SNGTDTED

azspot:

One way to understand the up-is-down logic of this election is as an expression of what might be called American sentimentalism. What moves the electorate is not true facts but true feelings.

Donald Trump is the kind of jerk who authentically, genuinely, unabashedly inhabits his own jerkiness. The indifference to reality he’s displayed on the campaign trail is the same indifference he displayed as a businessman, a husband, a boss, and a taxpayer. His narcissism, petulance, and whatever other character flaw you care to choose aren’t under wraps; they’re on view for all to see and hear. In this sense, he truly is the real thing.

Clinton, meanwhile, is constantly role-playing. On the campaign trail, she displays an interest in people that, one can only assume, she doesn’t always feel. In her speeches, she invokes lofty ideals, when doubtless she’s often motivated by expedience. The high-minded, Presidential persona she’s committed to is constraining in many ways. It prevents her from lashing out, or publicly belittling blocs of voters she may, in private, consider “deplorable,” or expressing the frustration that she certainly must be experiencing right now. In this sense, she is not the real thing.

On almost any matter of fact, Clinton is, without doubt, more “honest and trustworthy” than Trump. This is understood by virtually everyone whose job it is to inquire into such matters—journalists, political scientists, and historians. In its endorsement of Clinton, the San Diego Union-Tribune, which had not previously backed a Democrat for President in its hundred and forty-eight years of existence, labelled Trump “dishonest and impulsive.” Even Republican politicians seem to get that their candidate has set a new standard for mendacity; though many have cravenly come around to supporting Trump, many have not. (On Tuesday, George P. Bush, the Texas land commissioner, who is a nephew of George W., suggested his uncle may vote for Clinton.) But what counts as honesty to the political class is apparently very different from what counts to many voters.

rickwebb:

The real value of the WikiLeaks documents is one the hackers may not have intended. The documents, particularly the speech extracts, portray Clinton as she is: a hard-headed centrist who believes that electoral politics inevitably involve making compromises, dealing with powerful interest groups, and, where necessary, amending unpopular policy positions. Addressing a General Electric Global Leadership Meeting in January, 2014, she said, “I mean, politics is like sausage being made. It is unsavory, and it always has been that way, but we usually end up where we need to be.” Answering a question in March, 2014, at an event organized by Xerox, she said that the country needs two “sensible, moderate, pragmatic parties.” These sentiments won’t win over many Sanders supporters. But they might actually reassure moderate Democrats, independents, and even some Trump-loathing Republicans who are thinking about crossing party lines.