Loud, Soft, Unscripted — Real

Donald Trump has been lampooned by Saturday Night Live over the years for his lifestyle and blunt approach to challenges, as well as for his hair.

Head-badger or comb-over. You pick.

But even as some have portrayed him as a name-calling flame thrower — a blowhard, no less — his off-the-cuff, ready-but-unprepped debate style has helped him become a GOP favorite, on the stumps and in the debates. He is straddling the fence, noted Forbes Magazine, as both innovator and narcissist among those voters who are sick of business-as-usual politicians and angry at the policies of the Obama administration.

“I am what I am. I am what I am,” Trump told CNN’s Don Lemon in July, before the first GOP presidential debate. Thus far, going with his gut on the debate stage has paid off big.

Ben Carson, his is own political star wattage ascending and now Trump’s closest competitor, has also stumped political veterans with his soft-spoken, practical wisdom.

Related: Carson Rises, Trump Solidifies

As the emotional barometer has risen on the debate stage, Carson refused to be drawn into the quotable fervor, even as others attacked Trump and each other. And his own style — the opposite of Trump’s but one Carson owns — is working, too.

Trump detractors have had a tough time gaining traction against his unwieldy presentation on stage. Voters seem energized by watching him light a fuse.

Sen. Rand Paul tried to volley against Trump in September’s debate by calling his rhetoric “sophomoric,” noting his “careless language.” But Trump, in typical style, shot back: “I never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there’s plenty of subject matter right there.”

From debate No. 2, Trump asserted his skill set: “I’m Donald Trump. I wrote ‘The Art of the Deal.’ I say not in a braggadocious way, I’ve made billions and billions of dollars.” By contrast, he teased, his Secret Service code name would be “Humble.”

While opponent Jeb Bush is a scholar of the issues, his cerebral blandness on the debate stage has allowed Trump to garner plenty of headlines.

While opponent Jeb Bush is a scholar of the issues, his cerebral blandness on the debate stage has allowed Trump to garner plenty of headlines — even as Bush tepidly castigates him as unfit to lead. Trump is reality television soundbite and the veteran Bush screams C-SPAN, a white-bread, pre-programmed prep-school relic lacking passion.

Among Bush’s best bandy with Trump was the defense of his brother, former President George W. Bush. “You know what? As it relates to my brother, there’s one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe,” Bush asserted with brotherly protectiveness.

Trump returned fire — as Trump. “You feel safe right now? I don’t feel so safe.”

Related: Trump is Right About 9/11

Substance, as the candidates head into their third debate Wednesday, has not yet conquered style. As Trump fails to pony up many specifics of his plans, he still leads in polls, even with his scowling rhetoric and penchant for calling people and their ideas “losers.” He’s also scored points with many with his refusal to apologize to those he has offended.

Carson has posited himself as an outsider, distancing himself as someone who did not make up his mind on positions by sticking his finger into the wind. But with Trump castigating Bush as “low-energy,” and later describing Carson as the same, Carson continues to interest voters by keeping it quiet and thoughtful – and not programmed.

“You know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn’t sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical,” Carson noted quietly, his elegance commanding listeners.

Carson, for his softness, has been blunt on issues that matter to him, comparing Obamacare to slavery. 

Carson, for his softness, has been blunt on issues that matter to him, comparing Obamacare to slavery. He said in September he wouldn’t stand by and refuse to fire back if he was caught in the middle of a mass shooting. On abortion, he told Iowans: “I’m a reasonable person and if people can come up with a reasonable explanation of why they would like to kill a baby, I’ll listen.”

Although different in style and message, Carson and Trump have banded together to force CNBC to cap its debate at two hours (without commercial interruptions), showing off their political power as campaign newbies.

Such contradictions in their unique appeals are confounding, but belie one point. You can over-prepare for a debate and become staid and uninteresting. But if you don’t fight back well enough, as with Bush and Paul, you appear weak. Seemingly, voters appreciate the fresh voices.

Noted Fortune magazine of the strategic quandary facing their GOP competitors. “A conundrum of this race, and a lesson for leaders everywhere, is that the two most successful candidates so far are the loudest one and the quietest one.”