Posted on 12/19/2018 9:19:53 PM PST by Signalman
Remember the old saw about the salesman who loses money on every sale but thinks he can make up the shortfall by selling in volume?
That's what comes to mind every time I hear people say that President Trump is being shrewd by pandering to his base.
Consider last week's remarkable Oval Office meeting between Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Trump. (There is photo evidence, but no audio, to suggest that Vice President Mike Pence was also in the room.) What was supposed to be a brief photo-op turned into a dramatic confrontation when the president invited television cameras to stay for the conversation.
As always happens after one of these political reality-show spectacles, the chattering classes set out to score the bout. According to conventional rules, Pelosi and Schumer came out the winners. They got Trump to admit that if there's a government shutdown over border wall funding, it will be all his doing. (Just before the meeting, congressional Republicans were pre-spinning a "Schumer shutdown.") Pelosi solidified her claim to the House leadership while Trump made future bipartisan deals with the Democrats -- something he reportedly wants -- less likely.
According to The Los Angeles Times' Eli Stokols, even Trump realized he was taken when it was over: He "stormed out" of the meeting and threw a folder of briefing papers across the room.
Yet there was a loud contrarian analysis that said Trump came out a winner. Why? Because his base loves this stuff.
"If you are a supporter of the president's policies," wrote the Daily Beast's Matt Lewis (no Trump booster himself), "this was an especially welcome display -- a rare example of a president publicly fighting for his policy goal: a border wall."
Across Fox News opinion shows and right-wing talk radio, the view that Trump won was nearly unanimous.
Even Yahoo News' Matt Bai, a decidedly left-leaning observer, excoriated liberals for not understanding that "Trump knows that every time he flouts the staid convention of the office, every time he does the thing that seems inappropriate among the political set, he's winning with the chunk of the electorate he still has."
Sure. The problem is that chunk is not a majority.
Bai's larger observation -- that Trump is so embattled he can't afford to lose his hard-core supporters -- is a good one in the context of gaming out how Trump can survive impeachment. When looking at what advances this administration's agenda or is good for the Republican Party, however, "his base loves it" doesn't score any points.
Worse, it's self-fulfilling prophecy. As he sheds the mostly suburban voters who gave him his margin of victory in 2016, of course he clings more tightly to those who celebrate the behaviors that are bleeding the GOP of support. They're the only ones left. Proclaiming that "his base loves it" may be an explanation, but it's no excuse. And it misses the point if you care about the GOP's long-term viability or even Trump's re-election prospects. He's going to need more voters than his amen chorus
As a conservative, I opine that one may always speak the truth.
If he would pander a little more to his base, he might even be able to actually save the nation.
President Trump threw the Democrats a bone. While they are occupied with their table scrap, Trump is going to get what he wants. Hint: Why do you think he is pulling troops out of Syria?
Jonah, how about removing yourself from the swamp and getting to know and understand the people who make the country work? Try to understand that we still value freedom and genuinely do not like the poverty, crime, and drug abuse that are coming through the unsecured border? Does it occur to you that the destruction of the country will eventually affect you? What will you do when the socialists take over and destroy the productive base of the country? Those of us you like to think of as Trump’s ignorant base who are looking ahead to global socialism are not engaging in paranoid fantasies: there is ample historical evidence of the massive death and misery caused by socialists whenever they get into power. We don’t want it.
Is Jonah still living in his Mommy’s basement?
His base, many independents, and a large assembly of "Anybody but Hillary" voters.
He'll still have his base in 2020, even if they're pissed over no wall. If his base is all he keeps, he loses.
I feel for Lucianne
Parents across the nation have one or more children who hate Trump, even or in spite of their parents are supportive of him
But Lucianne has to take this publicly from her only child!
Sad
Figures. Jonah Goldberg is the ultimate Cuck.
Jonah is just another ‘never Trumper’ like Bill Kristol and Stephen Hayes. Every time I’ve seen him on a panel on TV he is ‘spinning’ everything toward bashing Trump.
Gee pandering to the base used to mean listening to your constituents.
Jonah is nothing but a butt boy for Schmuck Schumer and the democRATS. Ignore the bastard.
He'll lose only if people like Jonah here convinces a large portion of GOP voters that Trump is a reprobate deserving to lose. Or that Thump, not people like himself, are responsible for not reforming immigration or draining the swamp.
That's what Jonah keeps hoping to do, suck away as many Trump supporters as possible. That's his entire purpose in life. He's a very sick human being.
And to think he used to be conservative and a FReeper (along with his mother).
When you don’t like someone, he is “pandering to his base.” When you like him, he is “doing what he was elected to do.”
By undermining Donald Trump Judas Goldberg is aiding and abetting the Democrat Socialists and Marxists.
I’ve always maintained that it isn’t Donald Trump that establishment talking heads (like Jonah Goldberg) hate, but rather Trump’s base of supporters. Goldberg and Kristol detest us “deplorables” every bit as much as Hillary Clinton does. The point of Goldberg’s op-ed is “stop keeping campaign promises to those repulsive deplorables, Donald, and get on board with us and our agenda for America!” Unfortunately, with many of Trump’s cabinet appointments, this mindset does seem to prevail at times.
Jonah who now? Go away NeverTrump ass hole.
He’s making a name for himself, but Jonah’s continual screeching rant against Trump makes visiting NRO a pain.
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