John Cole detects a disturbance in the Farce:
The Dick Whisperer is shrill.
https://t.co/uaO97Uddq3
— John Cole (@Johngcole) December 2, 2015
Beltway creature Dana Milbank is pointing out the obvious: Trump is a racist and a bigot. But we’ve known that all along. As Milbank himself acknowledges, Trump’s true colors have been on public display for more than 25 years, at least since he purchased newspaper ads calling for the death penalty for the black and Hispanic juveniles who were (falsely!) accused of gang rape in the Central Park jogger case.
More recently, Trump was a high-profile band-wagoneer in the baldly racist “birther” movement; he claimed to have dispatched investigators to Hawaii to uncover evidence that the president wasn’t a US citizen back in 2011. So why is this apparently lifelong racist and bigot being called out now?
A few days ago, another Beltway media creature, Jake Tapper, called a Trump advisor out for Trump’s lies about thousands of Muslims in New Jersey taking to the streets to cheer the World Trade Center terrorist attacks as well as Trump’s mockery of a disabled NYT reporter. The advisor flat-out lies, and Tapper is moved to display the incredulity and exasperation he might have more properly expressed when he interviewed Trump himself earlier. Again, why now?
An article in Vox by David Roberts poses an interesting theory:
Their [the Beltway media’s] trepidation has less to do with the fact of Trump lying than with the way he lies. They don’t mind being properly lied to; it’s all part of the game. What they cannot countenance is being rendered irrelevant.
[snip]The old-guard political media has always seen itself as a disinterested referee. But what they confront now is aggressive, unapologetic nonsense, piped up from a nationalist, ethnocentric, revanchist conservative base through the mouth of one Donald J. Trump. He is forcing them to choose sides, to accept his bare assertions and make a mockery of their purported allegiance to accuracy … or to call him out and, in the eyes of his supporters, formally align against him.
The conceptual space for neutrality has all but disappeared. Media outlets are being forced to take sides, and facing the grim possibility that even if they do, they have no power to affect the outcome. Their twin idols — objectivity and influence — are being exposed as illusions. That’s what has them so anxious about Donald Trump.
I think Roberts is right. Trump threatens to upend the Both Sides Do It order of the Beltway media universe, and while they’ve countenanced lies that resulted in ruinous wars, economic immiseration and catastrophic threats to public health for generations, the craven horde isn’t going to take an attack on their own conceit lying down.
The only question that remains is whether they still have enough juice to take Trump down for the crime of making them do their goddamn jobs. A few weeks ago, I would have said they do. Now, I’m not so sure.
jake that antisoshul soshulist
Ted Cruz is jealous of Trump’s ability to throw out utter BS with no consequences.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ted-cruz-majority-violent-criminals-democrats/story?id=35512653
In that vein, I would like to assert that most people who bugger goats are Republicans.
Put that down under, “make them deny it”
dmsilev
Maybe not in the rolling freak show that is the GOP primary, but having the media thoroughly pissed off at Trump would make a real difference in the general. If nothing else, it’d probably cancel out their Hillary-hate.
Bobby Thomson
She knew I knew she was lying and she did it anyway.
max
while they’ve countenanced lies that resulted in ruinous wars, economic immiseration and catastrophic threats to public health for generations, the craven horde isn’t going to take an attack on their own conceit lying down.
;) Goddammit! They have standards around there! This kind of loud corruption will not DO!
max
[‘It gets the peasants all riled up.’]
MattF
And not just Trump– via Frank Bruni (NYT op-ed page):
Yeah, amusing… but what Bruni didn’t bother to say is that ‘Another Bush 2000 alumnus’ is someone who has played the game in the past and wants, very much, to keep playing it. I have zero sympathy for Trump or Cruz, but they’ve chosen the right enemies.
BGinCHI
Betty, the worst part of this is that NOTHING any of the beltway media says, in the form of a factual correction or moral scolding, has any affect on the GOP primary voter.
I honestly think that’s the biggest story here, and another reason that part of the media is shitting bricks. Their only audience is people in the middle, who are low info, and the left, who think they are totally full of shit.
When the newspapers and the major networks are gone news will get better. I never thought I’d say that.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Way too late. They had a choice to embrace this vulgarian – possibly even worse than the Clintons – or fight him.
They wouldn’t fight him before, they can’t fight him now. Enjoy cuddling Trump at night, you assholes. No one deserves it more.
NickM
Trump’s new bounce in the polls is due to his making fun of the disabled NY Times reporter. Republican voters love that kind of thing — it’s the kind of thing that makes them Republican voters.
benw
This election cycle… coming soon to a voting booth near you… The Farce Awakens!
IMO it’s not just Trump, but the whole Republican party has trampled so far to the right that the thin veneer of “both sides” is stretched to the breaking point. Of course, this is all insider media BS for us junkies, and most of the US doesn’t give a damn what they think. I think the general will be interesting because if Jeb!/Marco gets the nom, they’ll tack to the center (e.g. Rmoney) and the Beltway will slink back to “both sides” faster than Cruz can find something to lie about. But if Trump/Carson gets it, they actually won’t run to the center – I just think they won’t bother, no matter what their advisors tell them – and the insiders will really be at a loss.
Mike in NC
Trump pretty much has a lock on the GOP nomination. Can’t see anything stopping him now, unless he is seen helping a blind person cross a busy Manhattan intersection. That would lose him a few percentage points.
Frankensteinbeck
Sadly, this sounds right. There is no crime worse than revealing the emperor has no clothes.
The national media sucks at defining how America feels about any issue. What they are great at is defining what issue is discussed. Until the last month before the 2014 election, I would have said they don’t understand this limitation. Now I’m worried someone in power is self-aware enough to have figured it out.
