Announcing the Trumpies!! [UPDATED]

Posted By Daniel W. Drezner Monday, May 23, 2011 - 1:19 PM Share

Andrew Sullivan has wrung a lot of blog mileage from his myriad awards for stupid/extreme statements found in the news. In that spirit, as well as an effort to keep my sanity extract some humor from the 2012 presidential campaign, I hereby announce the Donald Trump Award for Assertive Ignorance in World Politics -- known on the street as the Trumpies.

Named in honor of the erstwhile presidential candidate who really likes to name things after himself, the award can be earned by either a presidential candidate or one of his/her foreign policy minions. To score a Trumpie nomination, the person must satisfy two criteria during a single statement or exchange. First, the nominee must display a breathtaking ignorance of some bailiwick of American foreign policy or world politics. Second, the nominee must do this while simultaneously demonstrating supreme confidence in the factual and/or analytical rightness of their statement. 

This second criteria is important. I won't begrudge a candidate who demonstrates uncertainty or befuddlement on a foreign policy question. World politics is a vast canvass, and as I've said before, expecting a candidate to demonstrate foreign policy omniscence is a fool's errand. Similarly, I'm not looking for your garden-variety gaffe or misstatement that just indicates a candidate is sleep-deprived. No, the key here is that a candidate is both too ignorant and too proud to admit or even recognize their own ignorance. 

During the brief, shining comedy moment that was Trump's proto-campaign, he managed to demonstrate this kind of cocksure ignorance on multiple occasions.  With his decision to bow out of the race, however, the field for the Trumpies is now wide open and your humble blogger will accept nominations from readers and commenters.  The actual award, of course, will not be announced until after Election Day 2012. 

To get the ball rolling, the first Trumpie nomination goes to GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, for his comments on Israel and Palestine on Fox News Sunday:

 

Now, let's be clear about what's so funny about this clip. Cain's first answer, on offering "nothing" to the Palestinians to make peace, is not what's funny. It's reckless and extreme, but Cain's position possesses some internal logical coherence. It's the combination of this answer with his observation that the Palestinian "right of return" should be negotiated that makes the clip so funny (get a Palestinian negotiator good and liquored up -- hell, just have hummus with them -- and they'll acknpwledge that the right of return is one of the things that they'll have to give up in any two-state peace deal). The combination of these two positions boils down to Cain favoring a single state encompassing both Israelis and Palestinians, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't favor that. 

The gaffe was significant enough for the Cain campaign to issue a "clarification of these remarks," which is always a good indicator that a Trumpie nomination has been scored.

Congratulations to Mr. Cain for the inaugural Trumpie nomination! The foreign policy analyst in me hopes that these nominations will be few and far between. The politics junkie, surveying the prospective field, is confident that  there will be many more nominations to come over the next 18 months. 

The field is now open for nominations -- submit yours in the comments or via-e-mail, and if the strict Trumpie criteria are met, you will see it in a future blog post. 

UPDATE: Oh, if Trump re-enters the race, there's gonna be a lot of nominations. Bravo to the Donald for trying to preserve the quality of his brand. 

ANOTHER UPDATE:  See if Cain had simply admitted to Wallace that he didn't know what "the right to return" meant, he'd have avoided the Trumpie nomination.  Instead, he admitted it to Sean Hannity the next day. 

EXPLORE:U.S. FOREIGN POLICY, COVERS, 2012 CAMPAIGN, HUMOR, STUPIDITY SO STRONG IT BURNS, UNITED STATES
 

JASON SIGGER

7:44 PM ET

May 23, 2011

It's Very Simple

Well, if you're going to host the "Trumpies," then you really ought to start out with The Donald as the first nominee, or at least one of the nominees: Trump on China engagement.
--------------
TRUMP: And I certainly wouldn't be saying, as I've been hearing you for the last few minutes, as your representatives and people on the show have been saying, oh, we're making progress with China.

