Repetitive as Trump is, when addressing his supporters at raging red-hat rallies, in due fairness he has not reminded any of us that he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and get away with it. This is because mad Main Street has been hit and the casualties do not realize it.
4
I don't think Trump ever left campaign mode. It's not really a return to 2016, it's more like nothing has changed (in terms of his activities and PR strategy).
Which I predicted would be the case. He is a salesman, not a leader of nations. Salesman is the only job he's qualified for, so that's the role he plays day in and day out.
5
It is a question of logic versus fear. Those barefoot, walking poor are 1000 miles from the US border. What is already the case, and has been for some time, is the following.
Among Trump followers, and the GOP in general, there is a tendency to confuse "socialism" with "social justice". The latter demands that every member of the working class, who file W2 forms, has: (1) an income they can live on without food stamps, (2) affordable health care, (3) a chance for a deecent education up to the university level, and (4) the opportunity to have a decent retirement such as Social Security. These are the minima that society needs to provide. These will require that everyone pays their share.
My question to all candidates up for election on Nov 6 is: Do you agree with this, and if not, why not?
7
His approach did not work in the first place - or, more correctly, would not have worked if the US was a true democracy where winning an election means having more votes, period. And it would not have worked without a great help not just from corrupt media such as the Fox news, but even from the top ones,including the NYT. As Paul Krugman coined it nicely, without the 'goring of Ms. Clinton' Trump most likely would have not won.
Not to speak of the frontal attack on the democratic elective process by Mr. Comey. These matters should always be emphasised for otherwise one wrongs the history.
4
"And the oft-repeated claim that the Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-Semitic violence seems dubious or wrong."
Oh. And why is the reported 60% increase in anti-Semitic incidents dubious or wrong? Because of one (1) piece at a libertarian website (Reason--"free minds and free markets"). Authored by a George Mason University professor....
"In 2018, a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit revealed that conservative donors, including the Charles Koch Foundation and Federalist Society, were given direct influence over faculty hiring decisions at the university's (George Mason) law and economics schools."
Yet Russ would have us believe (and is probably deluding himself) that his work is somehow distinguishable from Fox News.
4
Trump’s verbiage in rallies for GOP candidates he purportedly fully supports in his final, furious multi-state campaigning, (IF he even remembers to mention them) will be:
He/she is:
tough on crime,
tough on borders,
supports our Vets,
blah, blah, blah...
Oh, you’ve heard it? ........in every terse endorsement so far.
Maybe while “ not on the ballot”, Mr. T he will most likely be the first to blame ALL GOP candidates should he experience a BLUE wave loss in the House.
Nothing could ever his fault! Never ever!
But this Midterm WILL be a referendum on Trump, and the results will most likely just infuriate him more.
Bullies are like that, yeah they are!
Please vote.
3
Here are three reasons why the Trump base and Trump himself and Fox news will not read this opinion piece: xenophobic, heterodoxy, identitarian ,vertiginous. (Thankyou Google dictionary). The base, which is not terribly smart will not understand this. The deplorables, one of which is in jail in Pittsburgh, will not care about this. The people who care are the majority of Americans who are not in the base and who must vote to get this country back on the right track.
4
Nothing is easy. You and Salam wrote a political manifesto, not a political manual.
Trumpy's approach may work, yet. Mostly because while the media doesn't perpetuate fake news (besides Fox News), it wallows in fake urgency. This pays handsome dividends as the media and the talking heads have become even wealthier. When the Democrats talk for healthcare, jobs, civil rights for all, the media will focus on the transgendered subsection of 'all.' They did that with Secretary Clionton, they'll do it again. And they'll cover each foul epithet that Trumpy utters. Because it's scandalous and that sells.
2
"on health care he delivered a failed and hated Obamacare replacement,"
Did I miss something?
1
Check your diary entry for 20 June, Mr Douthat. "Trumpian exceptionalism" (or what anchor babies now call "doo-doo") WAS NOT "blocked or limited (by) the courts and Congress" concerning the child separation policy.
When Trump signed his Executive Order (his invented solution to his invented reason for separating children), he did so OF HIS OWN ACCORD saying "..we are going to keep the families together. I didn’t like the sight or the feeling of families being separated."
And what about Candidate Trump's exceptional "better and cheaper" healthcare? At the end of 2017, he said it was ready. It obviously wasn't, and Trump was begging to sign whatever Congress brought him. That ended in failure with "let Obamacare implode" as his signature accomplishment. Now, Campaign 2020 Trump tweets:
"All Republicans support people with pre-existing conditions, and if they don't, they will after I speak to them. I am in total support. Also, Democrats will destroy your Medicare, and I will keep it healthy and well!"
All do, but if they don't...classic Trump.
"Trumpian exceptionalism" can be retired, Mr Douthat. What we're getting is Fantasy Bush League Governance.
2
I consider Mr. Douthat a thoughtful well-informed columnist with whom I often disagree, which is one reason I tend to read his columns - for a view that isn't like mine. However, at least one statement in this column is glaring for not representing his usual thoughtful analysis, at least in my opinion. Mr. Douthat appears to have simply accepted without analysis the popular (white male) idea that white men with guns killing people because they don't fit some Aryan ideal they have adopted from Nazi thinkers are "idiosyncratic lone wolves". Since the election of Donald Trump one white supremacist ran over and killed a young female counter-protester at a white supremacist rally where many African Americans and other were also beaten, another killed 9 African Americans in a Charleston church, another killed 11 Jewish Americans in a Pittsburgh synagogue last week and yet another killed two African Americans in Kentucky last week at a supermarket after trying to force his way into an African American church. This is White Supremacist terrorism, with organised news sites (e.g. Breitbart among others) and websites that actively recruit members, incite them to hatred, and advocate violence, which is then acted upon by individual recruits. Explain to me how that is different from ISIS, Mr. Douthat?
6
Ross, could you please just say "Trumpism" instead of 'Trumpian exceptionalism," because your term makes it sound as if there might be something positive about the concept in echoing of "American exceptionalism"?
1
Looks like Trump can be a good fit for William Howard Taft's old suits.
1
The worse polls Trump is getting this week the bigger lies he will dish out.
Two years of nonstop lies and cruelty ought to be enough to wake up anyone who is even halfway paying attention.
It ought to be more than enough to turn things around this election. The fact that it remains in question at this late date says a lot about the state of this nation, none of it good.
2
I know where American conservatism leads, it leads to 1984. It leads into a George Orwell novel and a a public discourse steeped in Newspeak. It leads to a Christianity that preaches hate and freedom whose foundation is slavery.
This week we watched a liberal community live out its values in the wake of a horrendous act of the hate that has animated American conservatism since the days of George Wallace and Ross Barnett.
Squirrel Hill showed what the liberal answer to William F Buckley's white "Christian" Sharon Connecticut should have been. "Good fences make good neighbours" but Americans need friends not acquaintances when the wolves come to the door.
I know American gated communities and I know their golf courses and swimming pools and I know their Brett Kavanaughs. I'll take Squirrel Hill with its rainbow of peoples any day of the week.
This week showed us the best of America where love and acceptance triumph over xenophobia, misogyny, hate and fear. I know where my brother Jesus would feel at home and it far removed from the bible belt.
4
"Every good politician knows that you need a closing argument for your campaign, a way to seal the deal with wavering voters or goose turnout among the already committed." NO typo!
"Goose turnout" is spot on !
Like fat Geese these angry old white people will waddle to the Trump Pond believing their safety in those dark waters:
Unknowing they have been - and will continue to be - flattened up for trumps family and friends.
Handfulls of breadcrumbs for them - Control and Riches to their handlers.
As always!
1
My take is a little different. Trump's strategy will continue to win, until it doesn't, and then it collapses. . When will the worm turn? I do not know.
2
"But with a week to go the safest bet is that in returning to the same strategy he followed in 2016, Trump will earn — and deserve — a more disappointing political result."
Oh Ross, I so hope you are right!
3
Re: Trumps proposed “plan to change the way Medicare pays for prescription drugs so that we aren’t subsidizing the world”
Most commonly used pharmaceuticals are off patent and cost just a few dollars, at most, to make a months supply. There is no basis to the statement that US consumers are subsidising the world. Instead, the poor US consumer is simply being ripped off through naivety and anticompetitive laws and practises.
Simply allow consumers to directly purchase their pharmaceuticals on an open, international, market and they will save billions, tomorrow.
2
Trump doesn't surprise us anymore. We know who he is and what he is ready to do. What we don't know is how many of our fellow citizens are buying Trump's act, now that it's been playing in the White House for two years. We'll find out soon.
2
In other words … we still don’t know what Trump either personally believes or even what he’s prepared to do, but we’re getting a bead on how effectively he presses buttons to get what he wants. And who was the Einstein who suggested that this guy isn’t a “politician”? He’s just better at it – certainly more successful -- than most of the phylum.
Of course, if you’re an exponent of the grand Kumbaya and you despise Realpolitik, then his successes represent your failures. Seems to me that those who are … are overmatched. So, a good move could be to find better champions than Nancy Pelosi and Elizabeth Warren, because they’re not cutting it.
