What He Meant To Say....I Think

One of the more entertaining aspects of the Presidential campaign so far has been watching the "surrogates" for Donald Trump try to explain what the GOP nominee's platform is.  Usually, lower-level politicians like that are provided with key talking points--and a few significant numbers--to memorize and provide in answers to all questions.  But because the Trump campaign is distressingly short on facts and details, these poor people (many of them related to Trump himself) are left to fumble through interviews and try to avoid directly answering anything (other than to say that "Hillary is crooked" and "He'll make American great again").

It's one thing when the candidate himself gets on stage and says "I have a plan.  It is a very great plan.  It will be a successful plan and I will fix that."  That's just ego-mania--and it's what we've come to expect from the Trumpster.  But when someone else gets in front of a microphone and a camera and says "He has a plan.  It's a very great plan.  It will be a successful plan and he will fix that" it makes you sound like you are in a cult (which, let's be honest here, isn't that far off in this case).  And it's the "surrogates" that get thrown to the more difficult interview situations (i.e. MSNBC) where the questioner tends to be more probative and demanding of actual facts, figures and policy points.

What's more, Trump's surrogates can't always be sure which side of an issue he is taking at any given moment.  Take immigration for instance.  Is he in favor of deporting 11-million people today?  Or is this the day when he is mocking the media for quoting him as saying he supports that? (The campaign would probably have to send out text alerts--if they actually had someone keeping an eye on what their candidate is actually saying).  And that may change again today as Trump might fly to meet with Mexico's President just hours before a "major immigration speech" which probably isn't even written yet.

Usually, we here at the Radio Ranch refuse to interview "surrogates" because it's non-informative and repetitive.  But given the zig-zag pattern of the Trump campaign so far, we may have to make an exception--if only for the entertainment value.