These are not our friends. These are our enemies. These are not people that understand niceness. And the only thing you can do, Wolf, to get their attention is to say either we're not going to trade with you any further or, in the alternative, we're going to tax your products as they come into the United States.
-------------
http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/20/the-situation-room-with-wolf-blitzer-donald-trump-on-china-these-are-not-our-friends-these-are-our-enemies/

 

DANIEL W. DREZNER

8:02 PM ET

May 23, 2011

Hyperlinks!

There's a reason I have them in this blog post -- click through and see what you find!

 

AALLISON

1:33 AM ET

May 24, 2011

Remedial English

Does a Professorship at Tuft's no longer require some minimal command of the English language?
"an effort to keep my sanity extract some humor"
"This second criteria is important."

He who casts . . . .

 

DDSNAIK

2:12 AM ET

May 24, 2011

Thought any award of this ilk was retired...

... by our last President. Not that he was alone in sheer level of ineptitude and bluster, but given his perch, that's a tough combination to ever surpass.

 

DDSNAIK

2:21 AM ET

May 24, 2011

Plus, Palin has been oddly subdued publically

... robbing us of another bonafide contender for the award. It's probably OK as long as someone else (Bachman ?) can point out where the diplomatic epicenter really lies or get back to us on the last book he/she read, Palin's legacy is safe.

Cheers

 

UMESHGEETA

5:09 AM ET

May 24, 2011

Well done!

Well done Professor! This is immensely valuable....It will be interesting as the GOP race starts, how each of these competitors start using your nomination as an attack tool...

A Liberal would not have asked for anything better than this....no issues with me as I detest the current crop of GOP so thoroughly!

 

BUBBLE BURSTER

6:37 AM ET

May 24, 2011

the current crop?

Since the "current crop" ranges from a calm and thoughtful Pawlenty to a whack job like Bachman, I suspect that your statement should more accurately read "I hate all Republicans" Nice tolerance and diversity there.

Liberals...we tolerate anything accept people who disagree with us."

 

DAVIDCEISEN

1:04 PM ET

May 24, 2011

In what way is T-Paw

In what way is T-Paw thoughtful? Has he said anything thoughtful? This is the guy who thinks defaulting on our debt would be good for the US and is apologizing profusely for believing in climate change.

 

DAILYHUGHES

6:46 AM ET

June 8, 2011

Palin is the front runner...

...for the potential of saying the most ridiculous things on the campaign trail. The fact that she actually said her traveling road show was not actually a publicity stunt, let along the other comments showing her complete lack of fundamentals regarding American history. She is beyond clueless, and the fact that anyone supports her should be the reason some people should lose the right to vote. Whether you're a professional politician from D.C., a Lobbyist from California, or a chiropractor Seattle, you HAVE to see beyond the schlock she is serving. While I often times want to give a Trumpie to our current administration, I am extremely scared what our future would hold with this woman in charge.

 

MATT BINNER

2:04 PM ET

June 8, 2011

And I certainly wouldn't be

And I certainly wouldn't be saying, as I've been hearing you for the last few minutes, as your representatives and people on the show have been saying, oh, we're making progress with China.These are not our friends. These are our enemies. These are not sázkové kancelá?e people that understand niceness. And the only thing you can do, Wolf, to get their attention is to say either we're not going to trade with you any further or, in the alternative, we're going to tax your products as they come into the United States.It's probably OK as long as someone else (Bachman ?) can point out where the diplomatic epicenter really lies or get back to us on the last book he/she read.The fact that she actually said her traveling road show was not actually a sázkové kancelá?e publicity stunt, let along the other comments showing her complete lack of fundamentals regarding American history. She is beyond clueless, and the fact that anyone supports her should be the reason some people should lose the right to vote. Whether you're a professional politician from D.C., a Lobbyist from California, or a chiropractor Seattle, you HAVE to see beyond the schlock she is serving.

 

Daniel W. Drezner is professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

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