To the extent that Republicans may be suffering is not owing to Ross’s kinda-sorta take that agendas have not been or were at best partially fulfilled. People understand that Trump and an undivided Republican Congress have gotten FAR more accomplished in two years than our governance yielded in six years under Obama and/or a divided Congress – and immensely more of what they believe is right than during Obama’s first two years and undivided Democratic government. No … Trump’s MANNER has weakened even the importance of securing ideological aims among soft-Republicans and Independents in the teeth of such retrograde personal behavior.
If the objective is to get Republicans elected, the best Trump could do would be to address the people, with the entire congressional Republican leadership standing behind him, and point out the state …
… of our economy, the real foreign policy and trade gains he has driven, his illegal immigration stance, and a promise (with McConnell and Ryan nodding behind him) that America’s undivided Republican government will protect no-pre-existing conditions. And that a divided Congress will sustain NONE of those gains.
Maybe you are correct Ross (I can't believe I just wrote that), maybe this "birthright citizenship" executive order thing might just do it. Let Sara H Sanders and every Republican running for Senate or House seat be asked if they agree that the President can unilaterally alter the Constitution. That should make for some interesting squirming.
3
Shorter Ross Douthat:
It's all okay except for that teensy little bit of bigotry.
4
Unfortunately, for Trump supporters it comes down to this:
You want stupid? You got it.
5
Trump grasps for a life jacket as GOP's ship of fools flounders.
He did nothing on healthcare, infrastructure or comprehensive immigration reform which were strong promises in 2016.
He focused only on his own benefit by passing tax cuts to enrich himself and those who already are obscenely rich. The added debt will ruin our currency and impoverish our nation.
Trump is a massively failed president; a dirty joke on us.
6
Trump is an embarrassment to the world. The failure of the honest press to call him out and expose him in 2015 was a disgrace. Nevertheless, his remaining has showed the world that a large percentage of this country is vile for supporting him. Lord help us all.
6
Unfortunately, Ross, it is not correct that "the oft-repeated claim that the Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-Semitic violence" is dubious or wrong.
Fox News, Breitbart, the Republican Party, and especially Donald J. Trump, have all contributed to the upsurge in anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic violence.
Your own failure to admit this, or perhaps simply to understand it, places you in the same camp.
Shame on you all.
5
A man who says what he says as POTUS enables many. He did t pull the trigger but he doesn’t care. he ridiculed people who do care about antisemitism. To think that the connection is dubious ignored the people that were there. Ignoring that influence ignored the fuel of antisemitism-words that enable and don’t get challenged. It’s appalling from someone who uses words for a living.
3
As many point out, Douthat's tepid opposition to Trump's wickedness is driven by his opposition to abortion. Douthat would embrace Satan himself (and may have) to have the Trump Court make abortion illegal in the US. (They won't settle for reversing Roe, they want a ruling that the Constitution forbids abortion). Anything to achieve that result is kinda, sorta OK with Ross.
8
It's impossible for me to be civil when discussing trump, so I'll just encourage everyone to vote for Democrats.
9
My biggest concern is that Democrats are going to continue to miss the "Stay Home Foreigners" movement that continues to grow and take over developed democracies. By missing that train, they are risking gay marriage, social security, medicare, abortion, and every other successful liberal improvement to this country. And for what? Very very little.
2
American politics presents us with the worst of all possible worlds.
Ross Douthat is a liberal in conservatives trappings. A genuine Republican would point out that the Democrats were mendacious when they replaced the earlier calls of Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy for universal health care by Obamacare.
Universal health care is simple. People understand it. Obamacare is (as Paul Krugman has described it) a Rube-Goldberg device with incentives designed so that voters would not understand it. Those are words of Jonathan Gruber one of the architects of Obamacare.
A genuine Republican (if there were any) should call the Democrats out on Obamacare. It imposes a mandate that healthy individuals buy insurance they may not want when enriches insurance companies and leaves the main problem of health care in the US unaddressed.
Costs of health care are skyrocketing. Many in middle America are dying because they cannot afford their deductibles.
But Republicans are as corrupt as Democrats. Like the Democrats, Ross Douthat protects the wealthy by keeping discussion of real issues off the table.
Instead we discuss terrorists and Trump's mannerisms, which are indeed repulsive.
And we go to the polls with no real choices.
That health care I mentioned? Its threatened by the fact that resources are limited. And both parties want to avoid that discussion.
That is the real threat of the migrant caravan. Continued immigration is unsustainable and Americans will pay dearly.
@Jake Wagner Everyone participating in health insurance markets reduces the risk pool. Insurance 101.
We all have to have insurance to drive our cars, so what's the philosophical problem with health care?
8
"The idiosyncratic nature of lone-wolf attacks makes it a mistake to draw a line of direct responsibility from Trump’s rhetoric to the would-be pipe bomber and the synagogue shooting."
What does that mean?
Elucidate, please.
Especially since both men echoed Trumpian bigotry and hatred.
6
Obamacare is hated? By whom? Republicans in Congress who will never have to worry about their health care? Okay. But not out in the real world.
5
Mr. Douthat has written another column ignoring the herd of elephants in the room.
1. The president lies about essentially everything.
2. The Republicans lie about essentially everything.
3. Fox News sets the agenda for the Republican Party and Trump. They also lie about essentially everything.
4. Trump is grossly corrupt, using his office to enrich itself.
His hires do as well.
5. Trump is utterly lawless working to turn the Department of Justice into his own private police force and prosecution team.
6. The Republican Congressional leadership is aggressively breaking norms to make both the House and Senate into nothing but pretense.
7. The Russians likely can dictate to Trump, influenced the last election, and are working to influence this one.
8. The planet is warming increasingly rapidly because of fossil fuel consumption. Unchecked, the results will make most of our lives harder, destroying and degrading a significant fraction of the nation's landmass.
A vote for any Republican means you like "elephants" and want the herd to grow, and each "elephant" to expand.
11
You can spray all the sweet perfume on the rotting carcass that is Trumpism all you like - it still stinks to high heaven.
Trumpism is not ‘populist economic policy,’ not by a long shot.
A fire sale of millions of acres of public lands for private plunder and profit does not benefit ‘the people,’ certainly not Trump’s ‘base.’
A $1.5 trillion package of tax relief for corporations and America’s wealthiest families is certainly not for ‘the people.’ The exploding federal deficit that inevitably follows surely won’t help ‘the people.’ As for ‘trickle down,’ we’ve already seen after-tax corporate profits jump by over 20%, while wages have risen about one-tenth that.
A ‘trade policy’ based on punitive tariffs? Let’s call that what it is - a tax on consumers. You call that ‘populist’? And is this ‘trade policy’ achieving its goal of reducing the trade deficit? Not on your life... the trade deficit with China has ballooned over the past six months.
Slashing expenditures for education, rolling back protections against financial and consumer fraud, killing regulations that ensure we will have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink — how is that ‘populist’?
Let’s call a spade a garden tool, shall we? Trumpism is about exactly one thing - riding to power on the wave of seething, irrational fear, resentment, hatred, bigotry, willful ignorance and impotent anger of millions of Americans who find themselves woefully unprepared for life in the 21st century.
21
@chambolle, great comment!
4
The Congressman told the reporter to get out of his office.
When he didn't, he took care of it.
That is how the West was won.
@True Observer No, that's what police and security guards are for. You don't get violent over a reporter asking tough questions.
You wouldn't last a day in the Old West.
9
@True Observer: I believe it's called assault. Then Gianforte lied about it to the police. The man is a hotheaded crackpot.
5
This lying, lazy, feckless president deserves to have his hands tied by a responsible and accountable Congress. The Republican Party is more interested in plundering national treasure than actual governing and deserve to be dis-empowered by the voters.
5
This clinical analysis of his last mile pitch is pretty much spot on and the suggestion it's a stale product this time around should make sense to most people. I would hope though that the decision to give the Rs a thumbs down comes from more funamental reasons than a balance sheet calculation of promises unkept. The man is obviously unfit for office, and whole bunch of enablers prentend they can live with it, for personal gain or whatever. They should be thrown out for the simple reason of dereliction of duty to the republic.
5
Simple wickedness, simple minded, simply deplorable.
Seriously.
6
"the claim that the Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-Semitic violence seems dubious or wrong."
To undermine this claim, Douthat cites an opinion from a right-wing web-site called the Volokh report. This web-site defends many of Trump's words and policies.
The ADL, which the Volokh report criticizes, does not take a political stances. Its only purpose is to monitor the incidence of anti-Semitism. Although its data and conclusions can be inspected and challenged, it is the work of careful social scientists, not right-wing opinionists.
Furthermore, you don't need statistics to know that the massacre in Pittsburgh was the worst incident of anti-Semitism in American history. It happened on Trump's watch.
11
I think your optimism is anthropomorphic at best. Any attempt to assign a shred of human decency to those who thrill at Trump’s inhumanity is futile. If there were hearts and souls in the empty husks that populate Trump’s base, they would recoil from the hate speech that Trump continues to spew after the horrors of last week. Instead, they cheer.
