Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Can't endorse, can't repudiate

I wrote yesterday about the idea that Donald Trump is campaigning to be the hero of an awakened white supremacist movement rather than campaigning to be president. Yesterday, during a foreign policy speech Trump laid out a purity test for immigrants. Which fits with what I wrote yesterday.

Melissa McEwen of Shakesville adds that losing the presidency would cast Trump as a white supremacist martyr. He has been laying out the reasons why he should be seen as such. These reasons include rigged elections, a corrupt establishment, and political correctness run amok.

Back to that immigrant purity test. McEwen reminds us of America's history of racial hierarchy when setting immigrant preferences. So the purity test isn't another stupid idea. It is a white supremacist dog whistle.



Whatever Trump is up to it puts GOP politicans in a bind. Endorse Trump and you own the crazy and lose independent voters. Repudiate Trump and lose the GOP base. And that base is big enough to have made Trump the nominee. And many GOP candidates can't win without a big chunk of both base and independents.



Though this is from a month ago and the GOP convention it is still important. During and since then the GOP is overshadowed by Trump and his nastiness. But that doesn't mean the GOP is nice. A tweet from Allison Kilkenny highlights an aspect of the GOP nastiness.
Maddow points out that by the end of the RNC, 10 billionaires will have spoken to the crowd



Another from a month ago: McEwen analyzes Trump's acceptance speech in a series of tweets:
Trump's speech is classic patriarchal strongman authoritarianism transparently veiled in populist rhetoric. If you're not profoundly alarmed by Trump's speech, read a history book. Now. This is the thing about men like Trump: They don't have the capacity to lead a free country w/ good governance. And when you lack the knowledge and competence to lead with good governance, but you nonetheless want power, you become a tyrant instead. Tonight in that speech, Trump is doing the most basic populist-despot bait-and-switch. And millions of people will fall for it.

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