Matt Taibbi is one of the most astute observers of American politics. In this article, he demystifies the surprising success of Donald Trump. I urge you to read it.
It is a fascinating article. Thanks to a reader, John, for bringing this to my attention.
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I know that at least half of the teachers in my school are voting for Trump (secretly). I am very excited about this. Finally, we will close that border and send back all who broke in. It’s great news! You don’t have a country without borders. He will also force American countries to bring back good middle-class jobs. It’s going to be fantastic! Hopefully this election will give the Europeans enough confidence to close their own borders before it’s too late. The pinnacle of world civilization in Europe is being trampled. Let’s hope that they “wake up” as well. Register Republican and vote! Just remember that public education has never suffered more than it has under 8 years of Obama. This will be amazing! To see Clinton lose will just be priceless! I am going to throw a big party. After 8 years of Trump there will be 8 years of Christie! Go vote!
Are you serious???
Unbelievable.
Dear Jack,
” He will also force American countries to bring back good middle-class jobs.”
Did you forget that Trump also said that workers make too much money. Do you accept that as alright? The Social Security administration now says that 51% of Americans make $30,000 or less a year.
How is he going to bring corporations back to the US. He is not a dictator with that kind of power.
The faster you get Christie out of Jersey the better.
That is a LOONG article. The people foolishly allowed the political parties, the media, and corporate America to take control of their government. After several decades as the greatest post WWII nation, the people have come to realize that these entities do NOT have their best interests at heart. Bernie is already finished. The only rational thing for people who have awoken to the triumvirates abuses of power is to vote for Trump. Hillary is just another politibot spewing the status quo.
NPR on the similarities between Trump and Sanders
http://www.npr.org/2016/02/08/465974199/what-do-sanders-and-trump-have-in-common-more-than-you-think
National Presstitute Radio has been trying to torpedo Sanders’ campaign since the day he entered the race, but trying to draw an equivalence with Trump shows how desperate they have become.
It’s actually pathetic.
Trump and Sanders support reinstating Glass-Stegall, Hillary does not.
Trump and Sanders are against NAFTA and TPP, Hillary favors the status quo.
Trump and Sanders were against Iraq 2 and are already against Iraq 3. Hillary voted to authorize Iraq 2.
Trump has called for an end to Common Core, Hillary has not.
Hillary is 0-5 on issues any self respecting liberal or progressive would support.
Pay your money and take your pick. For my part I am through with the Clinton/Bush establishment that expects the middle class to believe the lies, pay the taxes, and fight the wars.
No…no….no…. Trump is not the answer. He does not have the temperment to be president and he is a crude buffoon. Don’t be fooled.
WILD KEA union president election:
http://insiderlouisville.com/metro/commentary-clear-case-for-pension-transparency-takes-bizarre-turn/
I appreciate seeing comments that are dispassionately pointed at policy instead of personality. In this election and its aftermath, it is going to be important to not let anger or disgust inflame us.
As rain does not penetrate
A well-roofed house,
Passion does not penetrate
A well-developed mind.
Oops. I meant this comment for the thread just below. Sorry about that, rwieck.
I teach in Trump country, the exurbs. Trump knows how to talk to lower-middle-class whites. Obama and Romney do not. I’ve always believed that Obama’s Ivy League demeanor, much more than his race, is what rubs this demographic the wrong way. Witness the enthusiasm for Herman Cain and Ben Carson. Blue collar whites can get over black skin if the person inside speaks the right way. Bill Clinton had it right when he advised Obama, “You have to put the corn where there hogs can reach it.” Trump does this. A lot of adult Americans don’t know that much and not only don’t LIKE high-toned college-grad lingo, they often don’t really understand a lot of it either. To them Trump’s talk is likable –all the more so because it’s intelligible.
Glad you brought this up, Ponderosa. I was recently at a political meeting with a 28 year old who earns a modicum of a living doing graphic arts. He was white, and wearing a shirt with a huge cross as the design. In speaking with him, he had never heard of SCOTUS, did not know what Citizens United is, and is voting with great enthusiasm for Trump.
And now we are faced with motor/voter registration, and with online voting to get more ignorant folks like this to cast a vote easily. Heaven help us.
A lot of adult Americans don’t know that much and not only don’t LIKE high-toned college-grad lingo, they often don’t really understand a lot of it either.”
They don’t understand a lot of it for good reason: because a lot of it makes no sense, at least not when it comes to benefiting “ordinary” people — eg, when Obama claims TPP is about “free trade” (it’s not), or when he talks about mitigating climate change but supports oil and gas drilling out the yin yang. And, of course, there is education “reform”, which, in many cases, is not at all what it is claimed to be and in other cases, is just plain stupid (all the proof one ever needed that an Ivy league degree does not mean a person is smart)
DAM: yes, even the educated err. But how much more so the uneducated.