EDIT – What pains me here is that the minimum definition of ‘racist’ has been set to ‘calls for internment camps.’
Bubblegum Tate
Amusingly enough, I saw this morning that my favorite wingnut has proclaimed that the reason for Trump’s success is that, unlike “the establishment,” Trump hasn’t lied. No, seriously, that’s his theory:
TRUTHINESS UBER ALLES!
BGinCHI
@Bubblegum Tate: That is Pro-level stupid.
Link?
Chris
The only question that remains is whether they still have enough juice to take Trump down for the crime of making them do their goddamn jobs. A few weeks ago, I would have said they do. Now, I’m not so sure.
I don’t think so. Who trusts the media anymore? Part (most) of the game of screaming “liberal media!” for the last fifty years was to ensure that any media coverage that accurately portrayed a conservative in an unflattering light was simply dismissed as the media hating on him because he’s a right winger. It makes a nice inoculation for Trump, candidate of the True Conservatives.
MattF
@Bubblegum Tate: Your wingnut is on to something– Trump’s a lying bigot, but he’s not pretending to be something else.
Chris
@dmsilev:
Oh. Well, yes, maybe in the general. I was thinking in primary-mode.
Although even then, I honestly wouldn’t put it past the media to simply swallow its pride and decide to endorse Trump over Hillary, because even thought Both Sides Do It (for real this time!), Democrats Are (still and forever) Worse.
MattF
@Chris: I can easily think of a half dozen op-ed writers who despise both Trump and Clinton. What are they going to do if Trump gets the nom? Abstain?
Frankensteinbeck
@Chris:
Hmmm. I can see them thinking* that if they throw with Trump after the primary is decided, but before the public is actually paying attention, they don’t have to admit that they were beaten. Since HIllary will lose no matter what happens, they can claim they were on the winning side all along.
I don’t know I’m convinced, but it’s a plausible media thought process.
*Note the many false premises.
prob50
@Mike in NC: not such a sure thing, mike. As the primaries winnow down the field the question is which candidate(s) will absorb their supporters.
Matt McIrvin
Trump is now advocating killing the families of terrorists.
Spinoza is my Co-pilot
@NickM: That’s the reality that fascist-fuck srv thinks (or claims to think, anyway) people don’t grasp, when in fact we most certainly do.
Most people in the media pretend not to, but dumb as some of them are, they’re actually not that stupid.
The emperor has no clothes, i.e., Republicans are bigoted, fascist motherfuckers and everyone knows it. Many just like to pretend otherwise and Trump is like the little boy in the story stripping away the self-delusion. Which is the reason the Republican establishment and their media lackeys hate and fear him so much.
Frankensteinbeck
@Spinoza is my Co-pilot:
I think the large majority of whites do not want to describe anything as racism if there is any possible other explanation. Some of them know what they’re not saying, but I don’t know how many.
Peale
@Chris: they will go with the thunder God over the harpy shrew. seriously, I had completely forgotten trumps role in the public railroading of those kids. He’s prone to lose his mind and get others to follow him, but because he believes it, he is super honest in his opinions. Eventually the press will warm to that.
MattF
@Matt McIrvin: Hey, it worked for Stalin.
ETA: More effective if you assume a loose definition of ‘terrorist’. E.g., thinks Trump is a lying asshole.
Chris
@BGinCHI:
Betty, the worst part of this is that NOTHING any of the beltway media says, in the form of a factual correction or moral scolding, has any affect on the GOP primary voter.
…
I honestly think that’s the biggest story here, and another reason that part of the media is shitting bricks. Their only audience is people in the middle, who are low info, and the left, who think they are totally full of shit.
The interesting thing about this is that the media has been a conservative punching bag since long before Trump. Fox News was created for the specific purpose of punching the MSM, like, twenty years ago, and cries of “the media is stabbing us in the back!” go back even further, all from conservative politicians. The MSM’s reaction, overall, hasn’t been to hit back but simply to skew further and further right in the hopes that that’ll mitigate the backlash (it doesn’t).
They’ve basically been the grown up version of an Uncool Kid that the Cool Kidz love to bully and push around, but who still tags along with them and puts up with all their shit to try and be cool by association. Apparently they’ve been doing it for so long that they managed to delude themselves that they were in, which is why they’re now surprised with Trump’s in-your-face abrasiveness.
catclub
@dmsilev:
Yep. This is the difference between Trump and Berlusconi. Berlusconi owns 60% or so of Italian media.
Trump doesn’t. Trump has to ‘earn’ free media, and has been amazingly successful at it.
Another Holocene Human
@Frankensteinbeck: It’s rude to say it’s racist, and somebody might turn around and accuse them too. So why challenge anything…
Roger Moore
@Frankensteinbeck:
I think that’s what they used to call “defining deviancy down”.
Amir Khalid
Trump and Cruz and Fiorina, indeed everyone in the Republican field (except Jim Gilmore, who only thinks he is running for president), are performing for a Republican audience that wants only to see Democrats insulted, and doesn’t give a rap about hearing the truth. Merely refuting their bullshit won’t shame them before such an audience. No amount of appeals to civility will make them desist from a “winning” tactic.
This looks like a major manifestation, maybe the major manifestation, of the fundamental unseriousness among Republican candidates. I am aware that trying too hard to refute the absurdities can actually lend them credibility, because people are more inclined to remember the bullshit than to remember its refutation. And it could start to look like desperation, as though one were acknowledging that the bullshit was gaining traction. I think you need to treat it with a carefully calibrated level of disdain.
The Golux
OT, but Betty, you have my sympathy, now that you will be faced with rooting for the Red Sox 20% of the time. (As for me, I’ll be rooting for the Sox 100% of the time as usual.)
