Since Donald Trump has been ever-present in the headlines lately, and because most Republicans don’t know whether to endorse him or run in the opposite direction, it is clearly time to discuss Trump’s greatest weakness: his inability to answer questions in a way that shows he has a firm grasp of the issues at hand.
One of the main arguments against Trump is his lack of self-control, which we see manifested in his personal attacks against other candidates and his brazenness whenever he speaks. But this route of attack against him has time and again failed because Trump is, well, Trump. His entire past can show a clear line of behavior or opinion on an issue, but then his opinions change within a millisecond when he’s challenged. In this situation he usually counters with how he works well with people, but he ends up insulting the very people he may eventually have to work with.
What Trump really needs to be challenged on is his understanding of the issues. This is difficult to do, because for decades moderators and audiences alike have worked under the basic assumption that the candidates onstage have an understanding of what they are talking about. However, this assumption can no longer be held true, especially in elections with candidates who have never held public office looking to hold the most powerful office in the world.
What separates Trump from other outsiders is his ability to sell himself to voters by “answering” questions. If you pay attention, Trump never actually answers questions within most of his ramblings on an issue. Rather, he creates a vague picture on the canvas of policy, resembling an almost childlike understanding of politics.
Let’s take up the issue of the border wall, something Trump has given very few details about. With what he has given us, we know it will span the entire southern border, it will have a “big beautiful door” and it gets larger and larger with each Mexican politician who says they won’t pay for it. Excluding the complexity of constructing a more than 1000-mile border wall — and never mind the geographical barriers, towns and cities in the way — let’s assume Trump can actually build it. How will he get the Mexican government to pay for it? A wonderful trade war, of course!
How can a businessman who has products made in Mexico and probably has undocumented immigrants working for him claim he will be tough on Mexico? Starting a trade war of that kind, coupled with deportations of cheap labor that the U.S. thrives on, would jeopardize our economy just as much, if not more than Mexico’s.
But Trump’s main goal is not to offer actual solutions for issues; it’s to be controversial. The idea of a border wall is not new in conservative America, but the rhetoric accompanying the idea has become demagogic in nature. Just like many other policies, Trump stokes the flames of anger among Americans who are disenfranchised but couples that with unrealistic policy expectations.
This lack of policy insight has become a central point during the debates, and even with nearly a dozen of them, there still is not a lot of solid policy in Trump’s answers. If his supporters enjoy him because he is not a politician, then why do they not address the fact that he dodges questions even more than his fellow candidates do? Trump isn’t speaking cold, hard truth; he’s usually just talking for the sake of talking. By no means should these be the qualities that describe the frontrunner of the Republican Party.
Kevin Foster is a UF political science senior. His column appears on Thursdays.