And the cult is no longer pretending that they supported Trump because of his lame economic promises in 2016. For the midterms, Trump isn’t bothering to disguise what he knows they really want. Hate, anger and fear.
5
Trump’s “strategy” is to say and do anything that will help him rev up his base - wheteher factual or not. In other words - lie every day.
No further analysis is needed, Ross, except how to get rid of this poor excuse for a human being.
11
Naturally, Mr. Douthat, I share your hopes--if these ARE your hopes--that the GOP (standing in for Mr. Trump) gets clobbered in six days. We shall see.
A totally weird thought coming up:
Remember Dr. Martin Luther King? Of course, you do. And the great "I have a dream speech."
You may also remember: he'd reached the end of a fine speech--he'd laid out the grotesque inequality between black people and white people. There was applause--good job! good job!
Was it the late Aretha Franklin that pulled on his coat tails--"Do the I-have-a-dream bit, Martin!" He did.
Wow! He did.
As who should say "THIS is what it's all about. THIS is what I am all about. THIS is coming straight from the heart." And it was. It did.
And THIS--Mr. Douthat--
--is what Mr. Donald J. Trump is all about.
THIS, Mr. Douthat, is coming from HIS heart.
THIS, Mr. Douthat, is what he is. And was. And will be.
Oh--I don't doubt there's a element of cynical political calculation here. No--I don't doubt that for a moment.
BUT--
--at some point, you do speak out. Let it all out, as they say. Tell the world: THIS is what I am, what I stand for.
Our President, sir--
--is doing that right now.
What this man is saying really IS--what's in his heart.
It horrifies us. Lord, have mercy!
It horrifies us.
4
I wonder how many lone wolfs there are at his rallies as he whips them up into a united frenzy. Trump is wicked. He is a bad man, a dangerous person. I hope to see some comments from conservatives here, and I hope they see the light.
6
We can complain about Trump all we want, but until he (and/or the Republicans) lose elections there will be no change.
4
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go to bed Tuesday nght seeing blue?
Even listening to Trump make his excuses and hear his pathetic lies about the “very, very, very haaaarible election results” would be worth just seeing blue again.
Fingers crossed.
6
"And the oft-repeated claim that the Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-Semitic violence seems dubious or wrong." How is it wrong? I would remind Douthat that Arabs and many Muslims are Semites and they have been under rhetorical and actual attacks for these two years. (It seems like 20 years.)
t rump is attracting no new voters; he has just been entertaining those who already drank the kool aid with his "campaign" rallies. He has spent the last two years reliving his campaign and he still feels like a loser compared to Clinton, as should be obvious from his rally rhetoric.
He is a sad, tiny, tiny, little man. I hope he finally gets what is coming to him. A life sentence in Leavenworth for treason.
6
Yeah, Ross, we pay the drug bill for the rest of the freeloaders on the planet.
Or, we're the only people on the planet dumb enough to forbid their government to negotiate drug costs with Big Pharma. Our Congress is paid by Big Pharma to do their business, and it's good business indeed.
We pay more for health care than the rest of the world, we get worse results and don't even cover all our people, and, special free bonus, we let folks learn by hand what "medical bankruptcy" means. Only in America.
Yeah, they're freeloaders.
Or we're just dumb as a box of rocks.
9
I assume you know the story of Thomas Becket, Archbishop pf Canterbury. You know, the one that The Young King Henry reputedly called 'this meddlesome priest." Yes, the same one who was killed by four of Henry's knights, who, whatever exactly he said, interpreted his words as a license to commit murder. Now, how exactly is that different from claiming that Soros-funded immigrants with Middle Eastern terrorists embedded in their midst are invading our country? You think the poor knucklehead who showed up with an AR to "investigate" Pizzagate came up with that on his own? Do you think Cesar the Hapless would have sent bombs to CNN if Trump wasn't constantly calling it the Enemy of the People? Do you think that that the weird loner Bowers would have attacked a synagogue without encouragement (at the highest level)? Just because the individuals who carry out these acts are losers and unhinged doesn't absolve those who tiptoe up to the line of violence and then say "nobody could have foreseen this". Are you serious? It's only a few short stets to the Hutu and Tutsi, or the Rohingas, or as many horrible example as you want to cite. Citing " the idiosyncratic nature of lone-wolf attacks" is a complete abdication of responsibility. You should know better. Ask Thomas a Becket.
8
Unfortunately, the Republican Congress and Administration deserve a lot more punishment at the polls than they are likely to receive.
What deserves attention is how many last minute additions to the tax "reform" bill were added at the request of Trump, Kushner, and other plutocrats in his close circle. That tax bill was not just "unpopular", it is a damaging piece of legislation - it picks winners and losers, it punishes blue states over red states, and it decimates the tax base while federal spending is increasing. Finally, it contains portions that are directed towards one and only one industry - real estate development - that benefits directly Trump, Kushner, and the rest of their clan.
it will take a generation to undo this unholy mess.
6
The immigration issue has divided the Democrats. Get that issue off the table and … there will be another issue. The Democrats are good at beating each other up over wedge issues.
Trump's not the only one on an ego trip.
1
President Trump is exactly what I thought he was, a prevaricator and second rate grifter.
Not one time have I been surprised by any tweet, speech or any of his odious interviews on the state TV network Fox.
Trump assured voters that he would enact a "better and cheaper health care plan." That he would close the carried interest loopholes favored by hedge funds since he knew all the "tricks" of the plutocrats. No infrastructure bill and rising deficits on pace for a staggering 1 Trillion per fiscal year, means Trump must pull out the ace card of all despots and authoritarians, Fear. No surprise. Perhaps philosopher Eric Hoffer sums it up well.
"Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all the unifying agents."
3
Wicked is the correct term to use for our president. Thanks, Ross! It works on Halloween and for the rest of the year as well. It is a mystery why Christians support such a man, especially when, in the Lord’s prayer, we ask, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” The presence of these words suggests how appealing and powerful temptation is. With Trump, if he supports your policy views, you are tempted to support him. If you believe in wickedness, then the next words of the Lord’s prayer are for you - “but deliver us from evil.” These words are in there, because these things are hard to do.
2
Ross does not think that Trump bears any responsibility in these attacts.
I wonder whether he also does not think that the virulent anti abortion campaigns encouraged the the individuals who attacked and murdered abortion providers.
When leaders preach hate and violance, don't tell me that they don't expect their followers to act on it.
That would be like be like religeous leaders preaching their dogma, and disavowing any credit for conversions.
4
Donald Trump is the gift that keeps on giving; however and unfortunately, he gives to both sides equally with each successive ridiculous act. What rational, normal people see as outlandish, his base marvels at. What the country and world needs is a paradigm shift in human thought. In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof of how we have tricked the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about just what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. When we understand this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
3
Mr. Douthat conveniently ignores several aspects of Trumpism, as it has emerged from and taken over the Republican party. First, while Trump has surfed on a wave of right wing extremism, he has also done much to aid and abet extremists with his words and policies. Extremists on immigration; extremists on deregulation, especially regarding regulations that protect consumers and the environment; extremists on the courts; and extremists on tax cuts for the wealthy. Secondly, he is a morally bankrupt leader who ignores the majority of Americans who do not support him, his party, or their policies. Thirdly, he gets away with this because a combination of wedge politics, decades of Republican gerrymandering, organized Republican voter suppression (look no further than the Republican candidate for governor in Georgia who, as secretary of state, purged the rolls of voters who might support his opponent), a Compliant Supreme Court, a spineless and hypocritical Republican Congress, and the Electoral College has undermined democracy and allowed an extreme minority to steamroll the political preferences of the majority.
Any columnist for a major news organization, whether conservative or liberal, who does not recognize the existential threat Trump and his allies pose to the values and to the democracy of the United States of America and who does not speak out against it is irresponsible and morally complicit with Trump.
2
Ross, what you and much of the MSM and the "experts" miss is that while Trump does get support from a large minority comprised of right wing extremists of all stripes, what got him elected was the support by many independents and moderates who were so hungry for an alternative to the Status Quo that they voted for him. Mission Accomplished.
But while his strategy worked for him then, it's not going to work so well now. Sure, his ardent supporters will swoon at his rantings, but many of those who put him over the top are appalled and won't be fooled again.
The Republicans still hold a built in advantage with gerrymandering heavily tilting the playing field, along with the outsized influence that smaller states - usually more conservative - carry the same weight as large ones with the two-Senators-per-state rule. So the Republicans may still retain Congress despite a Blue Wave. But I suspect that a "Blue Tsunami" is coming which will wash over those built in advantages. Hopefully, it can wash Congress clean of Republican control.
America is wakening to the fact that Trump's "Greatest Hits" are our greatest shame.
2
Trump is the shiny object journalust like to play with and use as he uses them. The greatest problem here is the Republican party that enables him in order to hammer home policies that crucify the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that many of us and our fellow citizens had fought for before the Republicans seized power. One party control is not a democracy. Not listening to the concerns of people outside of the donor class is not a democracy. The 'bread and circuses' act this current Administration and Congress are giving us is wearing thin.
