Saturday, March 05, 2016

Trumpism Re-Defining...Whackos Of The World Unite!

WhoNeedsWorkersAnymore
AnywayVille


Jacob Weisberg, the Editor-In-Chief of the now WaPo-less Graham Family's 'Slate Group' and a columnist for Newsweek, has written an analysis of Trumpism.

The header and the sub-header go like this:

An Eclectic Extremist
 
Donald Trump’s distinctly American authoritarianism draws equally from the wacko right and wacko left...



In the end Mr. Weisberg's point is, I think, that Mr. Trump is no longer just a Republican Party problem but is instead all of America's problem.

But...

Where, exactly, is the 'whacko left' in all of this?

I combed through Mr. Weisberg's piece and despite the many, many, many examples of Mr. Trump's allegiance to the 'whacko right', the only kinda/sorta/maybe reference to the left side of the ledger is the fact that Trump is not averse to fanning the  'George Bush was to blame for 9/11' flames when it suits him.

Which, means, I guess, that 'birthers' actually sprung from the loins of FDR.

Or some such thing.

****

Why does any of this linking of Mr. Trump to the left (or, alternatively, blaming the left and/or Obama for Trumpism) matter?

Because Mr. Weisberg is no crazy nut-job idiot blogger.

Instead, the case could be made that he is just one level down from the biggest of big league proMedia purveyors of 'both sides' punditry like David Brooks and/or Tom (TheSixMonthUnit) Friedman.

Which means that codswallop like this could very quickly become conventional wisdom.

And, if that were to occur, it could become very easy for USians who are leaning Sanders, but not really paying close attention, to be flipped towards Mr. Trump after Ms. Clinton wins the Democratic party's nomination.

And that would be a very scary thing, indeed.

Especially if Mr. Bloomberg does jump in and less than 50% wins it.

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Update: (Tip O' The Toque to reader Hugh for the heads-up)...And, right on time, here comes the good Mr. Black (formerly) of Cross Harboor (sic).


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Tip O' The Toque for the heads-up on the Weisberg piece to a USian who pays attention to everything...Driftglass.
And, as an aside, I've got to thank Mr. Glass for a significant bump in traffic that swarmed north across the border towards this little F-Troop listed blog a couple of weeks ago because he included us in...This.



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3 comments:

Lenin's Ghost said...

Please! Ignore Connie black and maybe he'll go away.
Black is still around? Thought the piece of crap was deported or hung for treason! Poophead!

RossK said...

LG--

Don't think I can agree with those descriptors.

And besides, doesn't Mr. Floaty still have dibs on 'Poophead'?

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Anonymous said...

Basically: Trump has the DRONE voters sewn up.

Matthew MacWilliams, a doctoral candidate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, conducted a poll in which Republicans were asked four questions about child-rearing. With each question, respondents were asked which of two traits were more important in children:

independence or respect for their elders;
curiosity or good manners;
self-reliance or obedience;
being considerate or being well-behaved.

Psychologists use these questions to identify people who are disposed to favor hierarchy, loyalty and strong leadership — those who picked the second trait in each set — what experts call "authoritarianism." - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/01/how-your-parenting-style-predicts-whether-you-support-donald-trump/

http://globalstudies.unc.edu/global-studies-people/people-page/jonathan-weiler/