I loathe Trump, but I do have sympathy for his supporters. The last respectable bigotry in America is the bigotry against uneducated, religious whites. They sense that the coastal elites, including their leaders like Obama and Romney, despise them, and I fear they’re right.
I think that knowing whether a policy is good for you, your kids and your community is more about common sense than anything else.
One need not be an expert (or even “well educated”) to see the disconnect between “free-trade” policies that are claimed to promote US jobs but have the opposite effect.
or to see the disconnect between policies that claim to support improving public schools but are actually about shutting them down.
or to see the hypocrisy in people like Obama, Gates, King and others sending their kids to private schools but subjecting everyone else’s kids to endless testing, Common Core and the rest
I think even a lot of “uneducated’ folks can see through this stuff — and do.
And in my opinion, it is very debatable who is actually “smarter”.
I actually went to an Ivy league school for two years before transferring to a state school (not because of my grades, but because i hated the noxious atmosphere) and was not impressed by what i saw.
I’d say most of the students there were actually not any smarter than what you would find at an average state school. They had just had more opportunities.
I would also say that there is a significant proportion of dishonest cheats at the Ivies who will basically do anything to get ahead. The entire freshman engineering class at my university was caught cheating on a computer science take home exam .
The funny part is that they were caught by their own stupidity because they all turned in the same program, which the CS prof was checking for. ha ha ha. These are the “geniuses” building your bridges, power lines and other infrastructure. If that does not worry you, it should.
Exceptional writing! Says it like it is and “what it is” is DOWNRIGHT FRIGHTENING!
Trump is a bully who has already alienated part of the world. The British people signed over 500,000 petitions to permanently keep Trump out of the country. Talk of building a wall with Mexico and making Mexico pay for it has alienated the President of Mexico. Saying Mexicans only come here to rape isn’t making friends. Muslims around the world are aghast at his proposal to close mosques and not let any Muslims into the country. Immigrants in this country are in terror over 11 million of them being deported. (Where do we get the money and resources to do that? Besides, immigrants often to the work that mainstream Americans don’t want to do.)
Why would this egotistical bully, who can dish out crudeness, be a good leader who can get things done? Who can work with him?
It is FRIGHTENING!
Yes, I’m sure all those people ready to kick illegal Mexican immigrants out are just chomping at the bit to get into the fields and pick our crops. Of course more of them could have stayed home and picked their own crops if NAFTA hadn’t unleashed big ag on Mexico. I think people are beginning to realize that it doesn’t matter if our food is slightly cheaper if people can’t afford it because the jobs associated with small local production are gone.
This piece is as good as anything ever written by Hunter S. Thompson.
If I can think of one thing that is positive about Trump’s lunatic candidacy (and that’s a very long stretch) it’s that he is illustrating loud and clear the hypocritical crap that’s been going on beneath the surface in this nation for way too long. And, Taibbi nails down this phenomena with laser-like precision. Maybe sunlight will help cure this infection?
Taibbi writes, “It’s been well-documented that Trump surged last summer when he openly embraced the ugly race politics that, according to the Beltway custom of 50-plus years, is supposed to stay at the dog-whistle level. No doubt, that’s been a huge factor in his rise.”
For so long the Republican party has been tacitly accepting the votes of hatemongers and yahoos… And, now we hear people like Mitt Romney express, oh, such shock, dear me, blah, blah, blah….. ( CNN had a piece by Paul Waldman about Romney’s speech, headlined, “Mitt Romney’s Trump Speech and Ugly Mirror of GOP Hypocrisy” http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/opinions/mitt-romney-gop-trump-waldman/index.html )
But Taibii takes it a step further….many steps. He exposes this charade we call presidential elections to the sunlight. Thank God we still have journalists like this.
Good summary! Thanks!
I found the article very interesting. Taibbi covered almost all issues and aspects of the current debacle known as the U.S. Presidential race. But I fear we are all missing a more plausible angle. Trump is friends with the Clintons. He met with them prior to declaring his candidacy. Imagine Trump and Hillary on the debate stage. Hillary, even with all of her baggage, will seem the only reasonable choice for most Americans in the end. Trump will lose the election, when the facts of his past are finally exposed by the media at just the right moment. The Hillary fix is in motion. That’s why she smiles so much. The most frightening aspect of this whole process is that it seems almost impossible for a truly good person to win the presidency.
Anyone can vote for anyone they want, of course, but Trump can’t do any of these things he’s promising.