2
Let's not forget that the convicted Kansas militia men behind a mosque bomb plot have blamed the Trump's rhetoric for their actions. So, their lawyers are asking for leniency. When the President of the United States stokes Islamophobia he should be voted out of office. Trump has given the go-ahead to right wing criminals. This is from the party of "law and order". Where are the rest of the GOP? https://globalnews.ca/news/4613669/kansas-mosque-bombing-plot-trump/
4
We have a little problem here. All the evidence is in. All of his whiny little boy pleas for Americans to hate each other (oddly enough always delivered in the manner of a sweet little girl) are paying bloody dividends.
Once the bodies start hitting the floor, like they are now, we enter the realm of having to ask whether or not we are witnessing "stochastic terrorism." (The use of mass, public communication, usually against a particular individual or group, which incites or inspires acts of terrorism which are statistically probable but happen seemingly at random.)
The question we must ask ourselves now is whether stochastic terrorism is real and if so what are we to do about Trump? Has this man's vile words technically turned him into a terrorist?
3
While lots of folks, including most Democrats, would like to make this election about Trump, he's not on the ballot. I didn't vote for Trump in 2016 and I won't vote for him this year. I will vote for my Republican Congressman, however.
"he was populist on economics in a way that placed him closer to the center than a Paul Ryan or Mitt Romney"
How is running up new $1.5 trillion deficits putting Trump "closer to the center"?
6
I’m loving that Trump is running again on a middle class tax break, admitting what everyone already knows about who benefitted from the last one, and that the 2016 promises were lies. Does anyone believe him this time around?
5
Ross has completely failed to mention a key strategy employed by Trump - taking negative campaigning to a new level by being willing to continuously lie about his critics and opponents. Trump continuously projects his sins - self-dealing, lying about his origin story, sexual predation, cheating - on others.
Trump also lies about the Democratic agenda as a way of countering any weaknesses in his agenda. Democratic solutions will lead to us becoming "Venezuela". The fact that the Republicans don't have an acceptable alternative for the ACA is no accident - because any realistic solution involves taxing some people to pay for the healthcare of other people - which violates a central tenet of the Republican religion - thou shall not raise taxes.
Republicans have so successfully peddled this idea - that gov't spending is NEVER the solution, that Democrats have been accused of not having any solutions/plans, when in fact it is Republicans who are the party of NO, who have no plans to address global warming or uninsured Americans, or crumbling infrastructure or poorly paid teachers, or the increasing wealth disparity, because they believe markets should dictate what is and isn't worth doing - i.e. one dollar, one vote.
So I am not sanguine that people will hold Republicans accountable for failing to make good on Trump's promises, because the strategy of making empty promises about "better" solutions has worked for them before.
8
I hope this period in time will be remembered as the last gasp of an old order. Trump was their response to Obama.
8
Tax cut has resulted in 85% going to the corporate profits less then 15% for jobs and a lot of that is for increased automation. Increase in debt this year of 700 billion. Loss of the few hundred dollars for middle class due to the Iran policy and increased gas costs.So thats one winner for the trump voters. More immigration this year then ever. Now from Central America. Increased costs of border patrols. Another winner.Destruction of the health care and costs way up. No plans in sight. The President vacationing at his golf courses 1/3 of the time and costing millions. Hey, but "lock her up" is still a exciting chant.
5
"The idiosyncratic nature of lone-wolf attacks makes it a mistake to draw a line of direct responsibility from Trump’s rhetoric to the would-be pipe bomber and the synagogue shooting."
Maybe not *direct* responsibility... but certainly SOME. The synagogue was targeted specifically because they assisted refugees, and trump frequently repeated the fear mongering of the "caravan" as "INVADERS!". And there's no doubt that he played a part in working the pipe-bomber into a frenzy.
9
The biggest question is whether there will be mass defection of whites from the Democratic Party. On this question the outcome of the Mid-Term elections may hinge.
For all of Trump's bluster about immigration, what has he actually accomplished? Nothing, really. Lazy tweets, half-baked EOs, offensive rhetoric, a deployment of troops to stop a "caravan" months away. Absolutely no heavy lifting, no legislation, just last minute pantomimes of base-teasing red meat pseudo-strength. Trump may go back to his golden escalator old ways, but now he has a lazy record -- so that dance should not work.
7
The only - ONLY - hopeful spot for me in Trump's 2016 campaign was that here was a Republican finally talking about the little guy and middle class for once, rejecting Trickle Down economics, and the rank and file Republicans ate it up. Economically he was the anti-Reagan.
I would have very much like to have seen the $1 trillion infrastructure plan he promised happen, for instance, something which would have been a true and needed investment in the US which would benefit the middle class economy.
Instead, the Republican machine convinced him to give $2 trillion in tax breaks to the already very rich, and just enough, temporary tax break bakshish to the middle class to get through the mid-terms.
To me is can the Democrats stop holding their hands to their mouths in horror at the latest Trumpian outrage, and get back to focusing on the middle class, and for instance, point out that Trump did another Republican bait-and-switch on them?
4
Maybe Ross is correct that Trump has the wits to see a “closing argument” is in order. But I doubt it. He is prone to playing the same old record again and again, and it is an indication that Trump at this stage is just a robot executing his ossified id.
8
What amazes me is that people feel better about an inflated stock market’s general heights and lower corporate tax rates, full employment of people far too qualified for the minimum wage they’re paid ...
... Ignoring near-$3 gasoline, $5/pound )including added water) “lean” hamburger meat, no raises and reductions in benefits as a sign of a “healthy economy.”
T
The bright reports of national “job creation” - of low-quality jobs replacing better that existed before George W, tanked the budget on a 100% illegal war that Congress wouldn’t call him on, that, in addition to killing millions of Iraqis and some Americans. ballooning debt and deficit - a wound Obama tried to staunch, only to see scab and new skin ripped away by the Trump tax plan, which emptied federal coffers requiring more federal bond sales
TV 10-second economy reality, Trump reality, Facebook reality now produced by local, rather than Russian Russian trolls, is realer than an empty wallet, higher prices on smaller containers at the supermarket, insanely high fuel prices, 1.05% interest on bank CDs.
WHEN WILL THEY LEARN?
And then there are the things Trump has swept under the rug: the Mueller investigation, which he has promised to try to quash when he “cleans house at Justice” immediately following the mid-terms; his criticism, followed by silence on the Saudi murder of a Washington Post columnist, the 57% rise in serious anti-Semitic acts since the day he took office, continued random attacks on blacks ...
4
If any voters buy his scam the second time around they are indeed stupid.
11
Bear in mind, Trump supporters have their very own “reality” generated by a hugely successful brainwashing apparatus. They don’t know what is going on, and don’t believe their own eyes.
12
We have had a few seasons of Trump now and the show is already wearing itself out. We have all seen it before and I believe now some people want to get back to figuring out the best way to actually run the country. This has been fun and all but it is becoming clear that not everyone can agree with how things are going. What has really been accomplished? Democrats could run on ACA and agreeing to infrastructure alone. And, if they got their messaging right they could win. I say they need to go with the swing to the left and swing for the fences. There is no shame in going for it and I think they would be rewarded by being less politically correct and move more to the left of center than they have felt comfortable doing in the past.
2
Douthat believes that Trump’s successful strategy that won the GOP nomination and then defeated Clinton may come to an end. The violence and increasing divisiveness in America will cause reasonable citizens to discover that Trump is not the populist Americans sought.
We will see through the campaign of cardboard candidates that run on being a “businessman,” a “job creator,” destroyer of “big government,” a “wall builder,” and tough on “illegals.” Now, Trump is taking on childbirth with false statements as USA is the only country that grants citizenship to a newborn.
Against the popular belief that reason will prevail, I believe that Trump does reflect the true face and core of the America of today. Denigrating opponents have reached new heights. Hatred towards immigrants as well as people of color plays well. Violence is now an accepted part of our society, with only number or place causing a blip on the news cycle.
When we faced the greatest challenge to our nation in the 1860’s, Lincoln in his first inaugural address said that “The mystic chords of memory…will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
Just as this speech would be followed by the worst conflict we every fought, now too we may find that there are no “better angels,” only a divided people who only seem united in foreign wars.
3
Wondering why Democratic candidates don't simply endlessly ask: Are you better off than you were two years ago?!!
5
I hope you are right Ross. That Trump's approach will not work this time. Based on recent events, and in fact, all of the events since Trump's Presidency, the Republicans do not deserve re-election
They used Trump's distractions to put through the worse Tax Reform bill and lied about it, adding to a deficit that should not have been added to. They voted in the most corrupt Cabinet members ever. They almost did away with the ACA and are now lying about changing it but keeping pre-existing conditions in whatever they dream up as a new Health care initiative. They are all genuflecting to the NRA, even thought the massacres continue. They do nothing to stop the Voting Rights Act from being diminished.
Tell me, What good are Republicans anymore. They used to stand for fiscal responsibility, for Voting Rights and Freedom for every citizen (remember Lincoln). Now they stand for nothing but spreading hate, lining their own pockets and that of their cronies and donors. Taking away birth control and choice from Women.
