “Don’t drive drunk, don’t vote
angry.” That’s sage advice from a model of calm reason.
But if
Trump grabs the nomination, it would not be amazing to see him temper his
insults, smooth his sharp edges somewhat, and stress the virtue of “flexibility,”
a word he used a few times in the last debate. His bare-knuckled bullying
appeals to some but repels others, even those who want a tough-guy act in the
White House. If he managed to time his evolution deftly, he might just appeal
to the wishful thinking of Republicans who want to beat Clinton at all costs.
And costs there would be.
