Korda analyzes ‘Trumpican’ win, mistakes, for Rotarians
Admitting to “shameless self-promotion” as one of the few political analysts nationwide to predict a presidential victory by Republican Donald J. Trump, George Korda explained his prediction.
“I looked at the [Hillary] Clinton campaign and I thought, ‘Well, she has more money, she has better organization, she has an allegedly unified party, she has demographics on her side according to a lot of analysts, she has issues on her side according to most of the media — but she couldn’t put him away,’” said Korda, political analyst for WATE-TV Channel 6, president of Korda Communications plus a radio talk show host and columnist.
“… I thought, ‘Trump is going to pull this off. And the other thing that made me think that is because, in the last days of the campaign … what did Hillary Clinton do? She started going to states that were supposed to be hers [such as] Michigan. … Why is she going to Michigan?’ Because she’s losing, that’s why,” added Korda, featured speaker during The Rotary Club of Farragut’s weekly meeting Wednesday, Feb. 15, in Fox Den Country Club.
“… One of my maxims is, ‘Don’t listen to what politicians say. Watch what they do.’”
In terms of what voters did nationwide, “A majority of college-age women who voted in the election voted for Trump,” Korda said. “The African-American vote didn’t turn out in numbers necessary for Clinton to win.
“What I try to explain to friends of mine is, ‘Trump is an aberration; he’s not a Republican and he’s not a Democrat — he’s a ‘Trumpocrat’ or ‘Trumpican,’” he added with resulting RCF laughter. “… He’s in a fight with everybody on the planet, including Fox News — and he wins.”
As a result of Trump’s victory, “Some of my friends are unhinged … they have lost their minds over this election,” Korda said.
In response to his friends saying Trump’s “lies” needed to be exposed, Korda said, “I took a YouTube montage of [former President] Barack Obama saying, ‘If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor,’ there’s about 20 of them. And subsequently, to the passage of The Affordable Care Act, it was revealed that he knew you weren’t going to be able to do it.”
However, Korda was critical of Trump’s regular Twitter postings. “If he doesn’t stop that nonsense, he is going to turn a fair segment of the American population, which is willing to give him a [chance] and kind of think some of the things he’s doing are not crazy, he’s going to turn them against him,” Korda said.
Moreover, “He’s trying to do too much too soon. All these executive orders are flying out of the White House. Some of them aren’t well thought out,” Korda said. “He’s fighting needless battles. He’s criticizing too many people.”
As a result, “The possibilities for Democrats have improved greatly in terms of winning back some of these [Congressional] seats,” Korda said. “… If the Democrats provide a coherent picture of what they want the country to be apart from the far left vision, which has lost for them all of these seats.”
While Korda said Trump is falsely encouraged to rant on Twitter and fight needless battles because it’s similar to how he successfully campaigned, it remains to be seen if the Democrats can take advantage.
“You’ve got to have policy differences people will understand and agree with,” he said, adding about Democrats, “They’re not picking their battles.”
In end, however, the growth “of the American economy” likely will decide Trump’s fate, Korda said. “If it doesn’t [grow], there could be a hanging party for Republicans two years from now.
“If [Trump] will quiet down and do some things, and if Democrats will pick their battles, this could be a really, really positive experience for the United States,” he added.
When Korda first moved to Knox County in October 1987, “I think there were 38 Republicans in the state House. There’s 75 Republicans in the state House today,” he said, explaining the recent decades shift to Republican majorities in Tenne-ssee and many other southern states is due to a leftward shift in national Democratic “policy.”
As for today’s “Democratic Caucus of the Tennessee state Senate … you could hold it in a minivan,” Korda said. “… Who was the last Democrat to win statewide office in Tennessee? [Gov.] Phil Bredesen. Why? He appealed to both sides.”
