Posted on 04/20/2016 5:54:03 AM PDT by markomalley
A candidate like Donald Trump should be impossible. A loud, unscripted, hard-edged reality show-style candidate with exceedingly flexible positions on many hot-button issues would be laughed out of contention for the Republican nomination in other years. A man whose serial gaffes and willingness to stick his thumb in the eye of the gatekeepers of good taste would be cooked before he stepped onto the debate stage. An utterly inexperienced politician, who describes our rights and privileges as particular to us as Americans rather than universal moral mandates, would be rejected by both parties at any other time in the modern era.
But in Trump’s case, these supposedly disqualifying positions and attributes have proven to be the basis for unexpected success. Why? In part, it is because he corrects massive ideological failures by the Right, which have enabled unmitigated cultural overreach by the Left, eliminating the social and cultural basis that permits a Western liberal order to exist.
For decades, the institutional Right has ceded American culture to the Left, in spite of many voices who pointed out ample areas where the Right could carve out a countercultural movement against leftist domination, or even co-opt some of modern culture for itself.
The cause of this is partially a denial of how swiftly the culture has moved Left, leaving the institutional Right under the false impression it is still fighting the culture war of the 90’s and early 2000s. The Right’s obsession with 90’s-era battles over sex, drugs, and rock and roll is more than just an anachronism: it represents a self-inflicted wound that ignored how the Left used the culture to repeatedly make the case for their vision of an ideal society. We now know the Left won that war, and in this context, Trump represents...
(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...
/sarc, I think
Surprising how few people are repulsed when they read about things like this, Pro-Trump Strategist Plots Plan to Prevent CO, WY Delegates From Getting to Cleveland
Kasich’s camp is starting to parrot Trump’s: a very unnerving sign that Kasich will be the VP pick, leaving no conservative to warm the bench. I could warm up to Trump if he chose a powerful VP, as Trump is likely to serve but one term.
And that's based on ....what, exactly? From the exit polling, 84% of N.Y Democrat voters either want to continue Obama's policies (52%) or have even more liberal policies (32%). Doesn't leave much room for Republicans.
But even if we assume you're right, Trump had 518,000 fewer votes than Hillary. Half of Bernie's vote total only adds another 380,000 to that.
Trump winning NY is a pipe dream.
there is nothing intellectual about Trump. He is as dumb as a stump. He is just a Democrat pretending to be a Repubican. And those who say he is Reagan are delusional. Trump actually was against Reagan Tax cuts. But then again, that is just one of many aspects that prove he’s a Democrat through and through. It is hilarious that so called Republicans on here are supporting a liberal NY City Democrat for President. Hell has truly frozen over!
Your first post was spot on. If I’m going to end up casting a vote for Trump, I’ll have to cut myself off from FR for a couple of months. lol
So, although you mistrust Trump like a fox guarding a chicken, you would still vote for him?
If I vote for Trump at all - it will really be more as a vote against Hillary. This falls in line with how Republicans and conservatives voted against Nobama in 08 and 12. And we all know how that turned out.
Face it - 2016 is no different. We have no one who we really like and support. The best we can do is hope Trump doesn't betray us.
“I want to point out that Trump came in third last night in NY. Behind Sanders.”
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How did Hillary do in Texas?
Brilliant argument you have there.
Do you have even clue as to what a “closed” primary is???
I lived in NY for much of my life, and it couldn’t be more obvious that you are completely ignorant of the state’s politics. Stick to things you know about so as not to embarrass yourself further.
“I trust Trump as much as I trust fox guarding a chicken and those who” believe his speeches today, or totally ignorant to his past deeds, behaviors and DNC funding.”
It’ll be obviously between Trump and Hillary. Both liberal. The former parading in Republican skin. The outcome? Who knows. But it’ll be a very close outcome.
You've offered no numbers or objective evidence of any kind to support anything you've said. Just "trust me, I used to live in New York". Well, guess what? A hell of a lot of other people who've lived there say the exact opposite as you. So your personal evaluation that half of Bernie Sander's supporters will vote for Trump over Hillary is worth less than the place from which you pulled it.
If you want to persist in ignorance rather than asking the questions which would get you better information on which to evaluate the situation, that’s your prerogative.
They've been heinous for quite a while now, but have still functioned as the lesser evil to more or less counter the final evil of the demonrats.
My perpetual hope has been a fully repaired and Constitutionally remodeled GOP that could save the nation and also pull the demonrats back from the fire.
Unfortunately, the GOP cast as the opposition party is an illusion for the base to feed on.
It's their Uniparty's "good politician/bad politician" variation of the ol' "good cop/bad cop" routine.
It worked on we, the perps, a few times, but we're used to it now and the gag has grown old, boring and tiresome. We're done jumping that shark.
In fact, speaking of "fundamental transformation", things here in the good old US of A have had an "Under New Ownership" feel since 9/11 and perhaps there is some truth to that feeling? That would explain a great deal.
Regardless, the Republican party has/had a function to fulfill.
If the GOPe can't or won't fulfill its purpose, another party will follow the GOP's example and rise up to take its place.
Nothing is too big to fail, especially not a political party that plays its base.
Vote Libertarian!
They have always wanted to cede the battleground in the culture wars.
You mean like Reagan did in 1980?
I think that if Trump is the nominee, he will win New York with little trouble.
You are equating what the Democrat party activists did with what non-political New Yorkers will do. I see most of the people who don't eat, live and breath politics as going for their Native Son if he is the nominee.
Arkansas Hillary is the outsider.
He has explained how the left went wrong, and became entrenched, and how the right has been ineffective and how Trump cuts through all of that.
But the point missed is ok, so what? IF we are properly against the left, what is the right supposed to be for? Freemarket capitalism? He informs us of Schumpeter's warning about capitalism containing the seeds of its own destruction, using the tools of society to entrench the prerogatives of the entrenched.
What he does tell us is that Cruz's style of conservatism has ceased to ring true - preppies against sex is a wonderful putdown of it all. It is a philosophy that flies up its own butthoe in its own hypocrisy.
What we don't learn is what those who oppose the left are supposed to think about it all.
For instance, it is clear that the present arrangement of the uniparty is a deal that 90% of us cannot live with, between Cruz supporters and Bernie supporters, and not least Trump supporters. Why?
Well here, Trump gets it, something the article sort of hints at. The individual, with all his rich ties to other humans, is left out of the equation. We are not left with a way to live that matters to those who want to live. Our counter to Chinese work camps is Mexican work camps - not productive jobs in communities where Americans can build a society. The international economic juggernaut does not make room for humans.
As the author says, the left has made sex and race their brands. The right - well they take up the view of no sex and we don't talk about race, much because the left will beat us up with it. But sex and race for or against solve none of the problems that society presently has. That is where Trump comes in. He doesn't swing on that hinge. While Ryan talks, hypocritically, about sitting down and developing a true conservative agenda - whatever that means - Trump has a little list of some key things to do that will make things better. And, if we have good men who can focus on the big things, maybe they can also stand aside and let some of the little thing be fixed too, like rearranging the town square so that we can have shops and cafes selling things people want without a battle with the EPA, HUD, and the religious right and left. Space that should be accessible to everyone has become accessible to no one.
The elites fix this by going off to their private clubs and resorts - all paid for with our money.
Reagan WAS the choice of the people....
Cruz ain’t....
Isn’t Hillary from Chicago????
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