As late as this morning on the talk shows, presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican Party — the party of Lincoln — Donald Trump, had still NOT disavowed David Duke, past Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
Every true American — regardless of their politics — should denounce racism and the hateful racists who practice it.
Fred Rich LaRiccia
Please share widely!
He’s just not savvy enough on defense, and he better get ready because they are loading those questions and preparing to shoot.
Reminds me of when Ross Perot ran, and when asked a question about something in the past, he would say “no” or “never” and then they’d pop up where he actually had said or done something. The correct answer is “I don’t recall” and that gives you an out.
He knows the Republican Party better than the Republicans. They don’t care about upholding the Federalist Society or Heritage Foundation scorecards. They don’t care about free markets, constitutional conservatism, or limited government. They want to be taken care of, they want government to act on their behalf and get them good jobs at good wages. Trump saw a massive untapped market of culturally resentful voters, the kind Tom Frank has been arguing about for years, and played to their economic as well as their cultural anxieties and he won. Voc has a good piece on these voters. They are statist authoritarians who want a strong man to take care of them.
The conservative movement failed to realize this bloc of voters doesn’t care about liberty while progressives long ago forgot how to talk to working people without dismissing them. These bloc was ripe for the picking and is 40% of the country, maybe more than that if we count voters we didn’t even know about.
I’m on board with your conclusions.
I don’t know about statist authoritarian seekers, but it’s a possibility.