Posted on 01/04/2016 2:20:42 PM PST by presidio9
Five-time Jeopardy! champion Tom Nichols1 writes today about why so many people are attracted to Donald Trump. Nichols is a Republican, but makes it very clear that he deeply loathes Trump("hideous," "narcissistic," "creepy," "stupid," etc.) and will never vote for him. So what's his take on Trump's popularity? Is it due to economic insecurity? Inchoate anger? Bubbling racism and xenophobia? Hatred of the Republican establishment?
Nah. He says that Trump's rise is basically the fault of the left:
To understand Trump’s seemingly effortless seizure of the public spotlight, forget about programs, and instead zero in on the one complaint that seems to unite all of the disparate angry factions gravitating to him: political correctness. This, more than anything, is how the left created Trump
Uh oh. That's not going to go over well. For what it's worth, Nichols is clear that he isn't referring to garden variety political correctness, which is basically little more than avoiding terms that are obviously insulting or exclusionary. At worst, that stuff is annoying but well-meaning:
Today, however, we have a new, more virulent political correctness that terrorizes both liberals and conservatives, old-line Democrats and Republicans, alike....The extremist adherents of this new political correctness have essentially taken a flamethrower to the public space and annihilated its center....Any incorrect position, any expression of the Constitutional right to a different opinion, or even just a slip of the tongue can lead to public ostracism and the loss of a job.
....Gay marriage is a good example. Liberals wanted gay marriage to win in the Supreme Court, and it did. Leftists wanted more: to silence their opponents even after those opponents completely lost on the issue....I could reel off many other examples. When the New York Times tells the rubes that it’s time to hand in their guns, when The Washington Post suggests that Jesus is ashamed of them for not welcoming Syrian refugees the week after a terrorist attack, people react not because they love guns or hate Syrians, but because their natural urge to being told by coastal liberals that they’re awful people and that they should just obey and shut up is to issue a certain Anglo-Saxon verb and pronoun combination with all the vigor they can muster. And if they can’t say it themselves, they’ll find someone who will, even if it’s a crude jerk from Queens who can’t make a point without raising his pinky like a Mafia goon explaining the vig to you after you’ve had a bad day at the track.
....For the record, I despise Donald Trump and I will vote for almost any Republican (well, okay, not Ben Carson) rather than Trump....But I understand the fear of being silenced that’s prompting otherwise decent people to make common cause with racists and modern Know-Nothings, and I blame the American left for creating that fear.
....How long this will go on, then, depends on how long it will take for those people to feel reassured that someone besides Trump will represent their concerns without backing down in the face of catcalls about racism, sexism, LGBTQ-phobia, Islamophobia, or any other number of labels deployed mostly to extinguish their dissent.
This is hardly a new critique. Conservatives have been complaining about "being silenced" forever. The only difference between Trump and the rest of the GOP field is that Trump's complaints are a little earthier than Rubio's or Bush's.
Still, even if I think Nichols is overstating things, it's not as if he doesn't have a point. Even those of us on the left feel the wrath of the leftier-than-thou brigade from time to time. I don't generally have a hard time avoiding objectionable language myself because (a) I'm liberal, (b) I'm good with words, and (c) I write rather than talk, which gives me time to get my act together. But even at that, sometimes I cross an invisible line and get trounced for it.
But for someone without my advantages, I can easily see how it might feel almost impossible to express an unpopular opinion without tying yourself in knots. And let's be honest: we liberals do tend to yell racism a little more often than we should. And we do tend to suggest that anyone who like guns or Jesus is a rube. And the whole "privilege" thing sure does get tiresome sometimes. And we do get a little pedantic in our insistence that no conversation about anything is complete unless it specifically acknowledges the special problems of marginalized groups. It can be pretty suffocating at times.
For the most part, I don't mind this stuff—and conservatives do themselves no favors by harping on supposed PC idiocy like the "war on Christmas." But that's largely because I can navigate it reasonably well and I mostly agree with the aims of the PC police anyway. People who can't obviously feel a lot more constrained. So while I don't really buy Nichols' argument—conservatives built the monster named Trump, not liberals—I do think he has a germ of a point. Donald Trump is basically telling ordinary people that ordinary language is OK, and since that's the only language they know, it means they feel like they can finally talk again.
OK, fine, he's also a Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College.
Former Republican, anyway: "I’m a conservative independent and a former Republican. I quit the party in 2012 because of exactly the kind of coarse ignorance that Trump represents. The night Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary on the thoughtful platform of colonizing the moon, I was out."
I included that second sentence only because it tickled me.
Much of this I've learned from reading stuff by academics, who are the masters of acceptable language. As an example: if you were to call something "black behavior," you'd probably get mauled. The solution? Call it "behavior stereotypically coded as black." This accomplishes so many things at once. However, it's also phraseology that no ordinary person would ever think of. This means they literally have no acceptable way of expressing the original thought, which makes them feel silenced.
