Posted on 04/28/2016 1:44:57 PM PDT by onyx
RUSH: So we had the Trump speech yesterday and there has been all kinds of reaction to the speech, predictable and some shocking, some surprising. We'll get into it today.
Trump used a phrase in this speech, and I'm gonna tell you, this is classic, folks. This little bit of information I'm gonna impart here to you is a great way to understand the dynamics of this race. Trump, in his speech, used a phrase "America first." Well, that phrase has a pedigree. That phrase is well attached to something very, very important and potentially very, very negative in American history.
It goes back to World War II, and it was used by those who didn't want to get anywhere near stopping the Nazis. "America first" was the rallying call of anti-war people, for the most part, who said, "The hell with it. We don't care. They're not affecting us. If they want to take over Europe, fine and dandy."
So here comes Trump using the phrase "America first." Well, the learned intellectuals in the foreign policy corridors of America needed the vapors. "Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God, does Trump even know? Oh, my God." They can't get over it. "Does he even know," they asked, "does he even know that 'America first' means support of the Nazis? Oh, my God! Oh, my God." And they started fainting and going on TV and acting like one of the greatest violations of foreign policy understanding and (gasping).
So the debate began, does Trump even know what he said? Does he even know what "America first" means in terms of its historical context in World War II? Or is he just out there using a phrase "America first" because he's appealing to a brain-dead bunch of voters, which is how the establishment looks at Trump supporters.
And it doesn't matter, because I'll tell you what's gonna happen. If the people who occupy the learned and elite foreign policy corridors go overboard on this "America first" business, it's not gonna separate Trump supporters from Trump. The intellectuals of the foreign policy corridors, the establishment, the clubs and the associations and the think tanks and the intellectual hangouts and the domains, if those people start harping on Trump, your average Trump supporter could say, "See? See? This is exactly the kind of nose-in-the-air arrogance that we want to get rid of."
The attempt to insinuate that Trump doesn't care about the Nazis, that's how they're gonna hear it and it's just gonna cement them even tighter to Trump. It's not going to make them think that Trump doesn't know what he's talking about, which would be the objective of people who bring up this "America first" business.
But the takeaway from Trump's speech yesterday, the only thing that matters, as far as Trump supporters are concerned -- and the rest of the people out there can analyze this, and they are. You have some people calling it incoherent and vacuous and empty and wandering in vain for search of a thought. There were people, pro-Trumpists, who said that it was the most important and timely substantive foreign policy speech since 1981. Of course the people that said that caused a massive reaction from the professionals in the foreign policy corridors of elitism.
But as usual there's just way too much analysis. People overanalyze this and apply their own biases, prejudices or whatever to what Trump is doing, and there's just really one takeaway. If you want to know whether or not Trump's speech yesterday was a hit with the voters that he has energized, all you have to know is Trump said the following: We will no longer surrender this country or its people to the false song of globalism. That's it. Everything before and after is irrelevant. That line made the speech one of the greatest ever.
That line, as far as Trump supporters are concerned, was all they needed to hear. That was awesome. That was right on the money. We're gonna take it to 'em. We're not gonna play second fiddle anymore. We're not gonna sell American interests out. We're gonna put America first. We're gonna get rid of the globalists. And I guarantee you that's all they needed to hear.
Now, other people are gonna analyze it much deeper and so forth, and have. We could spend some time -- I mean, sometimes it's fun to analyze the analysis, because there's so many people pulling their hair out today. They're just hoping and praying that every time Trump shows up and makes what is billed as a serious speech, they want him falling flat. And they want everybody to realize that he's fallen flat. And they want everybody to realize that Trump doesn't know what he's talking about, 'cause that's what they think.
And when that doesn't happen, they panic. And then they go overboard trying to convince people, "You're wrong! Trump's not this great guy! He doesn't know what he's talking about! He's gonna put the country at great risk." People don't want to hear it, don't believe it, they think Trump's the only guy who does get it, in terms of understanding America's enemies, America's opponents, what we're up against, and how we have to deal with it.
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I like Rush. I didn’t think he called Trump a Nazi (rolling eyes). I liked Trump’s speech - sounds like he loves this country and wants things back on track. Go Rush. Go Trump.
Bears repeating..so many are NOT " listening" to Rush.
The idea that these people were isolationists was & remains the great lie of the foreign policy debate, basically traceable back to the embittered Wilsonians, who lost the debate--were thoroughly whipped in the debate--over the League of Nations.
When Hitler declared war on America in December, 1941, those on the Left used the fact that we were indeed forced into the war in Europe, to smear Conservatives for having opposed what then seemed to have been inevitable, by the line of attack that your comment implies. As always, "hind sight" is brilliant. That is a complete non-sequitur, however, for whether there can ever be an excuse for an American Government, not to put America first.
America first is the sworn duty of any Federal Office holder; the sworn duty of any new citizen; the sworn duty of each and every person who swears to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
As it turned out, getting ready for war--something Trump urges today, as the best way not to have to fight a war--is to put America first. That, frankly was also the case in the 1920s & 1930s. Consider this speech by the first Senator to openly oppose Wilson's League, ten years later: Reed On The "Voices Of The World".
My Semester long term paper in my Major, my Senior Year at Oberlin in 1956, was on the great League of Nations Debate, and I suspect that I am more familiar with both the issues and ramifications of that Debate, and the fall out, afterward from the trounced Wilsonians, than Rush.
There’s a difference between putting Americans’ interests first and putting America first when it’s not necessary, or shortsighted. Your comments are appreciated.
Agree 100%, presuming you are referring to the America First Committee of 1940-41. Sorry that you misconstrued the meaning of my post.
The point I was trying to make is that Trump may have been better off using some alternate phrase with similar meaning, just to avoid meaningless attacks from the left based on the left's misunderstanding of what the America First Committee really was.
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