And ensuring that Separation of Church and State no longer matter to citizens.
What a foul bunch they have turned out to be.
223
@Jean RIGHT ON!
18
The rise of prolific Trumpian propaganda conjoined with social media that only serves to give everyone's data to the security state so it can silence dissent before it starts with the ever more out of control largess of the Military Industrial Complex is completely destroying our Republic!
3
As long as morals-free hypocrites on the right like Douthat continue to play down Republican leaders’ calls to hatred, violence and even assassination as mere rhetoric or “japes” this country will continue to sink into a Republican Party created morass. It has become undeniably clear that the Republican Party, from Trump down to the base, worship at the altar of hate, winning at all costs and greed with zero concern for human life, America or the world. If Douthat were capable of actual moral thought or shame he would join the exodus from the Republican Party instead of dishonestly trying to spin pure evil as harmless words.
3
You seem, at long last, to be inching away from this insanity. I hope the impotent Republic Congress are doing the same.
As a life-long Democrat I would promise to vote for a rational Republican in 2020 if we could rid ourselves of this dangerous mistake.
It never mattered what Trump said or did, lying, fulminating, molesting women it was all grist for the mill. And in 2016 he had the perfect bogeywoman, even accepting that the election results were not illegally influenced or hacked in order for him to barely slip by. Today his entranced acolytes still have a lot of love, but the rest of the electorate mainly sees him as an annoying mosquito buzzing in the background. There is no convenient archenemy, just absurdly irrelevant targets like Nancy Pelosi. He is preaching to a choir whom he had at hello. Other than that it is all hot air.
2
Antisemitic attitudes have increased dramatically since Trump took office--yet Netanyahu, and many Israelis, are worshipers of him and named a street in Israel after him.
Is a puzzlement. (king & I)
3
"And the illegal-immigration gambits describe themselves." WE can talk about illegal immigration another time – but Trump is sending troops in response to the caravan. Remind me: what's illegal about seeking asylum again? These people are entering the country legally, according to our asylum laws.
Mr. Douthat's comment reveals the right's mindset on all people coming into the country, for any reason: they're just all "illegals."
Muddying the issues, rather than helping to clarify them, does the public no good service at all.
109
Look at that yooge crowd. The biggest ever! Everyone is saying.
1
Falling all over ourselves to dismiss any connection between Trump's relentless and reckless rhetoric and the surge of violence in the country is exactly what the perpetrators of such agitation depend upon. The 'false flag' accusations in response to the Florida loner's (thankfully) poorly made pipe bomb attacks on prominent Trump critics, including two former Presidents, is an example at how prepared Trump's regressive righties were for such attacks and how much they were certain such attacks were bound to happen given Trump's hate speech. Trump flies around the country lying to adoring crowds, threatening violence against his perceived enemies, barely one step up from his NBC appearances. Should we somehow expect the country to be better for that?
1
“The idiosyncratic nature of lone-wolf attacks makes it a mistake to draw a line of direct responsibility from Trump’s rhetoric to the would-be pipe bomber and the synagogue shooting.”
You must have thought a long time to find wording that absolves Trump of “direct” responsibility. A lone wolf shooter or bomber is idiosyncratic by definition, so qualifying your statement in that way absolves anyone from even having any real responsibility for their actions.
But your vocabulary and syntax is an obvious attempt to avoid the facts. Both terrorist carried out atrocities that they believed mirrored the agenda being set by Trump. The hit list for the bomber was straight out of Trump’s mouth, and the shooter believed the caravan of people walking toward the US is actually an “invasion” supported by people who Trump also vilifies.
Ross, if you say there’s no direct line between Trump and the lone wolf attacks—what kind of line would you draw? Let’s ask a question that has an easier answer: would the mail bomb attempts and the murders in Pittsburgh have happened without this President being in office?
4
Shorter Douthat: Just as it was his core message in 2016, Trump's core message in 2018 is to lie about everything.
We can only hope that Abraham Lincoln's famous dictum will come into play: “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
1
It looks like the diagnosis of a blind, deaf psychiatrist lying on the bed next to his deranged patient. The text can only be attributed to a fan of disguise. A transvestite of the truth and what happens around him
1
And if the (on foot) would be asylum seekers rush the border post, what are the troops with live ammunition supposed to do?
The fact that the closing arguments can be summarized so easily is a great communications strategy. Similarly, an article on the pipe bomber pictured of one of his bumper stickers. It was the size of a place mat and had illustrations of all the usual R bogeymen, each tagged with phrases like “Bengazhi”, “Syria red line”, “Open borders”, “Second amendment”. Simplistic, misleading and useless as a policy paper. But 110% effective in nabbing a vote. The Ds should learn from this.
2
Trump the conman - this guys a one - I mean - two trick pony - hate and fear
A shameless hack laughing all the way to the bank.
4
Let US not forget the two African Americans who were shot at the Kroger in Kentucky.
Trump is a liar plain and simple. He won because of division on the left more than because of any appeal of his own.
We cannot play with this election and vote for people who cannot win. We cannot afford to stay home because the candidate does not "excite" US.
We get the government we deserve, and we deserve better than this.
6
A shameful column from a shameless Republican apologist.
Douthat absolves Trump from "direct responsibility" rather than admonish him for his indirect responsibility. He is not guilty but responsible.
After trying to stomach such a rhetorical con, Douthat then writes that Trump is also not to blame for "the general surge" in anti-Semitism . I think the people of Pittsburgh would tell Douthat that they hope hold Trump directly responsible for demonizing refugees whicvh was the motive behind the killings ; of course, the dead can not speak on the matter.
To the Editorial Page: you can do better than Douthat. "Identarian demagogy and political heterodoxy" reflect contrived rhetorical flourishes and pretentious intellectual vanity which only seek to put lipstick on a pig..
10
I shouldn't be surprised that you refuse to acknowledge the obvious uptick in anti-semitism and racial violence directly related to the Trump Presidency. Hopefully voters will see a bit more clearly
4
Trump's campaigning is so formulaic it's amazing even his most rabid supporters aren't bored with his predictable script:
- inflate self
- laud false achievements
- scapegoat any of numerous others
- bash media
- invoke bigotry
- allude to violence
- lie, lie, lie
- above all, be loud
Also, omit:
- all nuance
- talk of real policy
- unifying messages
He may be playing his greatest hits, but he sounds like a broken record.
9
Mr. Douthat, "simple wickedness" has defined this president, his party and his administration. You know this, as do most American voters who will sit in judgment of his autocracy next week.
The mail bomber and the Pittsburgh synagogue killer were not swayed by President Obama's message of tolerance, acceptance and inclusion of their fellow citizens. They were instead inspired by a kindred spirit living in the soul of this president.
If enough voters are honest enough to admit how wrong they were to trust this nominee in 2016, they can atone for their mistakes by voting not blue or red next Tuesday but for a return to what made America great long before this man happened to us.
2
Trump and his allies further debilitated The ACA and did effectively nothing for healthcare beyond making it less available
and more expensive to get actual service. Trump deserves nothing from the mid-terms that the rest of his allies do. A substantial drubbing. Americans deserve much, much better.
4
It is hilarious how Trump is able to play the Progressives and its MSM like a violin. The birthright issue is a great example. You may recall that, before he suggested yesterday that he'd make an executive order re birthright citizenship, things were going better for the Progressives -- the bomb packages and the Pittsburgh tragedy were being spun as Trump's fault, and the NY Times literally eliminated any discussion of the immigration caravan from its pages. Then Trump announces his proposal, and Progressives and MSM drop everything and focus obsessively on immigration -- the very thing that Trump wants to be foremost in the voters' minds. Charlie Brown once again falls for Lucy's football ploy.
5
I'm not buying a libertarian analysis that rejects any connection between Trump's rhetoric and attendant upticks in hate crimes since his election. It is, however, a useful disclosure in understanding your POV and methodology.
2
You know what would be wild? A Douthat column where he expresses any degree of understanding whatsoever of his role in helping get Trump elected. Wouldn't that be something: a conservative actually showing some of the "personal responsibility" they think everyone else should have?
Well, we can dream at last.
5
True with a caveat: in 2019, Trump made Hillary the Boogeyman. This year, the Boogeyman is "the press is the enemy of the people" and responsible for massacres.
So Trump's greatest hits get to threaten democracy. It was very painful that in 2016 the most qualified candidate got the most votes and did not get to move to the WH. But now we are not only dealing with an incompetent President-Conspirator but with the survival of the Republic.
2
According to Ross Douthat "on infrastructure, the big campaign promise, he [Trump] delivered next to nothing".
Let's be honest, Ross. Omit the "next to".
3
A perceptive column. But what Douthat and most other commentators fail to recognize is that the average American voter is media-illiterate and swayed one way or another by the distractions manufactured by the Bread and Circuses this administration provides, the egregious malpractice of the entertainment-oriented electronic news media, and the 4th-grade level of most 30-second political ads. Neil Postman said it best in his book, the prescient title of which is "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business." Trump and the Republicans are the perfect acolytes of P. T. Barnum, to wit: There really are millions of sucker voters born every minute, more than enough, apparently, to turn our country into a Third-World Plutocracy.