Yes
LOL
Apparently Nazi Pelosi gave Paul Ryno that BIG gavel with rubber stamps attached to the faces and a YUGE ink pad..
(Knee pads too, most likely)
Historically Republicans/Conservatives win when they run on issues, eg Contract with America, Obamacare. When they run on ad hominem they lose eg Monica, Obama. The left, and especially the media understand this.
Thus they see Trump as the ideal opponent as he is 100% ad hominem insults. They do not want Rand Paul or Ted Cruz to discuss the Constitution or the Fed, or Ex-Im Bank. They want a frat food fight.
Food fight makes for good TV, and good Talk Radio. It boosts the ratings for Rush,Hannity, etal. But what is good for Talk Radio is not necessarily good for winning elections.
Of course, winning requires a complete campaign of good issues, good candidate who stays on message (no Aiken, Walsh or Murdoch), good earned media, good ground game, etc.
It is a lot easier to get a good ground game with the style of Cruz than the style of Trump.
Idiot Savant.
Yeah ... liberal Republicans ...
“Five-time Jeopardy! champion Tom Nichols1 writes today about why so many people are attracted to Donald Trump. Nichols is a Republican, but makes it very clear that he deeply loathes Trump(”hideous,” “narcissistic,” “creepy,” “stupid,” etc.) and will never vote for him. So what’s his take on Trump’s popularity? Is it due to economic insecurity? Inchoate anger? Bubbling racism and xenophobia? Hatred of the Republican establishment? “
Snobs on the right, left and center that had their little narrative on what they think is best for us get screwed up.
“Liberals impose P.C. Communism on America”
You got it.
Anti-Constitutionalists looking to fundamentally transform America. For more than 100 years the Progressives of both major parties have been pushing it.
The article’s author also suggests that part of the problem is “language”. Sorry, that’s not quite accurate. The Lefts’s CONTROL of language is more the problem.
NewSpeak is upon us where words have fluid definitions depending on life-experience, world-view, race, gender, political connection and on and on . . .
The Donald cuts to the quick.
Build the wall
Deport the illegals
Bring jobs back home
Make America Great Again.
It’s gonna be YUUUUGE!
“The DNC, GOPe, RINO base, Wall Street, talking heads, government owned media” have completely lost it, they have become unhinged, they are a danger not only to America, but everyone around them....
We need immediate mental institutions for these crazed, hapless idiots, and that includes the President, House and Senate...
We need to immediately round them all up and lock them up and throw the keys away...
What an idiot. No, it’s not the Left. No, it’s not the Clintons. No, it’s not ET. The GOP bas was just tired of the GOPe and Trump is the antithesis of that. It’s that simple.
Idiot conspiracy theories, and anything like unto them, will be the death of us.
When pols get deep into the weeds ( Cruz does this a lot, as do others ), people's eyes glaze over.
Reagan didn't win the nomination, nor the general elections with details/getting into the weeds! He made people feel good, gave them REAL hope, and talked around the MSM to get his opinions out. Now WHO does THAT all sound like? :-)
the RINO’s surrendered because they never actually agreed with conservatives in the first place. They simply knew what we WANTED them to say and said it to get our votes.
It's easy to cave when caving gets you exactly what you wanted to begin with!
It's like a horny teenage boy running on a platform of abstinence... then caving after being elected and having sex.
And no other candidate has done this; only Trump, like Reagan,talks in simple, straight language and delivers a message that hits home.
BINGO!
Everyone agrees with Trump, they just don’t like the way he says what they agree with!
Basically... they think... yeah... Trump is right... BUT, does he have to be so MEAN about it?
ROFL
I disagree.
Republicans win when people feel unsafe.
I don't think they care too much about the cocktail parties.
It's the looting.
In the past, any time an elected Republican objected to some typically, crazy Dem spending bill, he would be called a racist and a child killer. The spineless Republican would then try to claim he wasn't a racist and he loved children.
The correct response would have been to call the name-calling Democrat a bunch of nasty words and question their breeding and intelligence. Trump is not afraid to fight back. Dirty if need be. That's why many people like him.
Sociology tells us certain societal conditions can conflate to produce pressure and stress, oftentimes resulting in the emergence of a “messiah.” So, seeing as to how leftists are responsible for the parasitical lifestyle of so many Americans, they do have a large hand in the emergence of Donald Trump. The rest could be placed, arguably, at the feet of an intransigent GOP content with going along to get along.
Yep, and don't forget the fact the GOP became the ones who only existed to slow down (façade) the progressive movement, not destroy them.
My support for Trump is to destroy the GOP establishment elitist traitor pos scum.
I'll vote for Cruz if need be, but my gut tells me he will be more of the same GOP crap we have suffered under for the last few elections....I'd be happy to be proved wrong though.
This thing needs a barf alert.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.