Pages

Monday, March 14, 2016

The Ghost of George Wallace

Friday night, as Boston Globe writer, Michael Cohen, put it on Twitter was sort of like every night of the 1968 George Wallace campaign with fights with angry protesters.

Morning Joe Scarborough does make the point that what happened Friday night was very planned on both sides.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/03/13/donald-trumps-chicago-scam/?postshare=2381457926296821&tid=ss_tw

To quote Marco Rubio, both sides 'Knew exactly what they were doing.'

But is this going to hurt Trump's campaign? If you think so, you haven't been paying attention. His crowds probably love his attacks on the protesters and he can argue that he and his crowd are the victims of these protesters who are violating their freedom of assembly.

My point is not that this is a legitimate argument but that most of his supporters will think it is.

Morning Joe this morning did say that Trump is still 'day trading.'

Mark Halperin was on wondering why Trump hasn't tried to be more Presidential. Well, is that what has gotten him this far?

Morning Joe in his column is right. Trump is doing what he always does. Taking control of the headlines which will actually fire up his base going into voting tomorrow.

"Trump further blamed the Chicago protesters for the violence that occurred Friday night, warning that the incident would only gin up his supporters to hand him a “resounding victory” in Tuesday’s primaries."

"Yesterday in Chicago we had a little bit of a problem. We were not allowed to exercise our First Amendment rights," he said. "It just makes all of our friends and supporters more angry."

"My people aren’t violent,” he added, to huge applause. “It’s these people that come in.”

"Friday’s violence prompted condemnations from Trump’s rivals, even those who have been hesitant to criticize the brash businessman in the past. Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), whom Trump criticized heavily during Saturday’s rally, accused the real estate mogul of fostering a “toxic environment” at his events. A visibly disturbed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Saturday that Trump’s rhetoric reminded him of “third-world strongmen” and further seemed to back away from his vow to support the future GOP nominee, whoever he may be. And Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said that Trump's campaign “affirmatively encourages violence.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-violence-chicago_us_56e49f5de4b065e2e3d63591

But this only makes his supporters love him more:

"But the calls for civility fell on deaf ears at Trump’s rally in Cleveland. If anything, according to Trump's fans, the protesters had no business being there, and some even deserved a punch in the face."

“Those people come to get punched,” said Ed Honeywill, a 60-year-old wearing Harley-Davidson gear who sells car stereos in Pittsburgh. “Those people come to object to what’s going on. We didn’t ask for them to come. We’re here having a meeting. And they want to come disrupt it? They deserve what they get. They brought that upon themselves when they walked in that door, that hell might break out. And it did. What did they think was going to happen?”

"Susan Dzomba, a resident of suburban Cleveland, said Friday’s incident nearly made her cancel her plans to attend Saturday’s rally. But, she said, another culprit was to blame."

“People are nuts. The world is crazy,” she said. “I don’t think he’s out of control at all. If anything, I think the media’s out of control.”

"Other Trump supporters said they saw a more sinister -- if not outlandish -- scheme at the heart of Friday’s violence in Chicago."

“That was all staged by the higher-ups in the Republican Party, because they’re afraid of Trump,” said Jeff Marshaus, 53. “You won’t get the top names coming out saying it, but they don’t want Trump.”

"Marshaus, who works as a truck driver in Cleveland, added, “Trump can’t control it. He’s just one person. It’s not like he’s saying go out and do this. We’re all individuals. He can’t control everybody.”

There are some interesting attempts to psychoanalyze Trump and his supporters. The verdict seems to be: authoritarianism is the link.

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/3/12/11211898/donald-trumps-ideology-of-violence

http://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11127424/trump-authoritarianism

No comments:

Post a Comment