What explains Donald Trump and his massive popularity among voters which includes your basic Republican, your squishy Republican, Conservatives, moderates, independents, and even some middle of the road Democrats? How is it that Trump can have such great support among Republicans, especially Conservatives, when he has now and had in the past many Democrat positions? How is it that the support not only doesn’t waiver, but grows stronger even after attacks on him and his gaffes? Peggy Noonan thinks she has the answer
Trump and the Rise of the Unprotected
Why political professionals are struggling to make sense of the world they created.…..
But I keep thinking of how Donald Trump got to be the very likely Republican nominee. There are many answers and reasons, but my thoughts keep revolving around the idea of protection. It is a theme that has been something of a preoccupation in this space over the years, but I think I am seeing it now grow into an overall political dynamic throughout the West.
There are the protected and the unprotected. The protected make public policy. The unprotected live in it. The unprotected are starting to push back, powerfully.
The protected are the accomplished, the secure, the successful—those who have power or access to it. They are protected from much of the roughness of the world. More to the point, they are protected from the world they have created. Again, they make public policy and have for some time.
That does make some rather good sense, does it not? For all his faults, and money, Donald Trump has tapped into that feeling and made himself the leader of the unprotected. It’s more than just Establishment Vs. Outsider. For those old enough, remember Bill Clinton saying that he felt our pain. It felt legitimate. Regardless of Bernie Sander’s political leanings, I like the guy because he seems real, not manufactured. He’s a cranky old man, and means what he says, says what he means. If he tells you to get off his lawn, it hasn’t been focus grouped to death. Trump comes across as real, as a real person, not a carefully groomed politician.
One issue obviously roiling the U.S. and Western Europe is immigration. It is the issue of the moment, a real and concrete one but also a symbolic one: It stands for all the distance between governments and their citizens.
It is of course the issue that made Donald Trump. (snip)
If you are an unprotected American—one with limited resources and negligible access to power—you have absorbed some lessons from the past 20 years’ experience of illegal immigration. You know the Democrats won’t protect you and the Republicans won’t help you. Both parties refused to control the border. The Republicans were afraid of being called illiberal, racist, of losing a demographic for a generation. The Democrats wanted to keep the issue alive to use it as a wedge against the Republicans and to establish themselves as owners of the Hispanic vote.
Many will call it fear of immigrants, both legal and illegal. Well, yes. When wages are deflated, when we don’t know who’s coming across the border, when they take our jobs (see Disney requiring workers to train their foreign replacements), when they not only refuse to assimilate, but demand that America changes for them, when they won’t speak the language, when they demand that the Southwest be given back to Mexico, when they complain that Americans wear an American flag shirt, when they bring values that are incompatible with American society, etc, and the Protected do nothing, people are fearful. And angry. And Trump rises.
Make sure to read the entire article by Ms. Noonan.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
Can’t read it. Behind the WSJ paywall.
Trump University:
Step 1: Have your dad give you millions and hand over a company for you to run.
Step 2: When you go bankrupt not once, not twice, but four times, borrow at least $30 million from your family.
Step 3: Make certain your family has at least $30 million to give away.
Step 4: Learn the bankruptcy laws inside and out so you can take advantage of your
suckersinvestors, contractors, workers.Step 5: Save money by hiring illegal aliens and recruiting foreigners so you won’t have to pay American workers.
When the going gets tough, Donald Trump declares bankruptcy.
In all seriousness, the saddest thing of all is the despair shown by the American voter, that they would consider Donald Trump a serious candidate.
As a liberal, I prefer The Donald to be the Republican nominee, which will assure the Dems of victory, and probably drag a Senator or two with
herthe next President.I have come to have respect for Trump. At first, I thought he was a clown as the media tried to portray. Now, I find that he is at least saying the things that people talk about and are concerned with and are totally ignored by the political elite. The crap about protected and unprotected is just that. The people in the US are sick to death of the government taking over there lives and managing them is a horrible manner. I went to Europe this Christmas and was surprised at how they have the freedom to actually express their joy over the season. It was something that you can’t see here. If you look around, we don’t really have much freedom. Other countries are not near as intrusive into the lives of their citizens as our great government. To me, Trump is the beginning of a revolution. Some people commenting seemed concerned about Trumps morals and previous associations with the liberals, big deal. Our current leaders are about as morally corrupt as it gets and as to his liberal leanings, it can’t get much worse than any of the Republican hopefuls or most certainly fat old Hillary. So, if he does what he says, great. If he doesn’t, we tried and will try again or wait for the real revolution.
[…] of Americans into believing that he is the one who will Make America Great Again. He is the one who will protect them from the lousy politicians who who have made such a mess of everything. He is also the one who set […]
David, I have no idea what you are talking about when it comes to “free speech” in Europe. The EU and member states have taken the lead on “hurtful and offensive speech.” (As an example, two members of Parliament are seeking to ban the Washington Redskins from playing a football game in the UK because the name is “racially insensitive.” A couple of years ago, a cafe owner was prosecuted for having playing a video on the Bible inside his establishment because it “offended” someone. I could go on and on.)
You are woefully ignorant or blind to speech in the EU.
Trump has a history of trying to use his money to suppress truthful ideas about him.
Walter Olson over on Overlawyered.com has a partial roundup of Trump using his money to punish those who disagree with him. (Olson links everything, but since the links here would be blocked for going over the “links within post” limit within the blogging software, I can’t post the links within the post.)
Olson’s post begins with:
Trump wants to eviscerate the First Amendment. He sued some biographer for allegedly misstating Trumps wealth. The author didn’t misstate anything and Trump lost the case in court – a case that never should have been filed to begin with.
(To show how ridiculous Trump is, look at the National Review article to see Trump’s statements in the deposition on the case. Also se how the appeal courts beat on him for being a liar.)
Trump has also vowed revenge on Amazon and the owners of the Cubs for daring to support other candidates. He sued over an architectural review of the design of one of his buildings. He sued cities for having height restrictions on flag poles.
And remember his statement that the majority of lawsuits over Trump University have been dismissed? That’s a lie as well:
Trump is no friend of anyone other than Trump.
At first, I thought having Trump around was a good thing because he brought the anger of much of the nation on issues and the corruption in Washington and made people talk about it. That’s was good thing. But Trump himself is corrupt and without principles. His actions in debates show that he cannot stand being told he is wrong (which he often is.)
Trump is just as much of a threat to liberty and freedoms outlined in the Constitution as Hillary and Bernie. He is not the solution to the problem, Trump (and people like him) ARE the problem.