Trump by the Script

There’s been a lot of talk about how Donald Trump’s public appearances feature a stream-of-consciousness ramble punctuated with his main theme of “Make America Great Again!” and “Winning!—so much Winning!” Has Trump ever given a recognizably thematic speech from a prepared text?

I decided to look, and lo and behold, in some of his speeches before CPAC over the last few years Trump worked from a text. Below is his 15-minute 2013 CPAC speech very much worth watching. It is more serious, coherent, and plausible than most of his current appearances. To be sure, there are some familiar improvisations, and some goofy parts, but you can see he returns to his text frequently, and if anyone had paid close attention they might have seen this coming. It’s clear Trump has given the matter some thought.

If Trump gave more structured speeches like this it might go a long way to conveying that he is more serious than he often seems on the stump. We’ll see how his AIPAC speech next week goes.

P.S. It occurs to be there’s one huge example of government “stupidity” that Trump has failed to mention but that I think would get a yuuuge response from a segment of voters with whom he probably lags: air travelers. Why hasn’t Trump attacked the TSA and the ridiculous, politically-correct airport screening? (It appears he’s made a few brief TSA references, but there’s so much for him to work with.) The answer is obvious I think: Trump hasn’t been on a commercial airliner for probably 25 years or more. So he hasn’t been through a TSA airport line. I’d almost be willing to raise the million dollars to pay Trump to go through a TSA line just to see how it went. Could make a great Saturday Night Live skit. “Sir, I’m going to swipe sensitive areas with the back of my hand.”

P.P.S. One of the more intriguing thoughts Trump expresses in this clip is about allowing increased European immigration. Not sure we want that given how decadent Europe is (and how many native-born home-grown Islamists might be able to come here under such a scheme), but it would be fun if Trump brought his back up just to see the left’s outrage about it.

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