When real estate tycoon and reality TV star announced he’d run for the GOP nomination for president June 16, 42-year-old Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus didn’t take it seriously, nor the rest of the GOP field. Considered a “carnival barker” by the GOP establishment, things changed Aug. 6 during Fox News’s first GOP debate. Blindsided by Fox News moderators Chris Wallace, Megyn Kelly and Brett Bair from the get-go, Priebus thought he could upend Trump in front of national audience. Not only did Donald finish standing up, he added about 10 points to his already double digit lead against his nearest GOP competitor, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. With all of Bush’s political connections and deep pockets, the GOP establishment thought Jeb had a cakewalk to the nomination. Now lagging more than 10 points behind Trump, his presidential dreams are fading.
Trump’s “Q”—the old Nielsen-Ralings’ term for media charisma—has so far eclipsed 16-other GOP candidates, making Donald look like Gulliver with the Lilliputians. All major network TV and cable outlets clamor for Trump to guarantee their ratings. Despite the dust-up with Trump in the first debate, Fox News President Roger Ailes called Trump personally to offer an olive branch after conservative radio icon Rush Limbaugh called Fox News out for “setting up” Trump. “He’s getting a lot of attention that he should get because he’s doing so well in the polls and he’s getting a lot of attention because he’s Donald Trump, and you never know what he’s going to say,” said David Bohman, a TV consultant, former CNN Washington bureau chief. Bohman gets it totally wrong about Trump’s appeal. His “Q” or charisma makes him an automatic media magnet.
Leaping over his GOP competitors in the polls relates strongly to voters interest in Trump’s candidacy, hanging on every word, every media appearance, not because of his past but precisely because he’s the most exciting, entertaining and compelling candidate on stage. Whether or not he’s better-branded than other candidates, you can create a good brand with a candidate that’s still boring. Say what you want about Trump, he’s anything but boring. “There’s an open secret that [Trump’s campaign] is a joke and spectacle,” said Danny Sheal, editorial director of the Huffington Post, a left-leaning Internet tabloid created by media entrepreneur Arian Huffington and sold to Time Warner’s America Online. Shea’s bias against Trump IS so extreme, hoping to rid him from the political scene, he refuses to cover him except on celebrity posts. Like his right wing detractors, Shea’s left-wing antipathy toward Trump is revolting.
No reputable media organization should take anything but a non-partisan view of covering the news. Today’s media outlets, like political campaigns, come with such baggage, such agendas, they’re incapable of maintaining neutrality. “And by going wall-to-wall on it you’re just legitimizing it,” said Shea, referring to the Trump’s saturation media coverage, not seeing that whatever media coverage Trump gets, he deserves it. When other candidates whine that Trump sucks the oxygen out of a room with regard to media coverage, it’s pure jealousy because their candidates can’t do the same. Trump delivers extemporaneous speeches, interacting with an audience just like he’s going one-to-one. Watching other candidates deliver predigested, memorized stump speeches or talking points makes them look predictable and boring. Other GOP candidates found out you can’t buy charisma.
As Trump wades through the campaign to the next debate, he’s only going get more refined in delivering his message. Whatever hopes the RNC or Fox News had about torpedoing Trump’s candidacy, they’re in for a surprise the longer his campaign goes. Trump won’t be losing his charisma, he’ll be adding the kind savvy and substance needed to negotiate the political minefield that lies ahead. Trump’s domination of the news media stems purely from who wins ratings. Getting 24 million viewers Aug. 6 at the first debate, Roger Ailes realized Trump was the wrong one to alienate. While there were words exchanged between Donald and Megyn Kelly, Ailes knew that in the ratings game, money talks. Voters’ interest in Trump’s goes beyond his political positions or how he’s been branded in the past. Interest in Trump involves the kind of electricity he delivers in media interviews and campaign events.
GOP’s conventional establishment, including Fox News or the RNC, must accept the fact with Trump they finally have a candidate with independent and crossover appeal. Running largely right of the political spectrum, Trump transcends typical left-right barriers, appealing to voters of all stripes. Fox News and the RNC must catch up to the very real possibility that Trump could win the GOP nomination. Bush’s recent chatter about his conservative track record or Trump’s past liberal positions has backfired, making him look petty and small-minded. Jeb gets surly when he’s under the gun, something that brings out the worst of his father, former Presidents George H.W. Bush or his brother, George W. Bush. Trump’s charisma helps Teflon-proof his campaign mistakes, much the way the late President Ronald Reagan once mesmerized the media for his eight years in office.