2
Trump is not against "illegal immigration" he is against Hispanics from Mexico and Central America. Please do not dignify his racism with pretty phrases.
2
The thing about playing the old hit tunes over and over, is that hit tunes have a lifespan. Then they become golden oldies, with an aging, less engaged audience. The menacing Arab infested Caravan has a little fresh outrage going for it. It's got a few Times headlines, which is a good measure of a new Trump hit tune, but bombers and murderous shootings have pretty well buried it. The new birthright citizenship ditty is playing more like a jingle than a new hit. The ten percent tax cut pretty much sunk like a stone. At this point Donald Trump is looking more like a fading oldies band, looking to get by playing thier old tunes at various Indian casinos.
2
You termed the mail bomber & the synagogue shooter as "idiosyncratic."
The mail bomber mode of transportation was covered, the whole van, in propaganda aggressive towards democratic candidates, democratic individuals. There were crosshairs on a few of them (thanks Palin).
To say this bomber was "unpredictable" in any fashion is ridiculous. He advertised his feelings for anyone to see. Is that against the law? No. But there is nothing idiosyncratic about what he did.
Trumps rhetoric matters. He protected white supremacists in Charlottesville. He is who he is and always has been. Stop giving him cover with twists of language.
3
The reason Donald Trump keeps returning to his old hits is because he doesn't have any new ones -- and he couldn't even fulfill those.
Next distraction.
Send in more troops.
3
Trump deserves praise for one thing, and one thing only. His appeal to millions of Americans, enough of them in the right places to win the Electoral College vote, and the subservient loyalty of elected Republicans at all levels of government show the dark side of the American people, the distortions of America's myths, and the deviance from its ideals. For those concerned with the survival and viability of democracy, addressing the barbarism and vulgarity of Trump, his MAGA crowd, and Republicans everywhere will require hard and persistent work to restore this country's purported values to paramountcy.
1
".....Trump can at least claim (however debatably) to be looking out for blue-collar workers more than past Republicans." Exactly what has he done for blue-collar workers Mr. Douthat? The tax cut for the wealthy certainly was not to their benefit. The tariffs are going to make the price of goods go up, shrinking buying power, and threatening jobs in the manufacturing sector. Mr. Trump has only offered them his tough guy authoritarian rhetoric. He is still selling the sizzle, when there is no steak.
If you cannot draw a straight line between Trump's vile rants at his rallies and the actions taken by Sayoc and Bowers then you do not know the power of words. What Trump has done is lend legitimacy to people's prejudices, making it ok to be a white nationalist, a racist, a misogynist, and a xenophobe. People are coming away from Trump's rallies, not uplifted with hope, but filled with anger and hatred. Some are giving vent to that anger in small hurtful ways by using racial epithets, and some have acted on that anger to send pipe bombs and slaughter innocent people peacefully worshiping in a synagogue.
At this point, I am guardedly hopeful that the Democrats will at least take back the House, so that there will be some balance against what has been a nightmarish two years.
2
Why exactly, Ross, does the idiosyncratic nature of the lone wolf attacker make it wrong to draw a line of responsibility to Trump and his attitude and his rhetoric? Because you say it does? Wake up my sleepy middle ages' Catholic author friend, this guy is pure poison of a kind we have not yet tasted, and his venom knows no boundaries. You and his other occasional apologists can parse all you want. This guy is an evil presence on the world scene, he's not funny, and he cannot represent us much longer.
5
Donald Trump is not that calculating nor clever to concoct this strategy. Trump is merely the symptom of an enduring endemic pervasive white supremacist American socioeconomic political educational demographic historical myth malignly meant to legally and morally justify black African enslavement and separate and unequal black African Jim Crow.
But for the 63 million Americans who voted for Trump including 58 % of white voters, Trump would not be President of the United States. Coupled with the hacking and meddling of Julian Assange, James Comey, Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin. We cannot blame Trump on either divine royal sanction nor an armed military coup.
2
"The idiosyncratic nature of lone-wolf attacks makes it a mistake to draw a line of direct responsibility from Trump’s rhetoric to the would-be pipe bomber and the synagogue shooting. And the oft-repeated claim that the Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-Semitic violence seems dubious or wrong."
Of course it's impossible to draw a straight line back to Trump, but that's obviously beside the point.
He's swimming in the same cesspool as these violent morons and tossing the beach ball back and forth with them.
I guess it will take him actually shooting somebody on Fifth Avenue before you acknowledge (maybe) that there's kind of a problem with Trump's behavior.
And as far as the anti-semitic surge being a "dubious" claim, I find this whole column not only dubious but completely idiotic.
1
Tell me Ross, how can a policy be described as a "Muslim ban" when it did not apply to the five countries with the largest Muslim populations?
1
Greatest hits? Yes, Trump is a hit man.
1
Douthat musters up his best conservative Republican “courage” by branding Trump as “winking at extremism” and being “simply wicked”. How bold and breathtaking for him to do so! He glaringly refuses to actually assign any personal responsibility to Trump, however, for significantly inflaming through his repeated divisive and conspiratorial rhetoric an existing dangerous subculture which is prepared, equipped, and willing to engage in violent behavior. I find it particularly galling that this columnist, who often self-promotes his religious-based worldview, retreats from a core, moral tenant of assigning a justified measure of blame to our reckless Oval Office agitator.
2
Trump's rhetorical "style" (sic) always had a short self life, and maybe the clock is ticking. It is starting to feel like the last two to three years of the W. Bush administration, when even Republicans cringed whenever Bush opened his mouth. "A middle class tax cut next week;" "end birthright citizenship by executive fiat;" "massive troop movements on the border to stop 7,000 starving Hondurans" -- these things are embarrassing to Americans in general and Republicans specifically. This is not thoughtful government. It is a trainwreck.
What does the President do when the overwhelming majority of Americans can't stand the sound of his voice ?
141
@Brian Prioleau
"What does the President do when the overwhelming majority of Americans can't stand the sound of his voice ?"
Claim that the majority of Americans are actors being paid by the Democrats, what else?
22
@Brian Prioleau, he'll come out swinging, and it's the Democrats fault, and that evil news media. His repertoire is slim, like his vocabulary. He is both a dunce and an evil genius. There needs to be a check on this guy in November.
16
@Brian Prioleau...I will not willingly listen to that voice. Life is too short. Every statement, every one, contains some outright lie or fatuous exaggeration, or BOTH. It's all self-congratulation. I will not listen to it.
6
If the Democrats win control of the House will the reason be that populists who voted for Trump on economic issues in 2016 have had two years to evaluate the administration’s performance and have judged it lacking?
Maybe.
However, there has been a good deal of research that suggests that economic issues were not the primary motivator for many Trump supporters, many of whom are economically quite secure.
Drawing on this research, David Brooks has argued that cultural issues, more than material issues, are the real drivers of our political divisions.
Watching clips of Trump rallies provides evidence for Brooks’ asrgument. What draws the loudest cheers are Trump’s personal insults, his attacks on the media and his denigration of immigrants who he paints as criminals and terrorists.
I would like to think that if the Democrats win the House it is because there are more Americans who reject Trumpism than embrace it. Enough Americans, in fact, to overcome the gerrymandering advantages the GOP has so skillfully constructed.
2
"on infrastructure, the big campaign promise, he delivered next to nothing." Even the wall fizzled or has it just morphed into the human barrier of the military to appease his supporters? The great real estate developer they elected has left the real infrastructure of the country's broken bridges, highways and airports in the dust.
6
Ross gives too much credit to Trump's strategic mind and glosses over the continued presence of Stephen Miller in the White House.
Trump has never had a "pitch" other than to unapologetically reveal what was for years regarded by the right as caricature of who they really were to be as reality.
3
Donald Trump is the original one trick pony.
The only trick he knows is making himself the center of everything. The road show is all about him.
Maybe his fan base likes to see the same trick performed over and over, but most of us like to see growth and something new.
11
Improved infrastructure- zilch!
Affordable healthcare for all - nada!
Better wages for the lower paid - zip!
Opioid crisis being solved! - nil!
Drained swamp! - forget it!
More respect for America globally - forget it!
But hey, keep holding up those “Promises Kept” signs at the Trump rallies if it makes you feel better!
364
@Susan Which of course is the reason for the vile and negative ads. They got nuttin' in the way of positive achievements to run on.
20
@Susan All Trump has done is reverse policies that made America America.
Now he's planning to "overwrite" The Constitution of The United States of America, for which he swore an oath to protect.
What's up with that America?
27
@Susan My favorite MAGA sign is "Finish The Wall" (like it's even been started?)
13
The tone if this column leaves me frustrated and annoyed with Mr Douthat. Just to be clear...I read his stuff so I can try to maintain some sort of balance for information ingestion (also read Michael Gerson, David Brooks). Douthat, unlike these other conservative voices, always seems like an apologist for Trump and his pernicious behaviors. Out of one side of his mouth he declares that what Trump says is kind of ridiculous and yet on the other hand he makes it sound like it's not so bad. This tone can lead one to believe that Douthat may be one of those conservatives who holds his nose and supports this administration because he wants to see policies in place that fit his view of how our country should be. That may be a legitimate reason to hold but the damage being done in general and specifically to our country by Trump will be long-lasting and potentially devastating to millions of people. Ross, it is not okay to be okay with this man.
