How Open are You?

Donald Trump. Mocked, loved or reviled; but he is not ignored. Based on his statements, one of the very many jokes going around is his “world view”:


Ok, now that you’ve had your laugh, let’s get a bit more serious. We like to think of ourselves as balanced, open to arguments and willing to change our mind. But how many of us go as far as what Charlie Munger told:
“I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that I don’t know the other side’s argument better than they do.”

Do you “know the other side’s argument better than they do” on a topic like Trump?

And no, answers like “What’s to know? His supporters are lunatics or racists” don’t count. When he is winning state after state, do you really believe that 35-50% of the US suddenly became that way in the last 6 months? Really?

So if you can’t come up reasons why he may be so popular, let’s go over Scott Adams’ attempt to “know the other side’s argument better than they do”:
1)      Trump doesn’t need party money or support; which means they have no control or influence over him. So Trump could, in theory at least:
“Remove the influence of big money and make common-sense decisions based on good advice.”
In other words, voters who are sick of regular politicians see a hope in him.
2)     If other candidates sound like a recipe of “more of the same” policies, then to voters who don’t want that, Trump offers an alternative. Will he necessarily be better? Who knows? But people who are sick of the system may well be feeling that they have to take a chance.
3)     His anti-Muslim immigration stance?
“If you believe Trump is totally transparent about sacrificing “political correctness” for national security, it just looks like aggressive risk management.”
In fact, voters may be making a calculated stance here:
“Is that moral? Definitely not. Is it a good tradeoff in terms of risk? We don’t know. Ask Belgium.”
4)     Ok, what about all his lies and outrageous assertions?
“What you call a con artist, Trump calls negotiating. I call it persuasion. And we all call it politics. It’s all the same thing. Trump just does it better than his opponents.”

Doesn’t look so cut and dry anymore, does it? Besides, if you’re not American, what are you really worried about? The world didn’t end even when they voted George W. Bush as President twice, did it? And whatever Trump has said so far, nothing’s anti-India anyway.

Comments

  1. Ramiah KumarMarch 31, 2016 at 5:19 PM

    Your argument on how Trump is sailing OK seems to have valid points. Actually the US never had (to my knowledge)another candidate for the Presidency talking like he does now! So, we have nothing to compare him with there.

    As the saying goes, "the proof of the pudding is in the eating", we will know what Trump 'actually does' as the President of the USA if and only if he gets elected. That chance is not high, I am given to understand. So, it is unlikely that the people in US and the people of the world will ever know how Trump would behave as the President of the mightiest nation.

    Now some funny points:

    I have a fancy for Trump winning in order to enjoy his utterances (if he manages to talk as provocatively as he does now)! Not being an American citizen, what happens to America is not one of my prime concerns. That need not stop me from some silly, wishful thoughts: assuming Trump also does things atrociously by chance, would it not be great entertainment? :-) That is very unlikely of course. :-(

    This must be said about Trump: win or no-win seems hardly the point. He will be remembered as the contender for the race for years to come. :-)

    ReplyDelete

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