Say what you will about Donald Trump, the man is unafraid to do things his own way.
One of the unwritten rules of presidential campaigning - or campaigning for any office, come to think of it - is to refrain from the profane. The rule is unwritten because it's so obvious; it need not be mentioned that dropping F-bombs during a job interview is not a wise move, and after all a political campaign is essentially a job interview writ large. Salty language offends some people, this offense extends across party lines, and it's just not smart politics to go around offending potential voters.
But Trump just said F that.
In what could fairly be described as a campaign speech (although he has yet to officially declare himself a candidate) in Las Vegas Thursday night, Donald Trump let loose an R-rated diatribe against the war in Iraq, OPEC, China and the Obama administration, to name but a few of his targets. Some choice quotes from the ever-quotable Trump:
On Iraq: "We build a school, we build a road. They blow up the road, they blow up the school. ... In the meantime, we can't get a f---ing school built in Brooklyn."
On OPEC: "We have nobody in Washington that sits back and said, 'You're not gonna raise that f---ing price, you understand me?"
On China: "Listen you motherf---ers, we're gonna tax you 25%."
On Obama: "We have weak, pathetic leadership."
Trump also made sure to take credit for getting President Obama to finally release his long-form birth certificate.
It will be interesting to see how this strategy works for Trump. I suspect it will attract a lot of attention in the short term, but become tiresome rather quickly. Nevertheless, give Trump credit for being fascinating, fearless, and just plain refreshing.
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