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Sean BrodyHamilton Nolan
3/23/16 1:37pm
the right reviles him in large part because they find him to be insufficiently conservative and a distasteful, crude face of the Republican Party.

The revulsion for his supporters can be quite striking in its candor
The National Review on their own white, working class Republican voters
Spoiler alert - they’re human garbage

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/432876…

(emphasis mine)

It is immoral because it perpetuates a lie: that the white working class that finds itself attracted to Trump has been victimized by outside forces. It hasn’t. The white middle class may like the idea of Trump as a giant pulsing humanoid middle finger held up in the face of the Cathedral, they may sing hymns to Trump the destroyer and whisper darkly about “globalists” and — odious, stupid term — “the Establishment,” but nobody did this to them. They failed themselves.

If you spend time in hardscrabble, white upstate New York, or eastern Kentucky, or my own native West Texas, and you take an honest look at the welfare dependency, the drug and alcohol addiction, the family anarchy — which is to say, the whelping of human children with all the respect and wisdom of a stray dog — you will come to an awful realization. It wasn’t Beijing. It wasn’t even Washington, as bad as Washington can be. It wasn’t immigrants from Mexico, excessive and problematic as our current immigration levels are. It wasn’t any of that.

Nothing happened to them. There wasn’t some awful disaster. There wasn’t a war or a famine or a plague or a foreign occupation. Even the economic changes of the past few decades do very little to explain the dysfunction and negligence — and the incomprehensible malice — of poor white America. So the gypsum business in Garbutt ain’t what it used to be. There is more to life in the 21st century than wallboard and cheap sentimentality about how the Man closed the factories down.

The truth about these dysfunctional, downscale communities is that they deserve to die. Economically, they are negative assets. Morally, they are indefensible. Forget all your cheap theatrical Bruce Springsteen crap. Forget your sanctimony about struggling Rust Belt factory towns and your conspiracy theories about the wily Orientals stealing our jobs. Forget your goddamned gypsum, and, if he has a problem with that, forget Ed Burke, too. The white American underclass is in thrall to a vicious, selfish culture whose main products are misery and used heroin needles. Donald Trump’s speeches make them feel good. So does OxyContin. What they need isn’t analgesics, literal or political. They need real opportunity, which means that they need real change, which means that they need U-Haul.
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  The Noble RenardSean Brody
  3/23/16 1:40pm
  which is to say, the whelping of human children with all the respect and wisdom of a stray dog
  
  That quote is so much of an incredible throwback to the idea of ‘white trash’ a real problem from the Western elites. It’s like how H.P. Lovecraft wrote an entire story about the Appalachians essentially implying that the trash whites were literally inbred monsters.
  
  Real, old-school bigotry.
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  Sean BrodyThe Noble Renard
  3/23/16 1:41pm
  I hate the sentiment, but I love that Trump has flushed these closet bigots out into the open now that the useful fools at the bottom of the heap have rebelled
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Cam/ronHamilton Nolan
3/23/16 1:32pm
Cruz frightens me a lot more than Trump. The Donald is ideologically all over the place and he has a history of changing his positions whenever it suited him. In contrast, Cruz is a staunch paleoconservative on a Mission from God. He specifically wants to shut down the IRS and a slew of federal agencies and push an agenda that’s Reaganism on steroids.
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  Hello_Madam_PresidentCam/ron
  3/23/16 1:36pm
  I totally agree with you, except that I think the symbolism of electing Trump - an unapologetic, outspoken racist supported by the KKK (rather than a squishy secretly racist “traditional values” candidate) will speak volumes and is worth a lot, both on the world stage and among communities of color at home.
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  ImjustacavemanCam/ron
  3/23/16 1:40pm
  Republican voters will hold their nose and vote for trump because Hillary, just as Bernie voters will do the same for Hillary because trump.
  
  Stalemate.
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IAMBlastedBiggsLostBurnerHamilton Nolan
3/23/16 1:42pm
While I get the comparison, I still see him as an expression of pure, unadulterated American Id. The momentum he built that brought him to the front-running position was based on 'he says what he thinks, by gawd!', which loosely translated as 'he says what he wants and gets away with it! Finally, we can do it without having to worry about being ostracized or mocked!'. His supporters are the types who have had to whisper their disdain for The Others, or who had to speak in bizarre codes made out of cognitive gymnastics. Oh, but no longer! The loud, abrasive brashness built out of some warped sense of American pride has continued unabated, which has pushed the envelope to now include physical threats and violence, and has led to an aggressive 'get in line or else' mentality. It's the expression of the id, pure and simple.
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  IanIAMBlastedBiggsLostBurner
  3/23/16 2:03pm
  “He says what he thinks, bah gawd!!”
  
