This Is a Good Year for Whine

What is it about Donald Trump's appeal? Ask people if they plan to vote for him, and they say no. But, some of them argue, he certainly touches a nerve. Well, yes... he does that. 

But why do they support him? Some say it's because he's bringing up issues that nobody else will discuss. You know, like illegal immigration. And health insurance. And the plight of the middle-class. (Was Donald Trump ever middle-class? How would he know anything about our plight?)

The fact remains that these topics, and many like them, are discussed every single day. And not just in private. We're talking about in the news media. Want proof? Look <here>, and <here>, and <here> for stories about middle-class decline. Want to find articles about immigration? Just Google them. Here's <one>. And here's <another>. And anyone who has missed the ongoing debate about health insurance has been asleep for a few years.

As for the outcry against military people who were kept as prisoners of war... well, that certainly is one topic that nobody else has been talking about until he brought it up.

So, if Mr. Trump doesn't really bring up anything new, then what value is he bringing to the debate?

Well, there's entertainment. If he stays in the race (and all indicators say he will), he does attract an audience that wants to hear his next outrageous, unfiltered outburst. I admit to being one of them.

And he is a talented whiner. In fact, he admitted to it during an interview with CNN: “I am a whiner, and I'm a whiner and I keep whining and whining until I win,” he said.

Maybe that's it. Maybe that's the real nerve that Trump has hit. He expresses the whining that some people wish they could have a national audience for. 

These frustrated whiners like to complain and point fingers at the other guy, blaming him for all our problems. Why? Because it absolves them of any responsibility or of any obligation to work on a solution to problems we all share. 

Does whining ever become a winning strategy? Unfortunately, yes. But the mature folks among us gave it up when we were three years old.