Its going to be hard to put the cat back in the bag now though with the gateway from celebrity to Washington already being breached. But I do think there is some realization that is going to hit eventually that Washington is an actual job, and you open yourself up to scrutiny way more than you do in Hollywood. Depending on how the Trump saga ends up working out for Trump I think it will be a cautionary tale of staying in your glamorous lifestyle if you can, but for 2018 and 2020 the jump from celebrity to politician for more people seems inevitable. The way I look at it though... our country has ALOT of great talent. From artists, to innovative tech geniuses, to community leaders. I want the best and brightest leading the country regardless of where they come from. Donald Trump is NOT representative of our "best and brightest". Pretty much anything we have to offer is better than that.
Trump is a world class marketeer (aka BS-er). Trump is not smart/intelligent. Trump is not a great business man. Trump amazingly is not great at deal making. The image he pitched of himself was complete and total BS. The voters got duped.
Obviously better than Trump, and he's a smart and energetic guy. But I have no interest at all in having him president. I'd take him for governor of Texas (where our need is just as dire), maybe a Representative. But no I want an actual professional for president. I don't see how he showed that. Trump ran as a Republican. He'd have had no shot running as an independent. What Trump showed is that you can co-opt a party when the conditions are right. Why the parties are still important is brand. We have enormous brand loyalty; we build these brands into our identities. We don't say "I vote democratic", or "I vote for Democrats", we say "I AM a Democrat." It is because of this very deep brand loyalty that a good, fiscal conservative, god-fearing, Republican woman can hold her nose and vote for the grab-em-by-the-p***y, "two Corinthians" candidate. Because somehow Trump managed to get (R) next to his name. Some folks flipped for Trump because they liked what they heard; and some other folks flipped away because they didn't like what they heard. But so so many people voted for him despite misgivings, because of his party. As an independent, he'd have never flipped enough people; he absolutely needed the inert customer book -- the default voter -- of a major political party to have any shot at all. In my view, I don't think we'll see an 'outsider' again for a long time. The major parties are going to lock their windows so outsiders don't get candidacies any more. It might be that the Republican party is permanently changed now. It might be the populist party now. But populism will be co-opted by the career politicians. The old fiscal conservatives might be replaced with white supremacists, but they'll still be insiders. Don't get your hopes up that we'll be plucking citizens off the street to lead the country.
...Makes that whole "term limit" thingie for our elected officials all the more appropriate, wouldn't you say? ...Hell, even the "Founding Fathers" understood that a fresh pair of eyes and a fresh perspective often could help move the country in the ways it needed to in order to govern and grow effectively....
They could all be true to a different degree. And one being right does not mean the other has to be wrong. I also was not saying that there were people people voting against Obama based on his mixed ethnicity. But that it made it easier to vote against a crap candidate Clinton, and vote for Mr. Crazy.
I'd like to hear him out regarding his positions on the issues and his proposed solutions. I've long admired him as a businessman. I'd be open minded to giving him a chance, depending on his positions and proposed solutions.
Why don't he go be the President of Cuba? We don't want no Mark Cuban President. We want Mark American to be President.
Will be interesting to get Cuban's take on how these conversations have gone with Bannon. Bannon's urging him to run as a Dem which is interesting but not surprising, but Cuban has said for weeks he'd run as a Republican. I think Bannon here sees a couple things- A. Cuban as a Dem would be another figurehead that could break up "the establishment"- Bannon obviously wants his legacy to be that he was this historical figurehead that completely blew up American politics, and reshaped the country around his ideals. He's a self described "Leninist" which is always important to note. His ideal of a perfect government is very very socialist. Its just his "working class" isn't the working class you or I believe in. His idea of the "working class" is white america. Basically he wants a government that will pick and choose winners and losers, and you better believe white america is the winner. This is important to note in any strategic decision he makes. Bannon is a white socialist-Leninist and his goals will never change on that front. B. More favorable political climate for Trump to win in- He knows the more the debates and the run-up to the election is more like the Real Housewives "reality" TV, the better Trump will do. He's also probably banking on the Dem establishment not giving Cuban a fair chance, and causing another Bernie Vs. Hillary type of war in the party. Bannon probably envisions a 8 month long mud slinging fest between Cuban and Biden that makes the Dem party look split. Tom Perez & co. need to be prepared for how they will handle this. C. Seeding a Dem who isn't really a Dem and will turn the party into a neo-right wing party with a more worldly view- This is the most scary option, but the most unrealistic IMO. I don't think Cuban would sacrifice his standing within the sports community, the open tech community, etc. to shift hard right. He's certainly going to be more conservative economically which I think wouldn't be immediately dismissed by progressives if he can show data to support his positions, but if he abandons being a social progressive and starts going hard right under the Dem platform I think he knows this will backfire big time as his entire world outside of politics is surrounded by progressive minded people. .................. If I had to pick now I'd say B is the most likely position, or a mix of all 3 with B being the biggest reason. I'm sure Bannon is filling his head though with nonsense about deconstructing the administrative state, etc. which Cuban might be buying into somewhat. As I've said before I think Cuban is a substantial upgrade to Trump, but I just can't seem to figure out what his motives are in this case. If he really does just want to help the country out in the ways he says (tech innovation, common sense policies) I'm more than open to hearing him out under either platform. I just hope he knows what he's doing in messing around with the very dangerous Steve Bannon and the Mercer's who are the largest financial backers of right wingers in this country who have weaponized Bannon's twisted worldview.