The companies he’s saying he will “force” to keep production in the US aren’t “American” companies- they’re multi-nationals. They sell all over the world and they have employees all over the world. If it’s manufacturing he’s talking about (and I guess he is) manufacturers have worldwide supply chains. Their international customers and employees are no less important than their American counterparts. I live in an area that has a lot of manufacturing and the 4 largest employers are 1. GM 2. a Japanese company who make components that go into Hondas (which are assembled in Ohio), a German company who make commercial fasteners, and an “American” company who makes tires for large construction equipment (cranes, etc.) most of which are sold in China and India.
Trump is a real estate developer (if he is indeed that, which seems somewhat questionable to me). His business is much, much simpler than manufacturing. He buys property or develops property at a fixed location and hires a huge group of low wage service people. It’s by definition a fixed location in a given real estate market and real estate goes up or down in value mostly because you can’t make more of it and you can’t relocate it. They would literally be better off listening to a farmer- most of their wealth is property but they at least produce something on it and export it- they participate in world markets.
He’s a con man. He’s lying to them. I guess it’s fun to watch him calling out all the other people who are lying to them, but it doesn’t solve the problem.
Yeah, the reference to Mussolini is right on: the squinting, the puckered lips, not to mention the references to a strong nation.
This is with English subtitles. The US, ahem, Rome will be great again!!
You’d think this style wouldn’t fly in modern times, but, in fact, this is timeless. We just love to pound our chests like gorillas. The difference is that gorillas do not try to destroy the world.
Did anyone else notice the lips? I wonder if Trump practiced?
Also, I know his voters don’t care but trade deals are like treaties- the President doesn’t unilaterally put them in and take them out. Every single trade deal this country has entered into was passed by Congress not once but twice-they grant the authority to formulate the deal and then they pass the deal as US law. They’re then passed as laws in each of the signatory countries. The United States doesn’t run the world. There are other governments with their own objectives.
The same is true for immigration. Outside of executive orders, Congress is wholly responsible for our immigration laws. They should be asking Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio about immigration laws. They would be the people who draft and pass them.
“Trump” isn’t so much frightening to me. What’s frightening to me is his voters seem to want a dictator, a single all-powerful person.
Chiara, the same is true of tariffs. Will Congress impose tariffs on foreign made cars and other products and set off an international tariff war? It is a good talking point for Trump though.
Does the article predict the end of the Republican party?
” The Bushes are half that conspiratorial picture, fronts for a Republican Party establishment and whose sum total of accomplishments, dating back nearly 30 years, are two failed presidencies, the sweeping loss of manufacturing jobs, and a pair of pitiable Middle Eastern military adventures – the second one achieving nothing but dead American kids and Junior’s re-election.”
OT. but John Kasich was making stuff up in the last debate and the Cleveland paper has called him on it:
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/03/kasich_offers_a_disputed_look_at_cleveland_schools_plan_at_republican_debate.html
It’s amazing what these guys get away with on a national stage, fluffing up their own resumes. John Kasich is an “education governor” only at the national level. The truth is much less flattering.
I heard what Kasich said about Cleveland schools and my jaw dropped. The state is doing its best to lose them, privatize them, neglect them, yet Kasich days they are “on the rise.”
With so many whoppers, it is hard to catch them all
We never saw Teddy Roosevelt in action, but I see a similarity.
he was independent and broke up the corporations and trusts.
Maybe this country is due foe a similar character.
That was when they used “bully” as an exclamation, not as a noun or verb.
He may know what he is doing to get elected
by taking on the sacred cows.
What he really believes will be seen in time.
I sense that Sanders supporter will choose him over Hillary.
Polls show most Sanders supporters will support Hillary if she gets the nomination. Thank God. She’s a liberal at heart and the populist groundswell will give her encouragement to take the fight to the Republican Congress. She’ll be a battle axe!
I don’t think Bill and Hillary got into politics to make the world safe for Wall Street. Prudently they steered right in response the zeitgeist of the early 90’s, but I’m sure they’re happy to steer back to the left and run over the Republicans who ran over them.
“What he really believes will be seen in time.”
I think you give him too much credit. You think, he has some kind of belief system, a secret agenda that needs to be explored. Trump believes in Trump. That’s the end of it. Except, it could be the end of many things.
“Americans lapped up Mussolini’s rhetoric about restoring the greatness of the Roman Empire. Even the name of his party — the fasces, a bundle of wheat bound to an ax — symbolized Roman authority. Finally someone would impose structure on an undisciplined nation and make the trains run on time. Or in Trump parlance, he would Make Italy Great Again.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-laurino/trump-and-mussolini-it-ca_b_9362346.html
“I sense that Sanders supporter will choose him over Hillary.”
I used to think that way too: “somebody has to shake up the establishment, the corporate powers. Trump is as good as anybody.”
