Goldberg: The political strategy behind Donald Trump’s increasingly dark and disturbing rhetoric
Last weekend, Donald Trump delivered what even he admitted was a “dark” speech.
Beyond the usual nonsense about America ceasing to exist if he loses, he called immigrants here illegally “vile animals” and “monsters” who “will walk into your kitchen, they’ll cut your throat.” The supposed enemy of censorship said that the media, including Fox News, shouldn’t “be allowed” to cover Kamala Harris’ speech on immigration. He called Harris “mentally disabled.” And he mused that if police were allowed an hour of “real rough, nasty,” unrestrained violence against shoplifters, the problem would go away.
As strange as it sounds, Trump’s increasingly repugnant rhetoric is an effort to win over undecided voters.
This might seem like an odd thing to say given that pundits (including me) have said the presidential race is extremely close and that few undecided voters remain — and given that such voters are usually thought of as moderates who dislike extremist politics. That’s true. But there’s a difference between people who have decided to vote but aren’t sure for whom, and those who know which candidate they support but haven’t decided whether to vote at all.
It’s like the difference between a film buff who will definitely go to the movies this weekend but isn’t sure what to see, and someone who is interested in one movie but isn’t sure it’s worth the effort to go to the theater. Why not just wait for it to show up on Netflix?
