The incomparable Thomas Frank tells us why so many "ordinary Americans" support Donald Trump. Long story short: it's not bigotry, even if the bigotry is the proverbial loudest wagon in the Trump parade; "(a) map of his support may coordinate with racist Google searches, but it coordinates even better with deindustrialization and despair, with the zones of economic misery that 30 years of Washington’s free-market consensus have brought the rest of America." Plus the Democratic Party -- which would have, in years past, defended workers from the aforementioned "economic misery" -- has become "the tribune of the enlightened professional class, a 'creative class' that makes innovative things like derivative securities and smartphone apps," and boy oh boy do they look down upon the working-class white folks who support Mr. Trump.
Adam Johnson at FAIR writes about how establishment Republicans "Lament Loss of a Reasonable, Competent GOP that Never Was." Max Boot's recent foray onto the New York Times editorial page to decry the rise of the "Stupid Party" is particularly offensive, not just because Mr. Boot's one solution to every problem is to invade someone, but because he bemoans the party's "reflexive aversion to elites." Hello? Our Glorious Elites are the worst people on the planet. And Mr. Boot is another one who thinks of Paul Ryan as a "thoughtful" person, possibly because he can make a chart (or, more likely, hire someone to make a chart). For a group of people who are always saying liberals have destroyed all societal standards, right-wingers sure do grade their heroes on a curve.
At least 11 far-right Kansas state legislators lost their primaries to somewhat less far-right challengers earlier this week. Now, see, that's how the New York Times should have written that lede, but instead they go on about the ongoing battle between "conservatives" and "moderates" in the Kansas Republican party, when we can only call some Kansas Republicans "moderates" in relation to the reactionaries (not conservatives! You have to earn that title, too!) who have been bollocksing everything up in that state. Words mean things, after all.
Sen. Ron Johnson (E-WI), the man who gives the Citizen Legislator a bad name, says, among so many other things, "the climate hasn't warmed in quite a few years. I mean, that is proven scientifically." Naturally, Sen. Johnson uses the passive voice here -- it is proven scientifically rather than scientists have proven, because such assertive phrasing apparently gives even Ron Johnson pause. It gets worse -- he thinks anyone trying to save the world is a "Utopian" aiming to "control" your lives, and thus comparable to Stalin, Chavez, and "the nutcases in North Korea." The good news? Even the Koch brothers are triaging his race for re-election.
Finally, Libertarian Presidential nominee Gary Johnson says "my head's been in the sand" on race-relation issues and Black Lives Matter has convinced him that discrimination "has existed" and "does exist." We'll see exactly what happens after "slap, slap, wake up," but Mr. Johnson's running mate, William Weld, helpfully adds that "the number of male black youths who are without jobs" is a "national emergency" requiring "the government to respond," which statement, I think, will really annoy long-time Libertarians. Then again, Messrs. Johnson and Weld are looking to widen their base, and what are long-time Libertarians going to do? Vote for Trump?
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