When a donkey senses danger, his reaction is to freeze in place and assess the situation. In most cases, he won’t move a single step until he figures out the safest action. This makes him appear stubborn, particularly if we don’t see the danger or fail to realize that a harmless object has him worried. His habit of stopping and thinking, rather than running, is one of his survival means. It’s also the characteristic that makes a donkey a trustworthy mount, especially on precarious trails. A tumbling rock, skittering snake or branch slapping in the wind makes him stop and think instead of bolting, which is what a startled horse would do. Better an ass rode than from a horse thrown, indeed.
Persuasion
A donkey who isn’t actually in a dangerous situation but thinks he is can usually be persuaded through leadership and rewards to give up and go along. But he must have prior confidence that you won’t lead him into danger. For example, a small stream that you know is safe to cross might look scary to your donkey. He might not realize it’s not deep or swift. If he won’t walk through it, get off his back and walk through the water ahead of him so he can see it’s safe. Offer him hay, carrots, apples or a nice scratch on the head for doing whatever you ask. The more he becomes aware he can trust you as a leader and that doing what you ask pleases you, he will seek the rewards of following your instructions rather than his instincts.
Experience
As a donkey has more experiences, he realizes he doesn’t need to be afraid of many things. He will ignore the tree stump, flapping plastic bag and bird taking flight that once caused him to stop in his tracks. You might think he has become less stubborn; in his own mind, he has gained the confidence to perform his job without worrying everything is out to get him. Pay close attention to your donkey’s reactions to objects and situations. Let him explore from an early age. Let him take time to think about things that bother him so he can figure them out, ultimately walking right past without hesitation.
42 Trump Takes in 2000 Words
Supporters don’t have to believe Trump will get Mexico to pay for a wall, they can observe he’s building a coalition that is incapable of backtracking towards Hispanics in the general.
.. I do think those anxieties are worse now, but institutional breakdown is also important.
.. The chickens are coming home to roost. Trump is the culmination of three major GOP trends: the bubble mentality where outside opinions aren’t respected, much less engaged, the Southern Strategy of racial resentment, and the embrace of conservative economics. Trump is the symptom here, not the disease
.. Egged on by Fox News and other institutional players, those arguing that President Obama’s agenda was fundamentally radical, a hijacking of government designed to destroy the American way of life, were bound to see this explode in their faces when they then tried to run more respectable candidates.
.. For the past decade, the GOP has been responding that liberals and Democrats don’t have reasonable disagreements, but that they are instead committing treason and trying to destroy the country. If you toss both evidence and civility overboard in your politics, of course someone like Trump will show up
.. It’s also talk radio. If you are reading this, chances are you don’t listen to much conservative talk radio, even though it’s massive, an order of magnitude size larger than whatever “respectable” conservatives you read online. Trump’s scorched earth approach reflects the mindset and worldview talk radio creates much more than the DC consultant class
.. The Republican base doesn’t share elite ideological commitments to entitlement-slashing and low taxes. The Tea Party views these programs not through abstract ideological commitments but in terms of deservedness. That the GOP left 2012 thinking they didn’t need to back off an agenda of more immigration and cutting both taxes and entitlement had them walking right into this mess
.. neoconservatives used to get this. Their bread-and-butter was being for the New Deal but skeptical of the War on Poverty, and they were the perfect intellectuals to guide the Reagan Democrats into the GOP. Yet they quickly fell in line with the movement, trading any thoughts on economic policy to the libertarians in exchange for getting to run the foreign policy
.. ”Movement conservatism is a jobs program. Those who have the jobs in DC are happy. No one else is”
.. It’s also the media too. Their fake “objectivity” and “neutrality” has stopped their role as gatekeepers against an authoritarian political figure (Glenn Greenwald). Their desire for clicks and eyeballs have them giving Trump more coverage and credibility than he ever deserved (Eliana Johnson). Maybe, but the coverage is just as much a demand as a supply phenomenon, and the turnouts Trump is getting is bigger than what could be driven by CNN stories. Also Republicans have spent so much time saying the media is corrupt it’s rich to have them expect the media to bail them out here.
.. By forming a young, multiethnic coalition that is liberal on social issues, Obama has alienated blue-collar Democrats, forcing them into the GOP but the GOP doesn’t know what to do with them, so Trump
The One Weird Trait That Predicts Whether You’re a Trump Supporter
Only two of the variables I looked at were statistically significant: authoritarianism, followed by fear of terrorism, though the former was far more significant than the latter.
.. While its causes are still debated, the political behavior of authoritarians is not. Authoritarians obey. They rally to and follow strong leaders. And they respond aggressively to outsiders, especially when they feel threatened. From pledging to “make America great again” by building a wall on the border to promising to close mosques and ban Muslims from visiting the United States, Trump is playing directly to authoritarian inclinations.
.. And in the 2008 Democratic primary, the political scientist Marc Hetherington found that authoritarianism mattered more than income, ideology, gender, age and education in predicting whether voters preferred Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama. But Hetherington has also found, based on 14 years of polling, that authoritarians have steadily moved from the Democratic to the Republican Party over time.
.. Indeed, 49 percent of likely Republican primary voters I surveyed score in the top quarter of the authoritarian scale—more than twice as many as Democratic voters.
.. These questions pertain to child-rearing: whether it is more important for the voter to have a child who is
- respectful or independent;
- obedient or self-reliant;
- well-behaved or considerate;
- and well-mannered or curious.
Respondents who pick the first option in each of these questions are strongly authoritarian.
.. non-authoritarians respond to the perception of threat by behaving more like authoritarians. More fear and more threats—of the kind we’ve seen recently in the San Bernardino and Paris terrorist attacks—mean more voters are susceptible to Trump’s message about protecting Americans.
.. Conditions are ripe for an authoritarian leader to emerge. Trump is seizing the opportunity. And the institutions—from the Republican Party to the press—that are supposed to guard against what James Madison called “the infection of violent passions” among the people have either been cowed by Trump’s bluster or are asleep on the job.
TRUMPAGEDDON!
Trump is a creature of today’s political and cultural establishment. How could a master of comic mockery like Stephen Colbert object to Trump’s political style?
.. In 2013 one of the winners of the Bradley Prize was Fox News founder Roger Ailes, perhaps the single most influential person behind the transformation of politics into entertainment over the last generation. Very Trumpian.
.. The National Review symposium I contributed to also featured Glenn Beck. If he’s acceptable to the conservative establishment, is Trump a stretch?
.. For a long time, he says, the Right has promoted “a toxic politics of fear and resentment, sometimes brewed with a tinge of racial animosity.”
.. The implication is that the American people have been hoodwinked by a professional political class that’s not up to the job and lies about it. Perhaps we should say, “Shame on you, Mr. Voter, you shouldn’t let yourself be taken in like that.” Kristof implies something different. His line of reasoning implies that many Republic voters are wicked. After all, why would those cynical Republican Party grandees cook up their toxic politics? It can only work if the Republican base is actually motivated by fear, resentment, and racial animus.
.. I can’t think of any Democrat of standing, in public life or not, who wouldn’t be thrilled to have Bill grace their cocktail receptions or dinner parties. Why, then, should Donald Trump be held accountable for his many excesses?
.. Donald Trump should be no surprise. He’s made in their image.