3
Sorry Ross, but this statement couldn't be more wrong:
"The idiosyncratic nature of lone-wolf attacks makes it a mistake to draw a line of direct responsibility from Trump’s rhetoric to the would-be pipe bomber and the synagogue shooting. And the oft-repeated claim that the Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-Semitic violence seems dubious or wrong."
As evidence, look no further than Trump's birther argument about Obama that he repeated for years. Numerous polls on the subject asking people whether they thought Trump's claim was true indicated people thought it was true based on zero evidence, just Trump's repeated assertion that it was true. Anytime you have someone repeat lies over and over and over again, there's always a segment of the population, typically uneducated, that will believe it. And certainly the three individuals that allegedly perpetrated the recent shootings (Kentucky and Pittsburgh) and mail bombings fall into the category of those easily influenced by a grifter's messaging.
Sorry but words matter, especially if they come from someone purporting to be the President of the United States.
11
Your election eve prognostication two years ago was that the "safe bet" was an early-night decisive Clinton victory. I usually enjoy your column, but this is one of the subjects where you have no credibility to speak. I wish you'd stick to explaining things that are or have already happened -- don't forecast political outcomes because readers who remember can't take you seriously (and you appear un-serious by blithely swinging with "safe bet" confidence).
"The idiosyncratic nature of lone-wolf attacks makes it a mistake to draw a line of direct responsibility from Trump’s rhetoric to the would-be pipe bomber and the synagogue shooting. And the oft-repeated claim that the Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-Semitic violence seems dubious or wrong."
You don't think Trumps rhetoric and divisive nature has anything to do with this?
Tell this to all of the recipients of the pipe bombs.
Tell this to the families of the 11 murdered in Pittsburgh.
3
In a statement this morning by Donald Trump just one day after he visited the place where 11 people were murdered in the Pittsburgh synagogue, not a word is stated by Donald Trump about what he or his family gave to people in Pittsburgh. Not a word about what he felt and expressed for grieving people after visiting during a day of funerals for those murdered people. Only many words about what he got. Then he resumed his attack on the press.
1
Ross, you and I live on different planets. Hence "And the oft-repeated claim that the Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-Semitic violence seems dubious or wrong." According to all non-fringe sources antisemitism has spiked since trump began his rants; 57% last year alone according to one reliable tracker.
While your quotes are accurate, your conclusions as the effect of his words are Op Ed correctness.It doesn't take an astute mind to see this fool has kicked over a hornets nest.
You've intellectualized and rationalized away the obvious and lost a long time fan in the process; me.
5
Mr Douthat, the biggest problem with Trump and his followers is that they have made conspiracy theories and white-supremacist rhetoric seem to be part of the mainstream. He has allowed the darkness to surface and spread. I would gladly accept any former president as a replacement for our current one. It's not a question of ideology or party, it's a question of decency and pragmatism. Aside from his rhetoric, he has also hacked away at the world order that was established after WWII, a world order that has largely kept us from WWIII. He has fought the norms that have held our government and the world in check and made our world more stable. He needs to be checked at the ballot box because his fellow party members won't do it.
5
In 2016 Trump won by a razor thin margin and his victory, as well as many down ballet Republicans can be partly attributed to the anti-Hillary vote (plenty of evidence on this). In 2018 the Republicans are trying the same playbook without the same opponent. Will this work? For the "Trump base", yes. Every interview with a hard core Trump supporter exposes an "us vs. them" worldview where the left, liberals and Democrats are always at fault. The question that should be part of this column, "Is Trump's base enough this time?". As shown in house races, the answer is mostly no. As shown in Senate races, the answer is probably yes.
2
Trump's approach in 2016 only worked because of the electoral college. I agree that this time it will not work as well.
1
Whatever happened to the 2016 promises of “Drain the Swamp” and turning Washington upside down? Fake Promises.
The Swamp has gotten only fouler with the rewarding of lobbyists with cushy Cabinet jobs and catering to the whims of the big donors. For Trump and Friends the best way of dealing with ethical considerations is to ignore them.
And, yes, Trump has turned the Washington establishment upside down. He has done his best to destroy the credibility of federal law enforcement and the rule of law. He has ignored career professionals (the Deep State) and given positions to people who resend to e professionals on tv (the Derp State). How many do overs has he needed in both the White House and at Cabintn level positions? How many books have been written describing the fear and loathing he engenders?
MAGA has morphed from Make American Grin Again to Make America Grimace Again.
And the Republican majority in Congress just looks the other way.
Hopefully enough Americans have wised up to the Fake Promises of Don the Con to put the needed check and balance on him.
Well Mr Douthat, you have revealed yourself for what I have pretty much always thought you were, a Trump apologist. Words have meaning, sir. Remember Mein Kampf? How many Jews died saying "Hitler will not really do those things"? I am not comparing Trump to Hitler.................oh wait, yes I am, but I don't think he will himself do some of the most outrageous things he talks about, he doesn't have the courage. But others, maybe a little more whacko will surmise that its ok to do them. Think just about the last 2 weeks in this country. Trump didn't do the bomb sending himself or the attack in Pittsburgh, but he sure as shooting told his followers that they could do these things with impunity.
3
The jokes on the middle class. The conservative middle-class is delusional in believing that Trump would promote a 10 percent tax cut for their benefit. That tax cut would mean one thing. Republicans will need to make a stronger case to underfund Medicare and Social Security. And, of course, that will hurt the middle class.
Same old Republican saw. Cut taxes, trickle down, cut social programs.
4
"The idiosyncratic nature of lone-wolf attacks makes it a mistake to draw a line of direct responsibility from Trump’s rhetoric to the would-be pipe bomber and the synagogue shooting. "
That may be true on whatever planet Ross inhabits. Here on planet Earth, however, there's a direct line between the bomber and the shooter and the Fox News/Republican Party/President Trump axis of evil, and anybody who professes not to know that is being deliberately disingenuous.
7
@Steve Simels Right on! "There are fine people on both sides" meant that Nazi-sympathizers and the KKK are welcome in Trump's America. Trump's fingerprints are on those pipe bombs and on those guns. Yours, too, Sarah Sanders!
3
The rise of antisemitism during the Trump Administration is not dubious, it is documented as up by 57%.
No coincidence. The dog whistles are fire alarms, and Trump cannot hide behind the “my daughter is Jewish” defense. He knows exactly what he’s doing. And there are not very good people on both sides.
Hopefully the voters are paying attention and will send Donald Trump a message next week that his divisive and detestable derision of religious and racial minorities is absolutely unacceptable.
4
Douthat continues to gloss over Trump's authoritarian, anti-treaty, Russian loving, racism, bigotry, and pathological zenophobia and lying. It is imperative for progressive voters to get their buts out there and vote the GOP out of office and send a message to both the GOP and Trump that their views of the world are numbered.
2
Trump has been replaying his greatest hits over and over for the entirety of his term. He has shown time again that he is a racist, bigot, misogynist, liar and perpetrator of hatred via unfounded fear of everyone not white or born here. He began with deliberate division tactics and that is where he remains to this day. His strategy relies on his followers remaining totally ignorant of reality and emotionally unstable. I am not so sure we can term a strategy that relies on ignorance hatred and deception as greatest hits. Perhaps biggest lies or greatest deceptions would be more appropriate.
3
@RobertB: Thank you for saying what I have been itching to say since I read this article. Here is Douthat straining to distance himself, the GOP, and Trump from what is obvious. Trump has doubled down on the kind of racist dog whistling that the GOP has employed since Nixon’s southern strategy, Reagan’s welfare queens, and HW Bush’s Willie Horton adds. To claim that this whipping up hate among the GOP base plays no role in triggering violence is, to put it mildly, disingenuous. Trump’s strutting and strongman posturing at his “rallies” is right out of the Mussolini/Hitler playbook. Douthat just can’t pry himself away from his own personal disinfected version of his right wing politics. Sorry Douthat, there is no disinfected version. There’s only Trump and his congressional enablers.
4
Racism and bigotry have a surprisingly simple antidote, one I learned while working with youth-at-risk populations, and when I served in the military.
Close your eyes. Imagine that the only thing different about you is the color of your skin, or perhaps your religion, or perhaps your nation of origin.
Marinade in that for a moment.
Ask yourself, are you still you? Down inside, the whatever it is that registers as you, does it still exist?
Of course it does. You are still you, no matter what pigmentation your skin has been gifted (and each color and blend is a gift), or way you believe, how you believe, where you're from, what you do.
People convert. People change careers. Any genetic test will reveal there are no purities. But, who we are inside is the same. The person of you remains, no matter what the outward conditions.
That person can be altered, no doubt, by trauma, adversity and even geographic conditions. Love can change a person, too. But, these are actions, not pigmentation. A person can redeem themselves. An esteemed person can fall. The common denominator is choice.