Scapegoat
Trump’s popularity is merely an indicator of the deep fissures within the Republican Party.
His supporters hate ‘the establishment’ Repubs more than they do Dems.
Betrayal is an unforgivable offense. The goal of this mutiny is to radically shift the party to the extreme right. If that means the destruction of party unity, that’s a good secondary result. The New Republican Caliphate wants only the pure in its ranks and Trump is selling a cleansing tonic.
If Trump falls/loses interest, Cruz’s brand of destruction will likely suffice for these rabid voters. Alternatively, we’ll see abstention or a massive write-in effort for The Chosen RWNJ (Trump?) during the final election.
catclub
@Amir Khalid: Both Paul Waldman and Plum Line are listening to what Cruz is actually saying about intervention in the mid-east. And it is VERY different from Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham demanding boots on the ground.
After lumping Obama and Clinton in with the Neo-Cons,
Cruz is saying that the Iraq war was stupid (also Libya) and should not be followed up with knocking out Assad in Syria.
Spinoza is my Co-pilot
@Chris:
Those sad/funny and self-effacing ESPN commercials where the various ESPN anchors are most-obviously the Uncool Kidz attempting to unsuccessfully hang with the real sports star Cool Kidz (like Tony Romo and the Cowboys cheerleaders)? The mainstream media ARE those anchors in the political world, and they damn well know it. They suck up anyway, for the same reasons some Uncool Kidz always have.
Life is fucking High School in so many ways.
Scapegoat
FYWP just eated my comment, so the fun continues.
(iOS 8.4.2 Safari on desktop site)
Frankensteinbeck
@Another Holocene Human:
Note how long ‘anti-establishment sentiment’ hung on as the explanation for Trump’s popularity.
Another Holocene Human
@Roger Moore: It’s not deviancy when everybody, okay 20% of the population, is doing it.
Another Holocene Human
@Frankensteinbeck: The establishment was a bunch of squishes on treating Messicans like human garbage.
Amir Khalid
@catclub:
Won’t refusing to make war on the brown Muslim folk cost Ted in the polls?
Peale
@Another Holocene Human: Plus he’s sincere about it and we all know true racism is really rather cynical, so as long as he’s sincere who are we to challenge those beliefs. A more virtuous racist we have never seen. What with all the honest common sense. I mean, common sense isn’t nearly as good as counter-intuitive sophistry, as the former does not reveal a genius. But it is bedrock. Yeah. Bedrock.
Peale
@Amir Khalid: Nah. Cruz understands that the real threat is the liberals who are going to lie down and let ISIS into the country. He’s gonna fight the real enemy at home first so he’s good to go. Priorities.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@catclub: I tend to agree with this too. Evoking the ire of the MSM doesn’t hurt Trump in the primaries – it’s probably even an asset – but in the general it’s not going to fly. It’ll still fly with his base but it won’t fly with everyone else. I think they have enough juice to take enough of a chunk out of him in the general that he won’t win, but he probably won’t win anyway. The GOP base is his ceiling in the general and that only gets him about 40 percent of the vote at best.
Not only is Ted Cruz incredibly unlikeable, to the point where every other asshole in the Senate hates the guy, but he also has the most punchable face in the Senate, and the presidential field. Seriously, that guy has a face only a mother wouldn’t love to punch.
catclub
@Amir Khalid: That is a good question. Ted Cruz is trying to balance the affect of being anti-muslim all the time, to encourage the rubes, with actually saying sensible things
(relatively quietly) on Syria, to contrast his views with Marco Rubio.
dedc79
I think there are two main reasons why Trump has skated by for this long:
1) We live in a country where the default view is that it’s worse to call someone a racist than for that person to actually be a racist. As a result, the burden of proof to demonstrate racism has gotten ridiculously high (the racist basically has to self-identify, burn a cross, or wear a swastika)
2) As others have noted, to indict trump, the MSM really has to indict the GOP and its voters. The MSM is determined never to take a side in a fight between the parties no matter what.
The reason we’re seeing some cracks in the armor is because Trump has self-identified as a racist and, as a result, the MSM can only maintain their “objective” take on the parties if Trump gets booted to the sidelines.
The Republic of Stupity
@srv:
Probably having the Soviets w/in two blocks of the bunker…
BGinCHI
@Chris: Exactly right.
DC is not only “Hollywood for ugly people,” but Stockholm for the syndrome-rich.
Bobby Thomson
@NickM: don’t forget the Godwin stuff.
catclub
Jersey City 9/11 celebration video found.
ha ha.
Thousands of people in the streets is now 8 guys, on one building, maybe.
The video shows the buildings where maybe somebody was on the roof, from the street,
5 days later.
I am convinced.
Calouste
@prob50: It looks like it will come down to a three-way race between Trump, Cruz, and Rubio, with Carson slipping away at the moment and Bush hovering around 6%. Trump has a significant lead at the moment, both nationally and in New Hampshire, and a smaller lead in Iowa. Cruz is gaining ground in Iowa, but he could really do with picking up a lot of evangelical voters from Carson. I think Carson will keep sliding, but will hang on to enough voters in Iowa to deny the win to Cruz. Rubio has the problem that he is not really in a position to win either of the first two states, or even become a close second. He would most likely pick up voters from Bush and Kasich, but neither of them is likely to drop out before New Hampshire.
Hungry Joe
Right now I can’t see anyone but Trump or Cruz getting the GOP nomination … and I’m thinking it’ll be be Cruz, because Trump will finally go too far — though, admittedly, “too far” seems to be receding into the distance. Cruz would probably get obliterated in the general, but since 1) the Law of Anything Can Happen (Especially When You Start with Around 43 Percent of the Vote) applies, and 2) I’m a natural-born pessimist (i. e., realist), these times strike me as exceptionally dangerous. Cruz would undo all of Obama’s executive orders on climate change, appoint certified foam-at-the-mouthers to the Supreme Court, and generally set in motion the breakup of the United States. He’s unhinged, and therefore more dangerous than Reagan, Bush, and Cheney combined.
