I wrote an Op-ed article about Trump's special rejection power on Foxnews. Let me know your thoughts

Not entirely sure what point one means. The people he criticized (Mexicans) still came out and voted for him. I felt like his victory in the primaries came down to being able to bring the spotlight away from the positives of the other candidates. The fact that media focused so much of their attention on him really hurt the other candidates. Any publicity is good publicity (err... in some cases). You take away all the absolutes and fluff pieces from Trump, the ideas he (or whoever) came up with aren't as bad as people make them out to be.

Sorta agree with point 2. I just think Trump is a motivated guy, and whether or not people made fun of him for running may or may not be the sole motivation for him to run for presidency the last two cycles. I just think he wants to create a legacy for himself (hopefully a good one).

3rd point is similar to point 2. His resiliency is pretty admirable and he's a winner. He's the kind of guy who won't accept any results but a win. Good quality to have. We will see how it works when he gets in next month.

I really think Hillary has really shot herself in the foot with unfortunate timings of the emails, potential scandals, and not being able to appease to the American working class. The Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio loss were shocking. The fact that everyone is sick and tired of corruption and Washington not being able to do anything for the people has helped Trump the most. Great article @DeAleck, it creates another good insight on the past 18 months of the election cycle. BTW, some of the comments on that FoxNews page are so classless. Bloody hell. Hope this is the opinion you're looking for.

 

Interesting take. I feel like it's an echo of a more common political idea about polarization, but not looking at it with a political lens. I say polarization because what you're describing is an atmosphere Trump created where he can say you're either with us or against us and eliminating neutral ground between him and Hillary.

It sounds also a bit like the business concept of brand identity and brand promises. There are some companies that try to be all things to all people. But, there are also companies that know they only offer value to a certain sort of customer and unapologetically say what they are about and what they can do and for whom. That's often a source of strength for them because they can avoid wasting their time with customers they shouldn't do business with and focus on creating value for the ones they should. The Trump political brand is this way -- if you think the once-great America has been brought to its knees by clueless politicians with no accountability, Trump wants to sell to you; if you don't, shop somewhere else.

I kinda figured it out, but as a piece of writing I would have really appreciated a sentence somewhere in the beginning that actually defined what you meant about 'the power of rejection.'

I feel a little uncomfortable with the implication here that Trump is a sort of role model for how to use the power of rejection to succeed in whatever people may be engaged in. He might fit the model, and it may have helped him win the presidency, but it's too early to say he succeeded. This same behavior may see him buried in the end. From the political comparisons you cited, I'd say it worked for Gandhi, kinda worked for King, and ultimately failed for Hitler (I don't think the model really describes Stalin, honestly). Being very clear about what you stand for and what you stand against has long been successful for politicians (I'd say Obama and Reagan were the notables in my lifetime, and W recognized the strategy at least and managed to fake it), but it can also result in failure. Obama's clear brand promises drove the reaction that created the tea party and the populists and could be considered a failure. The reaction to Trump can potentially also end with failure.

 

The OCD in me hates that you used "1." but not follow it up with "2." or "3.".

Overall, I liked and enjoyed the writing but I don't know if you're restricted to a specific word count limit or not because the ideas could have been fleshed out more to present/prove your case that this was truly an example of power of rejection.

 

Like others have stated, it would benefit your case to expand upon the "rejection" theme a little more. Overall, it was tightly worded and followed a coherent progression of ideas. Good Job.

There are two quotes that I've come across since the election that have made me consider an additional reason for Trump's non-traditional success. One is from Kanye West who said he would've voted for Trump if he had voted at all because,

“There’s nonpolitical methods to speaking that I like, that I feel were very futuristic. And that style, and that method of communication, has proven that it can beat a politically correct way of communication"

He later added, "I **** with that" and "Feelings matter, brah" about 8 times. He then went to a mental hospital.

Now, I think Kanye is a little nuts but nobody can deny that he's influential.

The second quote, was from a Trump supporter. I'll try to paraphrase it here. He said when he hears Trump speak he can understand what he's saying and when Hillary speaks it's just a bunch of bullstuff.

Putting aside the subtext of what these two quotes say about the education and mental health quality in the U.S., I think many people wish to be talked to on their levels and respond to that more readily.

To tie this in w/ your idea of rejection, people lead complicated lives outside of politics and are more well versed in what they are against because that effects them on an emotional level. Trump tapped in to that anger and used it to fuel a movement w/ simple, anti-establishment rhetoric at it's backbone. It worked. Future demagogues are taking notice...

 

I still don't understand how Hilary losing Pennsylvania was all-that shocking. When you say that you're going to put every Coal Mine out of business..don't be surprised if you lose a state that produces 60,000,000 Tons of Coal a year.