Face The Nation is a popular political TV show — and it’s also GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s bold strategy. Trump is utterly unafraid of putting his golden feet in his mouth because, as he’s seen time and time again, people love his shiny feet. He’s the only candidate that will, according to his supporters, face the nation. His supporters will swallow much of Trump’s outrageousness because they feel they’re being lied to by everybody else in the room. Face The Nation — the show on CBS, not Trump’s strategy — explored the phenomenon of the Trump support on Sunday’s broadcast, interviewing a focus group of Trump supporters. (See below.)
Yes, some people really do support banning all Muslims temporarily. But no one takes seriously Trump’s plan to deport every Latino worker in the US. His supporters simply trust that Trump says things to stir the pot, to start the conversation, and that he’s only half-serious with some of his pronouncements. That’s better, they think, than being totally serious and yet full of bull, like the candidates who won’t address the issues with commensurate conviction. They’d rather have a blustery Trump than a weak somebody else. “He has to be proactive,” said one supporter, explaining the slack he and others cut Trump. “He’s intentionally playing the media. He’s saying things that are right on the edge. He’s exaggerating. He’s saying things that he knows the mainstream media will grab and throw gasoline on.” They believe Trump the president and Trump the candidate are two different beings.
