Pure Bluster

Watched Donald Trump's sort of victory speech after the latest round of Primaries this morning. It's the first time I've seen one of his speeches in full and I was struck by just how inept the section of it was in which he was thanking the various members of what I assume is his team for the work they'd done for him. Everyone had been amazing, it seems, in an emptily repetitive fashion that oozed a curious lack of sincerity. Now I may be wrong about the degree of Mr Trump's sincerity, I can't see into his heart; but I'm not wrong about the fact that sincerity simply wasn't detectible in his performance. But wouldn't you think that someone who seems to pride himself on being a deal-maker with the ability to manipulate others to his way of thinking would be good at publicly thanking others? Isn't this the kind of thing that comes with the territory?

I'm reminded of a truth I've often found myself mulling over: when you look to see what is exceptional about very rich people who you've been told are rich by virtue of extraordinary talents it's rare that you get any real sense of what those talents are. I suppose coming from someone like myself who is far from rich this might sound like simple jealousy, but since I'm not terribly keen on being rich I genuinely don't think it is. Or perhaps lacking any such talents myself I simply fail to recognize them when they manifest themselves in others?

The only quality I recognize in the front-runner for the Republican nomination is a truly relentless drive for self-promotion. Perhaps that in itself is the secret of his success.