Kay
I cannot stand how Trump talks. Just the sound and the egotistical braying quality. Kevin Drum said something like he doesn’t understand how Trump supporters apparently have never met a big, bullshitting blowhard since Trump is so obviously that and they don’t see it and I agree.
I saw that he has bad numbers with women and that makes me like women :)
boatboy_srq
@srv: Isn’t it a pity that we can’t even admit the broken clock isn’t always wrong?
Rubin isn’t “low IQ” – she’s owned. Outside of that, though, which of us has ever agreed with her? She’s microns from Zionist and is firmly in Likud’s pocket, hates anything remotely librul, can’t stand the Gay Kenyan IslamoFascoSoshulist, and insists things all will be right with the US of A when Rethugs get back in the WH, Israel is admitted as the 51st state and the DFHs are run out of town. As for WaPo, that rag hasn’t been “fair and objective” since Woodward and Bernstein, if then. But because tRump said it, and larded it up with his usual garbage, we can’t agree with him.
Bobby Thomson
@srv: no, the whitey tape was taped over it.
prob50
@Calouste: looks like a realistic assessment to me for IA & NH. Hard to say what will happen after that.
Bobby Thomson
@prob50: trump is getting a plurality of Carson’s support. Other than the big 5, no one has enough support to matter, especially after it gets divvied up. Kasich, Christie, and Fiorina will be gone after NH, Super Tuesday at the latest, but they don’t have enough voters to put someone else over the top. The rest are even less relevant.
Bobby Thomson
@catclub: he’s gone full paleocon. Interesting approach, and not too far from trump or Paul.
Another Holocene Human
@catclub: Ted Cruz definitely believes he can sustain this double act.
Kay
I saw one of the former Bush mouthpieces on Morning Joe and she was really upset about Trump. I get it, I really do, they want to believe they’re serious people doing important work and this carnival barker has apparently captured their base, but I can’t help but have this sort of fatalistic view, where I’m thinking they deserve this. Since Clinton’s show impeachment trial they’ve been turning government into a fucking joke and now they have this ridiculous real estate developer as a “leader”.
They did this. I hope they’re happy.
prob50
@Hungry Joe: Yeah, Trump or Cruz vs HRC IS actually plenty scary, although in a SANE world it shouldn’t/wouldn’t be. The stupidity/mendacity that permeates the GOP has just gone WAAAAAY past what I would have believed a few yrs. back
Another Holocene Human
@catclub: Well, there was an arrest that day of some guys on a roof taking selfies with the towers.
They were Israelis.
Another Holocene Human
@Kay:
They’re the assholes who toady up to a big, bullshitting blowhard.
kindness
My college educated Facebook friends who were extolling Trump last spring & summer have been very quiet about him lately. Makes me want to post something like this just to piss them off.
Another Holocene Human
@boatboy_srq:
I thought a Zionist was somebody who believed the project of a state of Israel in the Middle East, possibly also implying the belief in a state of Israel as a Jewish state (which the current state of Israel is).
Does she not believe this, or have the implications of “Zionist” changed?
Heliopause
I don’t think it’s so much Trump himself who is befuddling the MSM reporters as the poll numbers, and all this psychoanalysis is a little too cute. Look, MSM reporters are comfortable with Country Club approved candidates. They’ve faced GOP dalliances with nutty candidates many times before, and they’ve usually turned out to be one night stands, with minimal effort required on the part of the reporters to manage the rubes. There are a number of factors involved in why the GOP base is currently headed in the direction that they are and “Trump is a clever liar” or “MSM reporters are losing their power” is a bit simplistic.
Grace
@catclub: Might also be to try and pick up a good chunk of the Paul supporters when he finally slinks out of the race. Playing for Carson’s fundiegelicals, Paul’s isolationists, and Trump’s wackos if he crashes and burns. Actually not a bad strategy…
boatboy_srq
@Kay: Not all that long ago, tRump would have been dismissed by almost everyone as nouveau riche from the wrong part of Nyawk – all grift and no class. It’s 2015: between the Prosperity Gospel wingnuts and the Free Market libertarianuts his swagger and bluster sell well in the opinion marketplace. I’m actually reminded of the Dan Hedaya character from First Wives Club – the crooked businessman who masquerades as “self-made” and trades his wives in as they age (for the record, Marty did redeem himself in the movie, but that’s Hollywood; tRump doesn’t exhibit any interest in the introspection necessary for that). There are braggarts like tRump aplenty: he’s no less aggravating than the rest, and is getting all the attention simply because he isn’t content to own his little marketplace fiefdom.
Another Holocene Human
OT: So, unventilated powder room has this awful cheap perfume smell (think knockoff Glade) after 6 months. I’ve banished all odoriferous soaps (bye bye nasty Method) but it still stinks! I do clean in there and I’m confused as to where the residue/wax reservoir is in there that is knocking me over. Suggestions?
The Thin Black Duke
@prob50: Bottom line, if Donald Trump secures the nomination, the usual percentage of GOP voters will automatically support him and that scares the fuck out of me.
mai naem mobile
Out of the GOP klown kar STrumpet is probably best in the worst case scenario that he won the presidency. Hopefully Cruz has dissed him enough by that point that STrumpet doesn’t pick him as Veep. I figure STrumpet will rule by polls so won’t do something absolutely irreversibly awful. Also too, I’ll pray daily for RBG and.Breyer to stay healthy through the term( s.)
dww44
@Hungry Joe: While I think that any Republican vying for the nomination would be a disaster for the country (if only because they will be beholden to the far right of their party) I, too, am particularly afraid of what a Ted Cruz would do to the country. He epitomizes vile and evil and smarts and that’s dangerous. IMO, a Trump Presidency would be less dangerous and calamitous for the country than a Cruz one.
