TRUMP SPEAKS – AT 1:23 P.M. ET:  It was the biggest rally of the election campaign so far, covered live on both Fox and CNN.  We got a chance to see Trump up close, delivering a full performance.  From the New York Post: 

Donald Trump scored the biggest crowd of any presidential candidate so far this election year Friday, drawing 30,000 raucous, cheering fans to his rally at a college football stadium in Mobile, Ala.

“I’m going to be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. You are going to be so proud,” he declared to tremendous cheers.

The bombastic businessman kicked off an hourlong monologue about himself at Ladd Peebles Stadium with a joke about his hair. “If it rains, right, I’ll take off my hat and I’ll prove once and for all that it’s mine,” he quipped.

Then he repeated his promise to build a wall along the southern border to keep out Mexicans.

He claimed that “7.5 percent of all of the births in this country are illegal immigrants . . . 300,000 babies a year that you have to take care of, that we all have to take care of. In the case of other countries, they don’t do that.”

He boasted about his annual income of $400 million a year and bashed politicians for accepting lobbyists’ cash. “I don’t want your money,’’ he insisted.

He took a direct shot at Jeb Bush, saying the former Florida governor has “very low energy” and is “weak on immigration.”

Bush got a dig in before Trump took the stage when his supporters flew a plane over the stadium with a banner that read: “Trump 4 Higher Taxes. Jeb 4 Prez.”

COMMENT:  So I watched, and carefully.  Look, he's not a stupid man.  He has a way of hitting the very problems that people are concerned about.  He has that ability.  And he understands what makes those people concerned.  On many issues he is absolutely right.  Yes, he's right, there's too much political correctness.  Yes, we are militarily weak compared to where we should be.  Yes, we are seen as a diminished nation.  Yes, our economy is in rags.

And Trump knows how to reach people.  He can be very refreshing.

The problem, though, is that he's coarse.  His is the kind of personality that wears out its welcome.  Note Chris Christie, who has the same problem.  Also, Trump has no record of public service.  He does not prepare his remarks carefully.  He's often short on facts, and certainly on solutions.  Last night he rambled.  It was almost stream of consciousness.  You have to take him on faith. 

He is a rougher version of Ross Perot, who ran as an independent in 1992, and broke into George H.W. Bush's vote, making possible the election of Bill Clinton.  When people asked Perot to specify a solution to a problem, he acted as if they were stupid for asking.  Eventually people caught on.  He had no real solutions.

Trump's speeches are about Trump.  His ego is supreme.  Look, maybe he would be a great president.  He certainly has identified the problems.  But I wonder if he can sustain a campaign, which will have to last more than a year, without buckling down and doing serious homework.  Reagan was a great campaigner, but he knew his stuff and had a record as a two-term governor of our largest state.  Right now, Trump may be asking for too much trust based on too little being offered.

August 22, 2015