But the forces making him popular are the same that caused WWII.
Here is a comment from the BBC concerning Trump. Headline: “Europe hates Trump. Does it matter?” by Katty Kay Presenter, BBC World News
“…the international reaction to Donald Trump is so forceful and so unanimous in its condemnation that it is worth drawing attention to. …It’s hard to know at this stage what impact foreign opinion will have in this race, but it’s fairly clear the world is not going to suddenly fall in love with the man Republicans are rapidly choosing to be their candidate for the White House.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35702584
As I said before, whom would Trump work with? He is condemned by other Congressional Republicans and isn’t likely to get along with Democrats. He claims dictatorial powers which he doesn’t have.
” He claims dictatorial powers which he doesn’t have.”
Dictators don’t use existing constitutions to become dictators.
Taibbi is looking at this as if it were politics as usual. It’s not. Trump has run before and gotten nowhere. Why does he have so much traction now. John Hayward gets it right here:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/02/24/no-one-made-trump/
and here:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/03/01/trump-wins-because-voters-lost-all-faith-in-his-critics/
This isn’t an election … this is a revolution masquerading as an election.
It’s not so much about Trump. It’s about the middle class … the ignored, taken-for-granted, neglected, abused, dismissed, and screwed over middle class.
They’re sick that their government has become aligned with the wealthy, know-it-all class to brow beat them all into some sort of forced compliance … forcing them into health plans no one wants, schools that no longer represent their values, and then showing great sympathies for fringe groups that scar the middle class for values they have held since the country was founded. Common Core and Obamacare have stuck in their craw. Those efforts have done exactly the opposite of what they intended … and guess who’s feeling the hardest pinch of all?
They’re sick of being the fall guys for the ever aggrieved crowds that line up for special governmental treatment and solutions … while their hard work and diligent responsibility gets taken for granted. And their every opinion is crushed with politically correct ridicule … and made into fodder for late-night laugh-hacks who, of course, hob nob with every sneering middle class basher.
They’re sick of paying for every imaginable nonsense program … and seldom ever seeing a government effort to support the middle class backbone of this nation. All they ever really get is lip-service. They cannot understand how the government can find instant monies to fund pet projects of the political class, but cannot relieve the tax burdens or the crush of college expenses for the middle class.
They’re sick wondering if they can afford college or adequate medical insurance or homes or school taxes. They’re burdened with schooling illegals and told they’re racists if they don’t medicate everyone or educate everyone who arrives at their school door … and then they see the porous borders and a president waving in hordes of illegals to further burden us all … and congress standing by like ornaments.
They’re sick of elites … of all sorts … commanding the middle class to do this or that … all the while doing as they please. They loathe Hollyweird asses bashing us about climate change while zipping around the planet on yachts or jets. Or acting fops calling us all racists or homophobes or Islamophobes every other minute.The middle class is just extra-sick of being pounded to say this, think this, and do this.
They’re sick of lying presidents, lying state officials, and lying senators and lying representatives. They loathe lying business moguls and lying academics. They don’t believe the lying media … at all. They’re just sick of lies. Non-stop lies.
They’re sick of feeling unprotected as the government and this president go to great lengths to protect every group and race except the largest swath of citizens in the country.
They’re sick that the Great Recession … which visited such an economic hit on the middle class … never brought about a single arrest or prosecution of an upper-crust financier. Not one. And that nearly all of the generous relief made its way to those who actually caused the mess. It’s clear to all that the government and the favored class have one another’s backs … and NOT the backs of the middle class.
That’s why you are in the midst of a revolution instead of an election. That’s why everyone is so confused … because they think they’re looking at a primary process. They’re not. They’re looking at the beginning of a Great Middle Class Revolution.
Watch out.
Denis Ian
I have a feeling you may be right, Denis Ian.
Denis: “They’re looking at the beginning of a Great Middle Class Revolution.”
With Trump, it may become WWIII.
Thank you for all your work. The League of Women Voters of Dallas is having a program on charter schools and traditional public schools. It seems that the easiest way to compare the two systems is to have a comparison chart of how the two systems are structured. For example, traditional public schools elect trustees while charter schools appoint their decision-makers without a public vote. Do you have a spreadsheet comparing the two systems?
You may have other resources that would be helpful to explain public education as it exists today. The questions we hope to answer are:
1. Overview of traditional public schools and charter schools in Dallas Independent School District 2. Are charter schools delivering quality education at less cost than public schools, as they promised to do when they were created by state law? 3. Do charter school students do better on the achievement tests than public school students? 4. Are charter schools an attempt to privatize public education in our state and nation?
Please send anything you think will be helpful.
Thank you.
Susybelle Gosslee