Monday, August 08, 2016

A Symptom, Not A Cause


Donald Trump is desperately trying to hit the reset button. But John Cassidy, writing in the New Yorker, believes it may be too late:

There was particularly bad news for Trump from the battleground states. According to the latest surveys, he’s trailing Clinton by six points in Florida, nine points in Michigan, eleven points in Pennsylvania, and fifteen points in New Hampshire. The polls are also running strongly against him in Virginia and Colorado, two swing states that have been trending toward the Democrats, and there was even a survey a few days ago that showed Clinton ahead in Georgia, which has voted Republican in seven out of the last eight Presidential elections.

Given the fundamentals—the state of the economy, the President’s approval ratings, and the fact that the Democrats are seeking to win a third term in the Oval Office—history suggests that this should be a close election. But Trump’s self-destructive antics, coming on top of what was a pretty effective demolition job on him at the Democratic Convention, have, for now at least, taken the pressure off Clinton. While one hesitates to cite Newt Gingrich as an authority on anything other than zoos and his next book contract, there was a good deal of truth in what he said to the Washington Post a few days ago about Trump and Clinton: “The current race is which of these two is the more unacceptable, because right now neither of them is acceptable. Trump is helping her to win the election by proving he is more unacceptable than she is.”

The Republican Party grandees are just as desperately trying to separate themselves from Trump, fearing that they'll lose the Senate. And that prospect has the Koch Brothers worried.

The truth is that the Republican Party has brought all of this on themselves. William F. Buckley used to boast about the crazies he had managed to keep out of the party. But, in 1968, Richard Nixon invited White Supremacists into the party. In 1980, Ronald Reagan offered evangelicals salvation. And, in 2000, George W. Bush invited Tea Partiers to party with him. Charles and David Koch's father was a card carrying member of the John Birch Society -- which held that Dwight Eisenhower was a Communist agent. And Roy Cohn, Joe McCarthy's counsel during his Senate hearings, was a family friend of the Trumps.

The Crazies are now the party's base. They put Trump where he is. He's a symptom, not a cause.

Image: hdclarity.com

12 comments:

Steve said...

The election starts labour day. All the polls all the media are in the tank for Hillary. I still predict a Trump win.

Owen Gray said...

You could be right, Steve.

Dana said...

Steve, you really ought to get rid of the Che icon.

Anonymous said...

Trump is just a distraction. Democratic party corruption is the real story.

The establishment is opposed to him because he's opposed to free trade and other neoliberal gambits. (They were hoping Cruz the theocratic crusader would save them.) He says Mexican gangsters are rapists. The establishment media says he said all Mexicans are rapists. (The women too? Sure why not.)

He proposes to build a wall between the US and Mexico to keep out Mexican migrant workers. Surely an abomination that maketh desolate to PC pearl clutchers. But the real story? Undocumented immigrant workers are being used outsource jobs internally to drive down wages in Europe and America. (In Canada we have the red tape of the Temporary Foreign Worker program. When the Sun Sea brought illegals to Canada, the response was swift and hard enough to prevent further arrivals.) All North American manufacturing that isn't completely outsourced is moved to the 'right-to-work' American south to draw in Latino illegals. Agree or disagree with the wall, the facts remain. Many Americans will vote on facts and not give a crap if champagne liberals call them racists.

He proposes to ban Muslims from immigration. Another holy terror to the PC camp. But the fact is America is at war with Muslims in 7 different countries. Hillary wants to expand the war on terror. (The military industrial complex is good to those who drum up business.) When faced with similar circumstances, FDR not only banned Japanese immigration, he put Japanese Americans in concentration camps. Agree or disagree, the move is not without precedent.

The real story is corruption in the Democratic party and the news media. They rigged the primaries to ensure the party would keep on going: the lucrative business of democratic government for sale: i.e. public trust liquidation. (Both propagated the sleazy campaign meme: Bernie supporters are racist, misogynist 'Bernie Bros'.) The Clintons are both the cause and the symptom: they were the ones who started taking bribes; they need Hill back in the revolving door to keep the donations to the Clinton Foundation flowing. (Over $100-million in 'profits' is not enough. With these types of people, it never is.)

It's easy enough to dis Trump supporters. But what of the people who look the other way and give tacit support to all of this flagrant corruption? IMO, like the bribe takers themselves, they are on the wrong side of history.

-Bernie Orbust

Steve said...

Dana why> and BTW its not Che G its Che Hab

Dana said...

Sieg Heil.

The Mound of Sound said...


Ah, yes. The Airburst echo chamber. Bernie commits the mortal sin. He's boring. He has nothing fresh to say so he says the same hackneyed nonsense manned by the same straw men again and again and again. Unlike most Sanders' supporters, me included, Oberst can't reconcile himself to the loss and accept the reality, affirmed by so many knowledgeable people, that Trump is unfit for any office much less the presidency. It would be nice if he could at least make the effort to freshen up his now hopelessly stale argument.

Lorne said...

I don't know about you, Owen, but I find it very depressing that people believe a 'reset' is the key to success for Trump. It speaks volumes about the cynicism that pervades political organizations these days, and suggests the absolute contempt with which the electorate is viewed. Put lipstick on a pig and ll will be well, they seem to be saying.

Owen Gray said...

The assumption is that people are stupid, Lorne. What matters is the quality of the con and the con artist.

Anonymous said...

The comment from Mound of Sound above reminds me of that cranky old man (Harper supporter) who had dissed journalists asking questions about Duffy for cheating on their taxes. Lol.

One may or may not agree with Bernie Orburst's comments but, surely, this is not the way to express that feeling?

The Mound of Sound said...


What remains to be seen is whether, as some suggest, the Republicans will split after the election into the mainstream conservative element and the radical rump. The Republican establishment thought they could accommodate the radical element and now they realize only ruin awaits the GOP. Now they may have to find some way to purge them.

Owen Gray said...

In many ways, Buckley was misguided, Mound. But he knew a potential nightmare when he saw it coming down the road.