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How Trump Made TV His Best Precinct Captain

By Clarence Page, Tribune Content Agency on

Remember how Republican Sen. Marco Rubio called mainstream media "the ultimate super PAC" for Hillary Clinton and other Democrats? If so, his opponent Donald Trump's favorite precinct captain must be television.

In the first major poll of the new year released by NBC News and Survey Monkey, Trump maintains his lead among the Grand Old Party's contenders with 35 percent support, way ahead Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in second place with 18 percent and 13 percent for Rubio in third.

Regardless of what happens after actual votes are cast, Trump's surprising success was the past year's biggest political story. We know he has struck a chord with white men, in particular, who have a high school diploma or less and have been buffeted the most by economic changes since the 1950s.

But if the issues really mattered above all else, Republicans have had plenty of alternative candidates who, unlike Trump, can discuss major issues in terms that sound better informed than a second grader.

Yet Trump has surged ahead of the pack. How? Why? In most of the year-end assessments I have seen, too little attention has been given to the tremendous advantage that the real estate developer's years of building his brand have brought to him.

He has been the star of his own TV show, "The Apprentice," and has produced or hosted television events as varied as the "Miss Universe Pageant" and "WrestleMania."

 

Instead of dismissing his show biz background as a poor substitute for experience in public office, I think we need to appreciate how effectively Trump has blurred the lines in this video age between politics and entertainment -- for better or worse.

This occurred to me last summer after I encountered former "The Apprentice" contestant Omarosa Manigault in the lobby of NBC's Washington studios, shortly after Trump launched his campaign.

Newly hired to help lead Trump's Ohio campaign, Manigault advised me that in assessing Trump's appeal, "there's a different analysis and metrics you have to use."

"Reality television has now taken over television," she said in an MSNBC discussion later. "People want to see real moments and see life unfold in front of them. Not scripted, but real moments."

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(c) 2016 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

 

 

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