But, golly, we ought to be convincing everyone we know who can be so convinced to vote, to get registered if no tand vote for Clinton or Sanders, both of whom I do genuinely like. We should also pray (or cross our fingers) that Obama continues to steer the ship of state with a calm and rational hand and that the economy cooperates. We’ve still got 11 months to go.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/1/15
Spending doesn’t help Bush as Trump continues improbable rise
Steve Kornacki, MSNBC political correspondent, talks with Rachel Maddow about Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s insistent lie about thousands of celebrating Jersey City Muslims on 9/11, and his continued polling success despite significantly less ad spending than Jeb Bush.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/jeb-bush-money-no-good-in-donald-trumps-game-577616963564
boatboy_srq
@Another Holocene Human: She’s dictionary-definition Zionist; she’s not “Zionist” in that she isn’t screaming for an armed-to-the-teeth Greater Judea to smite all the antiSemites and take over the entire Middle East. There’s a lot of additional connotative baggage that doesn’t exactly fit her.
boatboy_srq
@Another Holocene Human: Sounds like it permeated the sheetrock. Have you considered painting?
Dupe70
Donald Trump is the living embodiment of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
“I am the best!”
“I have the greatest memory of all time!”
prob50
@The Thin Black Duke: Yeah. But the thought EITHER one of them actually winning the Presidency scares the living crap out of me.
Another Holocene Human
@boatboy_srq: Shit! My father in law did slap a coat of paint over the original shitty paint layer. What now?
Anoniminous
@Another Holocene Human:
1. Ensure your cleaning supplies do not have perfumes, most do.
2. After years of cleaning, the perfume oils will have stuck to everything. Try wiping/washing with a mixture of bleach and hot water. Then use fans to air out the bleach smell.
3. As a last resort, what boatboy_srq said
boatboy_srq
@Another Holocene Human: New cabinets? You’d be amazed how much stink those can soak up…
Scapegoat
If Bill Clinton did in fact encourage Trump to run, we will likely have him to thank for greatly hastening the rending, if not total destruction, of the Republican party. (And if so, Bill, probably cleverly told Trump that he was indeed ‘brilliant’, but simply didn’t “have what it takes” to be elected!)
Trump is simply the latest and greatest talisman coveted by the low-information rage-a-holic (mostly elderly and white) FYI(Almost)GM voter. The real enemy to be defeated is no longer the Democrats but the establishment Republicans who have courted them over the last several decades and failed to deliver on their empty campaign promises. This New Republican Caliphate™ seeks drastic change and will not be satisfied until the entire party shifts to the extreme right. Failing this shift, ‘party unity’—the establishment meme for decades—will no longer hold water. Rather, purging of the ‘impure’ from the party will become (if it hasn’t already become) the number one priority. Their rallying cry is not “Defeat the Dems!” but rather, “Defeat the RINO’s!”. It is the enemy within that is hated the most.
If Trump fails to get the nomination (or gets distracted by some other shiny object and/or quits in a huff) this new breed of ‘Murrican Jihadists will:
A) Embrace the next most objectionable ‘non-establishment’ bigmouthed bigot (likely Cruz)
B) Conduct the largest write-in campaign (likely for Trump) seen in recent history.
C) Abstain from voting
Regardless, the Republican party as we know it is toast.
The FYI(A)GM crowd are lost for life. However, tombstones will eventually cull the herd. The best that can be hoped for is enough cycles of well-managed progressive leadership at the top to encourage the young’ins to establish/realign their values based on collective benefits.
As has been pointed out repeatedly, the bigger challenge is likely in electing progressive Local and State leadership. Here, the absence of a coherent and effective strategy from the Dems—promoting Policy over Personality—is of genuine concern. Maybe Elizabeth Warren will sail to the rescue. If not her, who else has the vision and savvy needed to undertake this?
Peale
@Another Holocene Human: You should wash everything with hot water and baking soda first. Then prime with Killz. Then repaint.
amk
@srv:
Ok, troll, I am willing to bet 100 bucks that donald dreck is not gonna be elected as president. Ever. Do you have the guts to take that bet?
Elie
What the media and others did not realize is that allowing abuse of civility — allowing and even encouraging heated and extreme rhetoric, not only encourages outright violence, as we have seen, but actually builds a greater demand for more and eventually consumes the possibility for balanced discourse in the public space — making it virtually impossible not just to govern, but to be safe with each other and at peace within our skins.
Psychological literature has many articles on how you make a violent population and society. We all have dark impulses in us, but unless they are modeled and encouraged and given permission to be acted on, expressed, and reinforced by the social mores of the culture, they are suppressed.
Its going to take some effort to quell this now. Opposing it is no longer a matter of expressing disapproval. These people and their leader, Trump (and perhaps others), will need to be broken: shamed then suppressed by a huge loss of power. That of course, will not necessarily be a peaceful process but everyone who cares at all better be thinking ahead on how this will get done. As I commented several days ago, Trump is feeding off of this and he is a very sick and yes, evil person who will use whatever he needs to achieve power, now that he sees it so close… Like the ring of Mordor , he is singularly attracted to its power and darkness…. He will not stop. He can only be stopped and that will be up to us somehow.
catclub
@Scapegoat:
Except for the Senate, the House of Representatives, and all those state governments.
