Bill and Donald

Two individuals have attracted my interest as of late.

Donald Trump

After watching a Donald Trump interview all the way through, I’m starting to think that his political skills are underrated, whether or not he actually intends to run for President. Say what you want about him, but he comes across as confident, comfortable, and genuine (regardless of whether or not he’s being genuine). This isn’t something you can say of most elected officials. However, he also comes across as extremely arrogant, which might work if he mixed in some occasional humor and self-deprecation, but he doesn’t. Trump talks about policy with an almost annoyed confidence, as if he’s wasting his time explaining himself to you and only complete idiot would even consider disagreeing with him. That kind of thing doesn’t play too well on a national stage, and so while I could see him getting the nomination (it’d be a stretch, for sure), I don’t think he’d stand a chance against in the general. Ultimately, he’s just too negative.

That being said, if Donald Trump ever chooses to run for congress, I believe he would have an excellent chance.

Bill O’Reilly

One of the Trump interviews I watched was on Fox News, conducted by none other than Bill O’Reilly. My feelings on O’Reilly are pretty much in line with most liberals/moderates/thinking individuals. That being said, there are two occasions on which I’ve seen him adopt a tone of criticism toward the hard right. The first was in the aforementioned interview with Donald Trump; the second was in a segment he did debunking a few smears against Obama.

Now, what specifically surprises me about this is that, while O’Reilly occasionally adopts a moderate stance, he’s usually refrains from actively criticizing conservatives, and it’s even rarer that he actually defends Obama. This seems to me a significant trend, and I can think of two explanations for it. One would be that Fox News is beginning to fracture internally between the hard-right and the insane-right, and O’Reilly is choosing the more “moderate” side. The announcement that Glenn Beck’s show is ending, coupled with reports of internal frustration in the studio with Beck, make me wonder if there’s a little civil war going on. If there isn’t, perhaps O’Reilly perceives or anticipates one, and is acting in accordance to try and emerge as the more “reasoned” voice of the network.

That’s the optimistic scenario, as I’d like nothing more than to see O’Reilly become an integritous, trustworthy news anchor and commentator. The more cynical assessment is that O’Reilly’s actions are in complete accordance with Fox News’ role as the PR wing of the Republican Party. That is, the network perceives Trump, and birtherism and related memes, as posing a serious threat to the GOP’s national image, and are attempting to discredit =it. This seems be more likely, although it would baffle me as to why Fox would perceive birtherism as a threat, as opposed to any of the other countless bits of bullshit they’ve peddled over the years. Regardless, I’m curious whether this is indicative of any long-term change on O’Reilly’s part, or simply a fluke.

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