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Trump in Late June
Jun. 20th, 2016 07:09 pm “I am not a member of any organized political party — I’m a Democrat.”
-- Will Rogers
Paul Krugman invoked this old classic quotation in his column, in which he is speaking pretty boldly about the folding of the Republican Party, and thus celebrating the richness and diversity of the Democratic Party.
There was some concern, after Trump has arguably locked up the Republican nomination, that the terrorist attack in Orlando might boost Trump's poll numbers for the general election, that more mainstream Americans might buy into the Trump act that caused Republican primary-voters to swoon, as people might buy into the idea that he is Mr. Strong Man with his eye and fist on the problem, as he blows on his anti-Muslim trumpet, with the dark implicit idea that to make America great again you must make America white again. However, that does not seem to be happening. Trump's numbers are slipping against Hillary.
Accordingly, Krugman is giving expression to some relief and delight at the prospect of seeing the Grand Old Party cave in on this election: what might have been catnip for the Republican base really will prove to be dog shit to mainstream Americans in the general election in November. Krugman even likens it to the implosion of Soviet communism in the 1990s when the Berlin Wall came crumbling down. Republicans have been selling snake oil (Wall Street, trickle-down policies), with a pleasing dab of Jesus and some racist dog-whistles, to win over working class whites for too long, and now Trump has come along and played that game better, making his racism more overt and thus his candidacy more appealing to that same white working-class. I imagine that a lot of Democrats were hoping, when Trump's political fortunes soared in the primaries, that he might win the Republican nomination only to go on and get soundly whipped in the general election as he puts on his act for the country at large, but I know that I, for one, feared the possibility that America's racism ran quite deep and might serve to carry Trump to the White House itself, as America takes a very dark turn back to its pre-Civil Rights days.
Of course, it is still too early to see which story plays out and what Trump's fortunes will be. Indeed, the Parties still haven't even had their nominating conventions yet, and there is even a renewal of talk in Republican circles to short-circuit Trump's nomination after all, so that it is not entirely inconceivable that he will not even wind up being the nominee. So, for Democrats there is reason to be hopeful, but, unlike Krugman, one can still feel nervous, too. Trump's poll numbers have slipped, but his candidacy has not become an empty joke yet. We have a long hot summer in front of us, and you only have to fool most of the people once.
-- Will Rogers
Paul Krugman invoked this old classic quotation in his column, in which he is speaking pretty boldly about the folding of the Republican Party, and thus celebrating the richness and diversity of the Democratic Party.
There was some concern, after Trump has arguably locked up the Republican nomination, that the terrorist attack in Orlando might boost Trump's poll numbers for the general election, that more mainstream Americans might buy into the Trump act that caused Republican primary-voters to swoon, as people might buy into the idea that he is Mr. Strong Man with his eye and fist on the problem, as he blows on his anti-Muslim trumpet, with the dark implicit idea that to make America great again you must make America white again. However, that does not seem to be happening. Trump's numbers are slipping against Hillary.
Accordingly, Krugman is giving expression to some relief and delight at the prospect of seeing the Grand Old Party cave in on this election: what might have been catnip for the Republican base really will prove to be dog shit to mainstream Americans in the general election in November. Krugman even likens it to the implosion of Soviet communism in the 1990s when the Berlin Wall came crumbling down. Republicans have been selling snake oil (Wall Street, trickle-down policies), with a pleasing dab of Jesus and some racist dog-whistles, to win over working class whites for too long, and now Trump has come along and played that game better, making his racism more overt and thus his candidacy more appealing to that same white working-class. I imagine that a lot of Democrats were hoping, when Trump's political fortunes soared in the primaries, that he might win the Republican nomination only to go on and get soundly whipped in the general election as he puts on his act for the country at large, but I know that I, for one, feared the possibility that America's racism ran quite deep and might serve to carry Trump to the White House itself, as America takes a very dark turn back to its pre-Civil Rights days.
Of course, it is still too early to see which story plays out and what Trump's fortunes will be. Indeed, the Parties still haven't even had their nominating conventions yet, and there is even a renewal of talk in Republican circles to short-circuit Trump's nomination after all, so that it is not entirely inconceivable that he will not even wind up being the nominee. So, for Democrats there is reason to be hopeful, but, unlike Krugman, one can still feel nervous, too. Trump's poll numbers have slipped, but his candidacy has not become an empty joke yet. We have a long hot summer in front of us, and you only have to fool most of the people once.