Hoodie
While Roberts’ theory seems plausible, maybe it’s a little too cynical to say it’s just about the media’s loss of status. The media never took Trump seriously and even treated him as an object of comedy. Could it be that the media is now taking Trump seriously and are more than a little bit afraid of him and what his rise means? He’s certainly taken no pains to hide his hatred of the media. This is a guy that countenances goons beating up protesters at a rally, who publicly comments on Megan Kelly’s menstrual cycle and a reporter’s disability, etc., so it isn’t too hard to imagine him blackballing reporters or worse. It’s not hard to imagine him becoming an American Putin, and you know how much the rabid right loves Vlad. There are ample reasons to despise courtiers like Milbank and Tapper, but maybe even they can sense something really dark about Trump. As much as I enjoyed Stewart and others lampooning Trump, it’s another matter when he stands a chance of being the candidate of a major political party, especially when you see just how nasty he really is and the way fascist toads like Giuliani are beginning to suck up to him. Maybe give Milbank some credit for actually saying something.
Calouste
@prob50: If Trump wins both Iowa and New Hampshire, that’s pretty much curtains. Momentum, voters jumping on the bandwagon, and the media narrative will carry him from there, besides that he of course still will be leading in the polls anyway. If Cruz wins Iowa, we’re in for a long slog and Trump will be going medieval on Cruz’s ass.
Elie
@mai naem mobile:
I think you are completely wrong on this score. You underestimate his capacity for disruptive evil. We should not take this guy lightly. Yes, he can definitely be defeated but he must be crushed without remorse and his followers given no alternative. Again, this was not stopped or suppressed by the Republicans or the MSM, though both may regret it. Having found real “legs” however, the work to take this down must be quite serious if we don’t want a very ugly clean up afterwards. Evil like this is very contagious as you are seeing. Do not blow it off. We have to confront it seriously though the knee jerk is to minimize it and figure that somehow it will get defeated by someone or something. We have too many examples in history to be totally comfortable with that notion that somehow the worst will be prevented….
Scapegoat
@catclub:
Agreed. What’s the best strategy here? Sure GOTV, but that is only one part of the puzzle.
Cermet
@mai naem mobile: Agreed; chump is a silly, blow hard but not in the dangerous class level of a cruz; that fucker is just another cheney waiting to kill …everyone. cruz reminds me of the president candidate in the Dead Pool movie.
Elie
@Cermet:
I don’t know what you are seeing, but I am not seeing that at all. Cruz is an egomaniac and narcissist, but the real capacity for rage and violence in housed in Trump. I would prefer neither one get anywhere near real power, but if I were to point to one as being the sickest, both spiritually and psychologically, it would be Trump.
Scapegoat
@Elie: Good comments. Relates well to the prior comments downstairs about “stochastic terrorism” (or “crowdsourced terrorism” if you prefer).
The loss of civility we are increasingly seeing will hopefully be overcome, but will likely take a long time to repair.
Trump is attracted to the Power of the Ring, but has childlike naivety of the Darkness. Cruz, on the other hand, willfully seeks the Darkness.
Chris
@Kay:
I saw one of the former Bush mouthpieces on Morning Joe and she was really upset about Trump. I get it, I really do, they want to believe they’re serious people doing important work and this carnival barker has apparently captured their base, but I can’t help but have this sort of fatalistic view, where I’m thinking they deserve this. Since Clinton’s show impeachment trial they’ve been turning government into a fucking joke and now they have this ridiculous real estate developer as a “leader”.
…
They did this. I hope they’re happy.
Yep. I’m finding it impossible not to feel the schadenfreude. They made this bed, let them sleep in it.
Elie
@Scapegoat:
I certainly will not dispute that neither one should be allowed anywhere near power. I would argue that about all of the Republican candidates who are frightening.
I still don’t see where you see Trump as naïve. I think he knows the suckers well and is playing all of them, media included, like a violin. He knows what he is saying is “wrong” but he also knows they are lapping it up and he is building their confidence and energy both to support him and to give increasing voice and action to their deepest needs. He knows they are afraid and powerless and he is giving them power and pride to say and do exactly what they want to do. His only real risk is not knowing exactly when and how to unleash the complete beast and in the primaries may be the one true opportunity to get in a blow to his momentum… The structure of those makes it a slightly different game than just saying a lot of hateful things then getting polled. Your ground game (or lack of one) and actually needing to get votes that are counted is not the same thing as the statistics around polls.
If Bill Clinton actually had anything to do with encouraging Trump, I know he must be shitting his pants thinking about not stopping this thing by the end of the primaries…
Betty Cracker
@Scapegoat: “Who would be the worst president, Trump or Cruz?” seems like one of those pointless thought experiments like “Would you rather die of the clap or syphilis?” But I agree with what you said about Trump being naive about the Darkness and Cruz being a willful seeker of the same.
Trump awakens scarier passions in his followers, but I can see him doing something stupid like trying to appoint Judge Judy to the Supreme Court, whereas Cruz would find a young, healthy wingnut judge without an objectionable paper trail who views “The Handmaid’s Tale” as an instruction manual.
Elie
@Chris:
I have no problem with them sleeping in the bed they made. I just don’t want to be sleeping in it with them…
Another Holocene Human
@Anoniminous: I get headaches from most commercial scents so actually most of my cleaning stuff is unscented. (I have one bottle of floor cleaner from a supplier that was my go-to for non toxic stuff and once that is gone I am switching to Bona, which is not perfumed.)
I think I will give the bleach a shot, though.
Chris
@Scapegoat:
The real enemy to be defeated is no longer the Democrats but the establishment Republicans who have courted them over the last several decades and failed to deliver on their empty campaign promises. […] Their rallying cry is not “Defeat the Dems!” but rather, “Defeat the RINO’s!”. It is the enemy within that is hated the most.