  This. I can’t get over how his batshit supporters act like he’s the first person in the history of the world to do this.
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  IAMBlastedBiggsLostBurnerIan
  3/23/16 2:11pm
  Or how it makes him somehow some fucking expert who should be entrusted to the office. I can walk outside right now and find 14 out of the first 15 people I talk to who are more than willing to say what they think, and I'll bet good money that nobody would trust them with anything more dangerous than a pencil eraser.
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theUnBetrothedHamilton Nolan
3/23/16 1:33pm
“...The House and the Senate fell into line. Political pundits fell into line. The entire government fell into line....folly could be seen clearly before it happen ... falling into line was the easier ... required no courage ... It was an act of going along with the crowd for the sake of political expediency. And most of our leading lights went along like good little soldiers.”

Hamilton - ironically by writing this (as many now do) you’ve been a good little soldier yourself and taken the easy path of very one dimensional, “go with the flow because it’s popular” journalism.

Of course in 2001, 2002 you had all the answers, you knew everything. There was no other possible reason (or indeed benefit) of the way the congress, the senate acted even despite the folly the war turned out to be...one that is now never possible again (but which one dimensional thinking prevents you from even recognizing).

After all, it was soooo easy wasn’t it.

Makes one wonder though, since you and others that write things like this know everything in advance - why didn’t you care to warn folks yesterday about the imminent bombing and who was going to do it? Or about France? Surely those follies could have been avoided had you only spoken up as you do so boldly now about the middle east circa 2001.
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  cepalgtheUnBetrothed
  3/23/16 1:45pm
  The largest protests in American History occurred.
  
  Everyone in the international community recognized it was half-baked stupidity.
  
  Most of the people within the government recognized it as half-baked stupidity.
  
  People were tested.
  
  And like you, they were found wanting.
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  DolemitetheUnBetrothed
  3/23/16 1:48pm
  I do recall public opinion was for the war at the time, and I was completely against it. Not enough investigation was being done, the evidence was shoddy, the reasoning was faulty. There was no reason to rush into anything, yet someone had to pay, so let’s go bomb ‘ol Saddam so everyone feels powerful and good about America again. I just thought they would have done a better job of covering up their mistakes and faulty information...maybe planted some evidence here and there.
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The Noble RenardHamilton Nolan
3/23/16 1:32pm
New Quinnipiac poll shows 54% of Americans “would not vote” for Trump, compared to 43% for Clinton. Thankfully, unlike the Iraq War, I don’t think it’s going to come to pass.

The last couple months, while kind to Trump in the Republican nominations, have not been kind to Trump in the national viewpoint:

The last two months have also been pretty bad for Trump’s favorabilities.

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  logophobe's pointless patrolThe Noble Renard
  3/23/16 1:35pm
  It’s somewhat horrible (and an indication of increasing partisanship blah blah) that both those numbers are so high.
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  The Noble Renardlogophobe's pointless patrol
  3/23/16 1:38pm
  For what it’s worth, Sanders only leads by 53% compared to Hillary’s 50%, with Trump at almost exactly the same amount, 40%.
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ThrumbolioHamilton Nolan
3/23/16 1:38pm
Seems that “Anyone but Trump/Cruz” is more of a thing, so there’s that.

And yeah, Trump is a buffoon, possibly a dangerous one. Cruz, though? Pure, concentrated scumfuckery with a hard-on for the Old Testament.
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  IanThrumbolio
  3/23/16 2:07pm
  Just like Kasich, Cruz comes across as more “quiet”...but as the more intelligent of us know, in a more snake-like manner. It’s aggravating.
  
  I think that’s what troubling for me. What I think Trump is doing is providing this living example of what the GOP *could* be if you let it go too far. So, people on the left, or independents, myself included, see that and say, “oh, I hope you guys elect Kasich, I could stomach him more than Trump”. But the reality is, when you lay out all of these assholes’ plans, they are generally the same. It’s just the way they’re presented. Want the loud blowhard who says fuck it all?!?! Go with Trump! Want the snakey motherfucker from Texas who speaks like Patrick Bateman from “American Psycho”...but isn’t as loud as that Trump guy? Go with Ted Cruz! And so on and so forth.
  
  I just hope people catch on and understand that, no, none of them are even slightly digestible. They are all assholes, all off of the same clown car. They just sit in different places inside it.
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  ThrumbolioIan
  3/23/16 3:05pm
  If the GOP ever wants my vote, they’ll jettison the fundamentalists and indicate that they actually value intelligence. I don’t see either happening.
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BrianGriffinHamilton Nolan
3/23/16 1:50pm
I feel that there needs to be more of an examination on Trump the CEO, Trump the actor, Trump the salesman...

