If you saw the movie Napoleon Dynamite, you’ll remember Pedro, Napoleon’s best friend. Pedro wasn’t loud, obnoxious, or insulting like Donald Trump is, but, when giving his speech before class president elections, he sounded exactly like Trump.
Pedro: Vote for me, and all your wildest dreams will come true.
Trump doesn’t have specifics. Trump doesn’t have actual plans. He has insults aplenty, and ridicules everyone: the media, former and current candidates, and even their wives, but he lacks substance of any kind. He will, however, let you know that he is just so intelligent, and will make things very, very good. Yugely good.
He’s currently behind in Wisconsin polls in the lead-up to that state’s April 5 primary. Since Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker endorsed Ted Cruz, Donald has naturally picked on Walker and Wisconsin’s current condition. But Trump not only lacks facts, he offers no plan to flesh out his wildly general promises.
Wisconsin has suffered a great loss of jobs and trade, but if I win, all of the bad things happening in the U.S. will be rapidly reversed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2016
Trump, though he offers no specifics, claims Wisconsin is in very bad shape. However, as Forbes previously reported, that’s just not accurate.
The labor market in Wisconsin tightened substantially under Gov. Walker, with the unemployment rate falling from 8.1% in December 2010 to 4.6% in May 2015. In addition, labor force participation has been roughly stable over the past few years around 68%. By contrast, participation nationwide has fallen to under 63%, levels not seen since the late 1970s.
While Wisconsin has seen strong employment growth, some press reports focus on a different measure: job growth on nonfarm business payrolls. By that metric Wisconsin lags the national average—but not without explanation. The recession was not as severe in the state, so slower job growth should be expected in the recovery.
In this and other instances, Trump fans eat up two things: 1. His claim that other politicians are just doing horribly, and 2. That he will do so , so much better…just because.
I will be in Wisconsin until the election. Jobs, trade and immigration will be big factors. I will bring jobs back home – make great deals!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2016
Why can’t the pundits be honest? Hopefully we are all looking for a strong and great country again. I will make it strong and great! JOBS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2016
His campaign slogan of “Make America Great Again!” really is nothing more than 2016’s version of “Hope and Change”. It means nothing, because he fails to ever back it up with substance, and it sounds good to the listener, because they can turn it into whatever their heart desires.
Trump is like Pedro, because he says he’ll make all of our dreams come true, though never explains how that will come to pass. For his fans, this superficial fluff suits them just fine. But for the rest of us, we’re stuck with nothing but long-winded, empty promises.
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