Donald Trump's relentless and withering attacks on his critics are a "healing balm" for supporters who feel "scorned by the governing and media elite," pollster and communications adviser Frank Luntz says.
In an opinion piece for the Financial Times, Luntz writes that a focus group of 29 Trump supporters helped him understand why the front-running GOP presidential candidate's popularity is unlikely to fade with the millions who support him.
"His support denotes an abiding distrust in — and disrespect for — the governing elite," Luntz writes. "These individuals do not like being told by Washington or Wall Street what is best for them, do not like the direction America is headed in, and disdain President Barack Obama and his (perceived) circle of self-righteous, tone-deaf governing partisans."
Within the faction of supporters who believe Obama doesn't reflect the values the country was built upon, Luntz contends, "Trump has license to say just about anything."
"His childlike joy in ridiculing his critics is tantamount to healing balm for the millions who have felt silenced, ignored and even scorned by the governing and media elite for so long," Luntz writes.
As his "devotees" see it, Trump's attacks aren't him going negative, but rather him "telling the truth."
"And when he fights back, he's throwing punches on their behalf," Luntz writes. "They will justify any action, explain away any contradiction, and dismiss any criticism because they are so personally and passionately invested in him."
Luntz writes though non-conventional politicians aren't a new phenomena in American politics, they typically succumb to attacks and "crash."
"Trump is different," he writes, because "the blows are delivered by an institution that is distrusted and an elite political and business establishment that is detested."
And, Luntz predicts, Trump's avid supporters "will follow him to the ends of the Earth — or to the White House. Whichever comes first."
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