This is a man who has done (perhaps literally) anything to get ahead and be a success. He has tapped in to a rhetoric that has moved a portion of the population never moved before - I think that his success in the political arena is surprising even to him (thus the ever increasing game of “what can I get away with today...?”). I do not believe that Trump the person believes even 10% of what he is saying; he’s playing to the audience.

The end result is that electing Trump the person may not be a bad thing, so long as you believe that he does not believe what he is saying right now. Rally Trump is Trump the actor, the salesman, the fist shaking and back slapping CEO. It’s an act - one that will change based upon what at the time would be most successful for Trump the individual. Let’s hope, if elected, what is best for Trump the individual is best for the country.

Still better choice than Cruz.
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  IanBrianGriffin
  3/23/16 2:06pm
  Great assessment. This is why Gawker can’t go away. I would miss the eloquent explanations I get in the comments.
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  BrianGriffinIan
  3/23/16 2:15pm
  Thanks, Brother
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kamla deviHamilton Nolan
3/23/16 1:44pm
The thing that scares me about Trump’s base are the fact that the majority of signs I have seen supporting him are home-made. I live and work in a poor, Republican, southern state, and in my travels I have seen an alarming number of home-made signs for Trump. Sometimes they are simple with only the five dismal letters emblazoned at the entrance of their property. Sometimes they are poorly scripted pleas for more greatness and freedom under Trump. At any rate, these people did not just click a few buttons, order a sign, and stick it in their yard.

What will these sign-makers do in the event of a brokered convention, or if the GOP simply says no? It’s so much misplaced anger, it’s not just going to disappear because John Kasich (or Mitt Romney, or whoever) says so.
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  KomradKickasskamla devi
  3/23/16 1:49pm
  They go back to being angry in “private”. It’s a group of people why have seemingly hated politicians in recent years on both sides of the isle, and just want Trump to burn it all down. They were like this before, and they can go back to being that way again.
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  Rev Les Crowleykamla devi
  3/23/16 2:35pm
  Honestly, maybe it needs to explode. There’s an obvious downside to political polarization, but both sides have exploited it. The Goldwater-ites did it in the GOP; Liberals purged Blue Dogs.
  
  Things won’t get better until we realize the price paid for that.
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Cristobal JuntaHamilton Nolan
3/23/16 1:44pm
If you make the cowardly choice, history will not forget.

History may not forget, but who reads history these days? Henry Kissinger is a bona fide war criminal and in 2016 the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination proudly mentions how much she values his input. If there’s a single constant in American politics, it’s that the elites are allowed to fail as often and as spectacularly as they like without being accountable for it in the slightest.
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  TrumptyDumptyCristobal Junta
  3/23/16 1:53pm
  Good point. I’ve officially become tired of the phrase “Hindsight is 20/20.” The history’s right in front of our faces and yet we still choose to repeat similar mistakes. The right and some on the left are out and out denying truths of the past and the people fall in line. Are our short memories or greed for self that make hindsight about as valid as foresight?
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  Cristobal JuntaTrumptyDumpty
  3/23/16 2:11pm
  Some of it is malice, but a lot of it is incompetence. I used to work in cognitive science, and one of the things I’ve learned doing that is that people are terrible at reasoning. Not even any specific kind of reasoning, just when things get complicated, people just fall to pieces. It takes a tremendous amount of self-discipline to avoid relapsing into the easiest available heuristics, and even people who have that discipline will do it over and over again. Really sitting down and thinking a problem through, in a way that potentially challenges your previous convictions and sense of “who you are” is so difficult that hardly anyone bothers with it.
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ReburnsABurningReturnsHamilton Nolan
3/23/16 2:35pm
As a practical matter though Hamilton, history does need to forget if the country is ever to be allowed to move forward.

Writing off people who make a dumb choice that lots of other people make that costs society lots simply doesn’t work.

Imagine if, say, Martin Luther King Jr had said he would never work with a politician who came from a state, for discussion’s sake we’ll say ... Texas ... where Jim Crow laws existed if that politician had not lobbied their entire political career to get them repealed.

Imagine if women like Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns had made a similar statement with regards to the politicians they worked with on women’s suffrage.

History would look very different if people were unable to accept that other people make mistakes and still be willing to work with them.

That doesn’t mean that MLK Jr. and LBJ are best buds in the afterlife or whatever, but they found common ground and MLK Jr. spent precisely noenergy excoriating LBJ for not having been (and in truth for not being at the time he helped him) a true believer in the cause. Once he determined LBJ was amenable to working together, they got down to brass tacks and got some shit done, imperfect as it was.
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