Trump, the showman, gives the people what they want

In 1981, Steve Martin walked away from a fabulously successful stand-up comedy career.

He had grown bored delivering the same old catch phrases, like “Well, excu-u-u-u-use me!” and “I am a wild and crazy guy!”

But that’s what the audiences demanded. They wanted to hear the same lines they had heard before.

I was reminded of that story while listening Friday afternoon to Donald Trump. He appeared before a large and raucous crowd at the Delaware State Fairgrounds in Harrington.

Many politicians suffer from the fact their speeches are so widely covered and instantly available, anywhere in the country.

What played well in Peoria becomes tiresome in Pittsburgh.

That is not true of Trump. Like Martin, Trump is a phenomenon.

And Trump’s crowds, like Martin’s, aren’t coming to hear fresh material. They wait expectantly and cheer wildly for the catch phrases they know are coming. Trump announced, as he has countless times, that he’s going to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“And who’s going to pay for that wall?” he thundered.

“Mexico!” the crowd roared back, right on cue.

Most of the people had been waiting for hours. I showed up at 3 p.m. for the 4 o’clock show. It was just like going to the State Fair, creeping in a long line of cars on Route 13 to get into the fairgrounds.

I didn’t register as press. I wanted to stand with his supporters and gauge their enthusiasm.

That was easy enough. The sense of anticipation and party-like atmosphere reminded me of waiting, back in the ’70s, for the Allman Brothers to appear at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.

Among the warm-up acts was state Sen. Colin Bonini of Dover, a Republican candidate for governor. He gave Trump his full-throated endorsement.

“I am not just proud to be here,” he said. “I am thrilled to be here and support and endorse the next president of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump!”

Bonini, a longtime conservative, may not seem a natural supporter of Trump, whose conservative credentials are short-term and inconsistent.

But it makes sense. Any statewide Republican candidate faces a Democratic advantage in number of registered voters. Jumping on the Trump Train could allow Bonini to capture some of The Donald’s momentum.

There’s been a lot of talk about Trump, if he were to become the nominee, hurting down-ballot Republicans.

But I wouldn’t make that assumption judging from Friday’s crowd. Not in Delaware anyway.

(Today’s primary vote will give us an idea of the depth of Trump’s support here. My money’s on Trump winning big.)

The crowd waited patiently, some buying hot dogs, others grabbing a smoke outside the arena.

Trump arrived about 4:30. The crowd welcomed him with rock-star enthusiasm. I had expected a fair number of people showing up out of curiosity, not necessarily supporters.

That’s not how it appeared. Half the people, it seemed, waved Trump signs. They greeted each Trump line with calls of “You got that right!” and “Amen!”

In person, Trump does project great energy and confidence. I had expected a short version of his stump speech but he fairly roared for over an hour.

He made so many promises he should have traded in his trademark red baseball cap for a Santa suit.

You want lower taxes? He’s got ‘em. For everybody! Because, he said, the United States is the “highest taxed country in the world.”

This is baloney, but Trump didn’t get this far by being overly concerned about facts.

And who cares about facts when you’re having a good time?

He also promised to save Social Security and Medicare without cutting them; get rid of Common Core; end Obamacare and give America better health care; and make our military so powerful nobody would mess with us.

He did not explain how he would accomplish all these goals. Because, why bother?

He did make a big point of saying his supporters are not generally angry people. They have become angry, according to Trump, because of what’s happening in Washington and to our country.

There was a lot of evidence of that anger at Friday’s event. Every mention of Obama and “Crooked Hillary” drew groans and boos from the crowd.

Outside the arena, vendors hawked a variety of negative campaign trinkets.

One button touted the KFC Hillary Special: “2 fat thighs, 2 small breasts – left wing.”

Another read, “Hillary for Prison – 2016.”

A T-shirt compared Monica Lewinsky and Hillary Clinton in a way inappropriate for a newspaper to print. On the back it said, “Trump that bitch.”

Stay classy.

I’m not blaming these sale items on the Trump campaign but it’s hard to argue they don’t speak to the mindset of his supporters.

If I had to distill Trump’s appeal with one line from his Friday speech it would be this: “People are tired of being pushed around and people are tired of being led by stupid people.”

Trump can protest, as he does too much, that his supporters aren’t angry people, but they are brimming over with resentment.

Toward whom? Just listen to his speech. The same one he gives over and over again.

No, not all his supporters are “racists.”

A recent letter writer said I accused “all” supporters of candidate x – he didn’t name Trump – of being racists.

I said no such thing.

I did characterize Trump’s speeches as “hate-laced,” which I consider self-evident.

From his earliest campaign speeches, he has stoked fears of Mexicans, Muslims, Chinese, and others. Our problems, according to Trump, are because of these foreigners and our own “stupid” and “weak” leaders.

I’m not even accusing Trump of being a racist. I don’t, for example, believe that he thinks Obama was born in Kenya. But he was willing to play that card as long as it helped him.

Don Flood is a former newspaper editor living near Lewes. He can be reached at floodpolitics@gmail.com.