This used to be why their number one enemy was the Democrats – Democrats were “the enemy within,” when the referent is America, and they’re the people who are secretly sabotaging us and selling us out to the Communist Hordes At The Gates.
But Democrats have been treated as unamerican for so long they’re not even “the enemy within” anymore, they’ve become the main enemy. And in the eternal search for even more purity and True Conservatism, they’ve turned on the RINOs.
Another Holocene Human
@boatboy_srq: It’s too tiny for an undersink cabinet. I did install a small shelf a couple of months ago for spare TP rolls and stuff like that. It’s MDF with probably vinyl laminate. Any tips?
Elie
I will add this: even though our long electoral process is expensive and endless, this is one example of why “running the horses” a good long time is not a bad thing. The exposure is necessary not only to see the good but to identify and have any possibility to stop the bad. Also, the various events, from debates, to tv shows, to primaries, gives us opportunities to take measures. Imagine if we only had two months and you are dealing with someone with a “hot hand” like Trumpzilla…. Just a thought anyway….
Chris
@Elie:
Oh, I agree. But that’s kind of offset by the “it can’t get any worse” setting. Which is always a dangerous thing to say, and of course a Trump presidency would be a disaster, but which of these howling lunatics would we rather have in the White House? They’d all be a disaster.
Another Holocene Human
@Elie: Cruz is … much smarter than Trump
…thinks he’s smarter than he actually, demonstrably is, to a much more pathological degree than Trump
…is a true believer, whereas Trump only believes in his own ego
…has his nutjob father egging him on, what does Trump have–mistress du jour?
…obsesses over foreign policy (WARWARWAR) whereas Trump’s “foreign policy” is just more repackaged domestic policy
Trump is inciting fascistic racial violence right now. Cruz is adept at giving it a Christian gloss. Trump’s approach is open, obvious, effective, but ultimately of a limited shelf life. Cruz’ approach is not unique to him; it’s a time-tested effective way of rolling out the long con and imposing oppressive policies while gulling the rubes and making them think it was their idea.
Either one winning would be an utter disaster, however, no matter how horrifying Trump’s neo-Blackshirts, we have the judiciary and we do have the ability to fight back until the fever breaks. Cruz? He scares me.
Another Holocene Human
@Chris: Their extremism took them there. They demanded things their pols couldn’t deliver and now they must double down on the crazy.
Elie
@Chris:
NONE of the Republicans are fit for any office, including dog catcher. That they are even up there as candidates is surely one of the most appalling political events in recent decades — that a major party is winnowed down to such crap is nothing short of shocking, though we saw it building with each electoral cycle. The Republican Party has completely lost its coherence except as a touch plate to social alienation and the worst of tribalism. They will hopefully pay an appropriate price without devastating the system and our country overmuch (crossed fingers)
Elie
@Another Holocene Human:
OkOK
We must stop both — seriously….
Frankensteinbeck
@Scapegoat:
Well, if Trump gets the nomination, his -50 favorability among Hispanics will help. Republican power is balanced on a tightrope right now. Gerrymandering means that while Rs have more House seats, a few percentage points can destroy them. It doesn’t matter if Hispanics have a very low voting rate. If they shift from voting majority Democrat to almost all Democrat, like in California, the shit will hit the electoral fan.
We can’t sit back on our laurels and trust we’ll win, of course. We need a good candidate, we need a party system that establishes itself early and wide and works with the state level, and we need to hustle our asses and GOTV. We have the first two if Hillary wins, and probably if Bernie wins. The latter is up to us as individuals.
boatboy_srq
@Betty Cracker:
THIS. Also, that tRump, when it comes to his (few and far-between) policy statements, seems to fall slightly left of Christie, while Cruz is full-on Spanish Inquisition with a side of starve-the-poor for extra ugliness.
boatboy_srq
@Another Holocene Human: Humph. I’m back to the industrial cleansers and sealants now.
Bubblegum Tate
@BGinCHI:
Right here. Be warned, though: In addition to the stupidity, it’s got an appalling level of windbaggery.
Paul in KY
It’s about fuckin time…
Paul in KY
@Bubblegum Tate: He may mean that Trump has honestly said what’s on his sick mind. Not ‘lying’ by having any sort of filter for his id.
Jeffro
“Conceptual space for neutrality” – since when was that ever needed or wanted? An objective press would be calling Trump out as a bigot and racist just like Milbank is. A cowed press, a neutered one, would be looking for “conceptual space for neutrality”.
Paul in KY
@Spinoza is my Co-pilot: Bowling for Soup has a great song called ‘High School Never Ends’.
Sums it up from the social side.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker:
A-men. Those would be his criteria up and down the line: true believers, as young as possible, with no real record or trail. Heck, the Kochs are already doing that nationwide…look at Joni Ernst.
Scapegoat
@Elie:
Nahhh…. Bill is grinning ear to ear. And, I suspect with good reason.
I agree with most of your analysis about Trump, and ‘get’ your reluctance and fears about him. While those of us who don’t fear Trump as much as Cruz (or a few others) could be wrong, a few thoughts are worth bearing in mind:
First, Trump is little more than a narcissistic showman. This whole presidential run is a game for him (and yes, he thinks he can win). Like a comedian playing a crowd, he continually tunes his message for the largest response. He has no ‘real’ personal political agenda, other than to do the only thing he knows how to do—win. He has spent his entire life in pursuit of wealth and little more. As a Bully Boss, he simply isn’t programmed to navigate complex waters that require cooperative efforts. He will be flummoxed (and utterly enraged) by constitutional mechanisms should he ever be elected (which he won’t). My prediction: He will probably get the nomination and badly lose the election.
