DONALD TRUMP’S GAFFE’S (NOT!)

While listening to CNN just now, where everyone’s expressing their amazement one more time at Trump’s continuing to lead in the polls in spite of his “gaffes”, the following thoughts occurred to me:

• They’re not gaffes.

A gaffe, by definition, is something that’s awkward relative to its environment. Change the environment, and you may no longer have a gaffe.

• The environment has changed, so the calculus has changed.

The advent of smartphones and social media (esp. Facebook and Twitter) has given hundreds of millions of people a previously unavailable voice with which to affect culture and public opinion, as well as government and private sector decision making.

Of those hundreds of millions, the overwhelming portion consists of individuals who previously were not part of the political process.*

* (either by choice, inconvenience, life situation, occupation, education, or income).

The entrance of this enormous number of new participants in the political process brings with it a substantial change in the mix of values affecting political processes and decision making.

• The change may be a profound one.

We may be witnessing, as we speak, the passing of the era of political and thus governmental control by elites.

We may be entering a future where:

- a coarsening or “averaging down” occurs in public discussions and decision making; and,

- new practices or methodologies emerge for conducting the nation’s political, economic, social, and cultural affairs.