Posted on 12/30/2018 8:31:25 PM PST by OddLane
It never ceases to amaze me how the populist Right, or what speaks in its name, overestimates its strength both here and in Western Europe. One needn’t be an enemy of these activists to recognize the exaggerated nature of their claims.
Those in the media who now demand a border wall insist that the “people” want this goal achieved immediately if not sooner. In fact, according to Ann Coulter, Trump “scammed the American people” by not giving them the wall they’re clamoring for. But according a nationwide poll by The Hill, 51 percent of American voters oppose Trump’s project, while only 49 percent endorse it. Other poll results indicate even more widespread resistance to Trump’s border wall. Meanwhile, as many as 80 percent of those polled wish to legalize DACA residents, and presumably they aren’t making their stand contingent on building the wall, as Trump is.
Equally misleading is the happy talk coming from French and German populists who seem to believe they can give the “people” a real voice by holding referenda. One devotee of the Rassemblement National (the new name for France’s Front National) wishes to follow Switzerland and Croatia, which hold referenda on important political and economic questions. The problem with referenda is that they’re not much of a check on regular party politics...
(Excerpt) Read more at theamericanconservative.com ...
I believe his assessment is correct: true conservatives and far right conservatism are not as popular as we would hope.
You can spend hours watching YouTube videos limited to right of center content and think that the right is winning. However, for every hour of conservative content there are thousands of hours of music, cat, reaction, car crash, fail, fashion tip, etc. videos.
For every hour of conservative radio there are hundreds of hours of liberal TV.
For every successful conservative meme there are dozens of full length liberal propaganda movies.
For every conservative politician there are dozens of leftist, liberal, centrist, and faux conservative "representatives".
We are definitely in the minority and need to understand that in order to succeed in the culture wars.
Educate yourself.
You forgot to say he used a fake poll and therefore his statements are fake.
Gottfried is an ordinary human being with an opinion. So am I, and I disagree with him.
I've learned all I want to know about the guy.
Trump won the election, period. But Hillabitch claimed the popular vote even though that was illegals voting illegally.
Trump’s approval ratings are lower than expected for one reason: people lie to pollsters out of fear. No one wants to be doxxed or their property vandalized.
Just like pollsters claiming that three percent of gun owners own 90 percent of the guns: people lie to pollsters who demand to know if they own guns and if so how many. But pollsters also want Dems in Congress to believe that voting for confiscation will have no consequences. Just the way minorities were treated in Nazi Germany, yeah I said it.
It’s war, folks.
Not everyone at FR agrees. We are not helpless.Bottom line is FR is just a message board. But with decades without legal backing like the libs have, we’re kinda on our own.
“What difference does it make?” Hillary Clinton.
It makes a hell of a difference.
I wonder what’s true about all that? Was it stolen or did we lose?
Voter fraud is a huge issue but nothing has been done about it so does any politician really care?
Did we lose the House? I think we did regardless of the logistics.
None that I’ve seen.
Your comments on this thread are all I need to understand the depth of your thinking. Wading pools come to mind.
Well said and thank you for saying it.
But what happens to his “scholarship,” his “conservatism” or his “greatness” when he pushes a fake poll?
All seem to vanish.
Fallen to personal insults already? Tsk tsk.
You lose.
Paul Gottfried, a libertarian Leftist, relies on the political theory of authoritarian and Nazi politics philosopher Carl Schmitt to make his case against Trump’s popularity. (The libertarian icon Friedrich Hayek was an apostle of Carl Schmitt see: “The Unholy Alliance of Carl Schmitt and Friedrich Hayek” online).
Moreover, Trump’s supporters were never popular: they never got a simple majority of the voters but won the Electoral College. And they elected a president who doesn’t mind if he is disliked if he accomplishes his campaign promises and makes America great again. So the entire premise that the “Populist Right is less popular than you think” is a canard in the first place. So much for professor Paul Gottfried’s use of trick straw man rhetorical devices to put down Trump and the so-called Right Wing.
Go ask Gottfried when was the last time he beat his wife? It’s a conclusionary statement that assumes he beats his wife without any evidence. Same tactic Gottfried uses against Trumpers.
If you’re trying to bring back the old, fabricated dichotomy of “neocons” vs “paleoconservative,” take note it’s dead.
The only true political dichotomy has always been the elites against regular people.
1. Identify at least one Freeper who is willing to be a poll watcher in each voting precinct in the US.
2. That Freeper needs to educate him/herself on all aspects of being a poll watcher, especially with regard to maintaining the integrity of the ballots.
3. That Freeper must be with the ballots for as long as legally possible, hopefully up until and through the point at which they are counted.
If the Freeper's state allows vote by mail, early voting, absentee voting, etc. then the Freeper needs to determine at what point(s) in the process of collecting and counting of those ballots they can be there to view and validate the process.
The Freeper will need to register with one of the two main parties. Registering Democrat in some case may make more sense than registering Republican. However, the Freeper should not expect the help of either party.
If the current laws in the Freeper's state leave much of the collection and counting process to state government officials without public oversight, then we need to work on improving transparency throughout the election process.
If vast amounts of voter fraud have been ongoing, and this has occurred in states with thoroughly transparent election processes where the Republican Party had the opportunity to have poll watchers at precinct level then something even worse is happening. If that's the case then the Republicans are either thoroughly incompetent or else conspiring with the Democrats to allow the fraud to continue.
I realize that this can't stop all fraud such as people voting in place of dead relatives, etc. but it might at least eliminate the magical disappearance of ballots from conservative districts, the magical appearance of extra ballots from liberal districts, and problems with electronic voting machines recording the wrong votes.
The “elites vs. regular people” canard is even older, and less accurate, than neocon vs. paleocon.
You sure seem to work hard to post dumb stuff by northeastern elitists
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