Second, the Republican party today (of it’s own foolish making) is primarily comprised of many incompatible groups:
A) Hateful Bigots
B) Resentful and fearful lower and middle class people whose American Dream ain’t as rosy as they thought it would be.
C) Selfish wealthy people (with many benefiting from the Military Industrial Complex, or Big Oil)
D) Religious Fundamentalists
E) And, maybe still, a few fiscal and/or social conservatives (many now with openly gay children.)
These groups inherently dislike and distrust each other; however, they have in the past been united in their common fear of progressive policies, largely because of their fear of progressive impacts on their own specific concerns. In the past couple decades, their united efforts have been within a couple percentage points of half of the population who have voted; barely winning or barely losing Presidential elections (erm… thanks SCOTUS!).
In this context, bombastic rhetoric that appeals to one group inevitably alienates several of the other groups (hate, gun control, reproductive rights, immigration, intolerance, war, fossil fuel reliance, infrastructure, taxation, and on and on and on).
What was needed to turn these groups actively against each other was a giant blowhard with zero regard for any accepted (explicit or implicit) rules of conduct, no political history, and a firm belief that they alone have all the answers. A true “bull in the political china shop”. Enter Trump. Brilliant!
If any one (or more) of these groups firmly objects to the candidate that is nominated—as they undoubtedly will do—party unity falls apart, and their “almost half” of the vote gets smaller, virtually assuring a Democratic win for President. (But the other levels of govt will continue to be a problem.)
Cruz, on the other hand, is a smart and accomplished individual who has navigated complex waters with some degree of success. He is also twisted and knows enough about his own sociopathic nature that his first rule is to NEVER let anyone gaze directly upon his true objectives. The number of sociopaths in our society is estimated at approximately 4% (if I recall correctly) and the number in leadership positions is much higher. He is calculating, cunning, and to be feared.
Trump, on the other hand, is an oaf who would have little idea what to do if he ever caught the car he’s chasing.
Paul in KY
@boatboy_srq: Jennifer Rubin is a POS. Trump is too.
Scapegoat
@Betty Cracker:
Yup…
Paul in KY
@Another Holocene Human: That’s a small ‘z’ Zionist. A Zionist is a Likudnick who wants Eretz Israel the sooner the better, IMO.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Another Holocene Human:
Watch out for “unscented” stuff — sometimes it means they put a neutral fragrance in to cover up the smell of the chemicals. “Fragrance free” usually means no fragrance at all.
SiubhanDuinne
That’s from Milbank’s column. Yes, I know there haven’t been proofreaders and copy editors for years, and I know it was a simple typo on his part (I imagine he meant to type “68 percent” and his fingers got tangled up; it’s happened to all of us), but dog damn!! This is supposed to be one of the country’s most prestigious newspapers. It both annoys and saddens me to see this kind of error make its way onto the page/screen.
Whistling in the wind….
EDIT: And maybe my reading skills, not to mention my mathematical chops, could use some improvement. I was so fixated on the numbers I failed to notice the “Republicans” vs. “overall electorate” divide.
Bubblegum Tate
@Paul in KY:
Yeah, that’s plausible. I should also say that he believes the George W. Bush administration was the most honest in history and that Bush never once lied while in office.
catclub
@SiubhanDuinne: Nope, 86% is perfectly plausible, if 32% of republicans have embraced him. And it could be high.
If Republicans are 44% of the total population, then 32% of Republicans is 14% of the population.
100-14 = 86%
The 100-32= 68 is a coincidence.
Scapegoat
Lest we get too astonished by the Trump phenomenon, don’t forget about Cicciolina in 1987.
Daily Kos
I was studying in Rome that summer, and can tell you that her campaign “booklets” were VERY well received by the ragazzi. (And, in the interest of global thinking, I took one to, ahem… carefully read her proposals).
Another Holocene Human
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): I go by the patented “does it give me a headache when I use it” test
not all headache-facients are artificial perfumes, but there’s an awful lot of overlap!
Brachiator
Threatens? Right wingers dismissed the media long ago. Others are increasingly doing so as well, and for similar reasons. Everyone expects the press to cater to their biases and desires, and get angry when their expectations are not fulfilled.
How is it the media’s job to take Trump down? And how, exactly, could they do it when Trump’s core supporters are immune to rational thought?
Brachiator
@Scapegoat:
Salacious past aside, how was she as a legislator?
Rasputin's Evil Twin
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I’ve said for some time now he looks like Joe McCarthy, and that’s reason enough to punch him.
Scapegoat
@Brachiator: Pleasantly, the arc of her career has largely been focused on women’s rights and reducing the stigma of feminine sexuality.
Mrs. Scapegoat is an avowed feminist and we recently had a discussion about how to treat access to the internet for our pending child. She somewhat surprised me by saying, “I’m more concerned about the prevalence of, and free access to, violence than sex.”
Make love not war. Not so bad.
Brachiator
@Scapegoat:
Agreed.
SiubhanDuinne
@catclub:
Thank you. Even upon rereading, I couldn’t make sense of the math. This helps.
Betty Cracker
@Brachiator:
The post is about the media’s reaction to the Trump phenomenon, not the well-known fact that the old guard Beltway media’s influence with voters of all stripes has declined.
If you buy the notion that an informed electorate is essential to a functional democracy, it absolutely is the media’s job to tell the truth, including passing along the information that the GOP front-runner is unquestionably a racist, bigoted toad. I don’t expect that revelation to penetrate the skulls of Trump’s core supporters, of course.
J R in WV
@Another Holocene Human:
Kilz paint, which covers stains and should prevent odors in existing paint from entering the air.
Then paint with a top brand latex paint to suit. Maybe also look to covering the floor with something that will block odors from that source. New linoleum?
smintheus
This is a great post, Betty.