Politico.com once wrote an article about 155 outlandish comments made by Donald Trump in the lead up to the 2016 election. Comedian Bill Burr best described his campaign by claiming he said, “three things a week that would torpedo anyone’s career”, but both miss the brilliance behind his strategy. Yes, I did just use the word ‘strategy’ and ‘Donald Trump’s election approach’ in the same sentence. Allow me to draw long bow.

Eminem, Pink, and Lady Ga Ga dominated the charts for years on end by following a simple approach – after a song peaked on the charts and began to decline, they quickly released another track, followed by another and another. What this did was keep the artist in the public consciousness as their songs were always playing on the television and radio. Trump used both his campaign speeches and his Twitter account to achieve just that.

Here is just a snippet of some of the outlandish things that emanated from Trump on the trail:

– On Senator John McCain: “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured, OK?”

– He said he knew, “more about ISIS than the generals”.

– He described Hillary’s campaign loss to Obama as being, “schlonged”.

– He gave out Lindsay Graham’s cell number.

– He stated that, “Heidi Klum. Sadly, she’s no longer a 10.”

– And lastly, he advised, “If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of ’em, would you? Seriously. OK? Just knock the hell—I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I promise.”

Bold? Yes. Absurd at times? Sure. Un-Presidential? You could say that. But the reality was these throwaway lines became the focus of the commentariat (news media, talk shows and celebrities) day after day, all of which dampened the message his opponent was struggling to get airtime for. While the media fixated on the newest ‘dumb Trumpism’, they inadvertently gave him free advertising and allowed him to dominate the public consciousness.

The left may claim that he is an idiot, and that’s one opinion. But he’s the 45^th President of the United States, and that’s a fact.