Choice makes us human, more than all else. And if we can honor who we are, inside, at the source of it all, hatred and bigotry and racism turn to ash, blow off in the wind.
Close your eyes. Imagine that your outward appearance is different than it is. Ask yourself if you are still you.
4
The real question about trump’s deplorable rhetoric is, what would he say if he abandoned the xenophobia, racebaiting and cruelty? Would his supporters accept a conciliatory and positive trump? I agree that trump isn’t directly responsible for anti Semitism and Stormfront. However, his winning strategy depended on violence and cruelty and now he’s sort of stuck with it. He looks more like George Wallace everyday. It’s too late for him to “grow “ in the presidency .
1
Douthat says it “seems dubious” to connect Trump’s rhetoric to the dramatic rise in anti semitism. The head of the ADL last night disagreed. He knows there is a direct connection to Trump because the anti semites say so online. Why does Douthat insist otherwise? Is it because he remains a partisan conservative and, notwithstanding his perfunctory critiques of Trump, cannot admit to himself that his long time friends in the GOP are the modern equivalent of those who goose stepped behind another monster in the 1930s? How many Germans engaged in similar denials of reality, only to eventually find themselves having to get in line with the goosestepping mob?
5
Where is "Charles Atlas" when we need him? Anyone over 70 knew Charles Atlas as the 97 pound weakling who grew into the first "body builder" and was the defender of the people in the enormously popular ad campaigns surrounding World War II.
Families were getting sand kicked in their faces on the beaches by bullies when Charles would show up to stop them.
The president is "kicking sand" in the faces of the Americam people.
Charles, we need you!
2
And for you, him and your nativist supporters it's attacking me because I am Latino regardless of my education, work ethic and contributions to the country.
3
In my observation, the majority of politicians (of all stripes), once they have been elected into office, overestimate the degree of their "mandate".
By this time next week, we will see if by playing to the same prejudices and fear-mongering, DJT too has overestimated his hand.
2
As always, Douthat ignores, discounts, and/or waters down the cause => effect connections between the lies and hatred of his Republican Party and "our vertiginous style of politics."
"The wink to the conspiratorial extremes, the japes about body-slams and punching protesters in the face, have met the thing most likely to make them a political liability: actual far-right violence. The idiosyncratic nature of lone-wolf attacks makes it a mistake to draw a line of direct responsibility from Trump’s rhetoric to the would-be pipe bomber and the synagogue shooting."
- What's so "idiosyncratic" about taking a legally-owned gun and shooting people with it? It happens all the time in America!
- And it's not a "mistake" to "draw a connection" to Trump: Didn't he brag that he himself could shoot someone? Doesn't he encourage his supporters to "rough 'em up" and "body-slam" people?
"And the oft-repeated claim that the Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-Semitic violence seems dubious or wrong."
- The ADL and the SPLC have released statistics that prove your assertion wrong. Violence against numerous groups has increased since 2016.
"And voters who decided to forgive Trump’s demagogy in 2016, or treat it as performance art, have just been given a visceral reason to punish him for it instead."
- Shame on you! This is not merely about a partisan political rivalry and "punishing" Trump; it's about the utter destruction of the primacy of truth and moral decency in our country.
4
@Paul-A I wish I could hit the "recommend" button 1000 times. It galls me (I am being polite) to read an opinion piece in NYT that asserts that there is no general surge in anti-Semitic violence, when factual reporting indicates that this claim is dead-wrong. Fake news, Ross!
The way Republicans/conservatives have to rely on false statements of "fact" speaks volumes about their integrity, and on the value of their policies and "principles."
2
Trump's 2016 strategy motivated enough of the indifferent/disgusted voting demographic to go to the polls and vote for the least traditional candidate. The 2016 Republican and Democratic strategy against Trump involved a chicken little message: preserve the status quo of traditional candidates or the sky will fall. Trump's continued message is not "more of the same" as Douthat suggests, but rather a dog whistle to the indifferent/disgusted voting demographic. The message? The sky didn't fall, so go to the polls and vote for people like me.
“Simple wickedness”. About as concise a definition of Trump as I can imagine. And that is the very characteristic which so many are willing to ignore in return for, what.
1
Let's look at Trump's strategy as described by Mr. Douthat so well:
"The fake news media is the enemy and reporters deserve to be roughed up a little" - These days, facts have a liberal bias, hence his problem with being told he lies several times per day (4,500+ times now) and about the damage his policies are causing, as discussed below.
"I’m going to help the middle class with tax cuts and cheaper prescription drugs" - The consequence of tax cuts when you are already running deficits is...bigger deficits, in Trump's case about 50% higher than the baseline he inherited from Obama. And that means a tax cut for you is a tax hike on your kids, quite selfish.
Democrats have been demanding that Medicare be allowed to negotiate drug prices for some time, so that would be some welcome bipartisanship. However, prescription drugs are only 10% of healthcare spending, so cutting it even in half (not gonna happen) isn't going to solve the 50% gap between our costs and Europe's.
"[N]obody will be tougher on illegal immigration — whether that means sending thousands of troops to the southern border or ending birthright citizenship by fiat." So the U.S. now needs soldiers to prevent 5,000 refugees nearly 1,000 miles from our border from arriving here? Is he aware we have nearly 7 million job openings? Do his supporters understand that the more young workers we bring in, the lower their taxes for Social Security and Medicare can be?
1
I mostly agree with Mr. Douthat. There are definitely some differences between 2016 and 2018. In 2016, Trump had an opponent whose campaign theme boiled down to, "Trump is bad and I am not Trump." Her running mate Tim Kaine recently said as much. In contrast to her husband, voters did not believe Hillary Clinton felt their pain. Also, with respect to both the presidential and congressional elections, Democrats were far too complacent in 2016. They didn't work hard to turn out voters.
With respect to Trump's promotion of violence, it's not just the Florida bomb maker and the Pittsburgh shooter. Two ordinary citizens just doing their grocery shopping in Louisville, Kentucky were shot to death solely because they were African-American. And three men who were convicted of plotting to bomb a Somali apartment complex in Kansas are actually using Trump's virulent anti-Muslim rhetoric as a defense in arguing for leniency in sentencing. Hopefully, voters this year will recoil from the violence and vote against congressional candidates who seek to imitate Trump.
1
Trump has exhausted all but the darkest elements of the electorate. His show has gone on too long with relentless monotony and infantile epithets that only racist and misogynist zealots can stomach. His screeching sounds now like fingernails across a blackboard so that even rabid rats head for cover and the lies are those of children who blame everyone but themselves for the boogers on their desks. These noxious tiresome traits explain how Trump the victim has lost ten billion dollars, bankrupted six times and lost the popular vote by three million, in each case blaming everyone from corrupt bankers and inept employees to millions of fraudulent voters. Time to trump Trump and that hideous family he spawned.
4
It is sad that milquetoast GOP like yourself ever supported this flagrant anti-American platform in any way, and that you are still hurling underhanded jibes at decent Americans who were not suckered into hate out of weakness and depraved values, as the GOP were and continue to be in these midterms, which have shaped up to be a referendum on humanity in the US. Shame on you! Affirmative action for useless puffed-up white GOP empty shells like yourself obviously has not worked for anyone, and has merely unleashed stingy retrograde apologists for evil, and the Times would do well to rid itself of the vestigial remains and strains of distorted perverted partisanship that would give bigot cons any cover in its pages.
2
“The idiosyncratic nature of lone wolf attacks makes it a mistake to draw a line of direct responsibility from Trump’s rhetoric to the would-be pipe bomber and the synagogue shooting.” Mr.Douthat, are you mad? Or have you not been paying attention since 2015?
Do you—can you—actually believe that Cesar Sayoc and Robert Bowers would have been motivated to carry out their plans under a president not named Donald Trump?
Your president has unleashed Homer’s furies upon the entire nation: those emboldened to put into action the not-so-subtle calls to violence that have always been a staple of Trump’s public persona and “populism,” and the victims of the same. He has bowed and scraped before the NRA; has all but kissed the ring of its CEO, Wayne LaPierre (“you got me elected “); has marginalized every ethnic, racial and religious group in America; has practically denied transgender citizens the rights of citizenship.
None of this is accidental, Mr. Douthat, and intellectual honesty demands that you recognize these divisive tropes that so eloquently describe this presidency.
377
@Soxared, '04, '07, '13, ‘18
Jonetown, Waco, Oklahoma City, Ruby Ridge, 9/11, Sandy Hook and Charleston did not happen on Trump's watch.
Distinguishing between cause and effect is essential. Despite all of his tweeting blovatiing buffoonery, Donald Trump is no Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-Un, Recip Erdogan, Rodrigo Duterte nor Mohammad bin Salman.
4
@Soxared, '04, '07, '13, ‘18 So so SO true. I read this line and thought "Whaaa?" Of COURSE Trump bears some responsibility. And all of the Republicans who use, wink at, or tolerate the dog-whistle language bear some responsibility.
Which I guess would include Ross, come to think of it.
No, GOP, you don't get off on this one.
30
@Blackmamba
Let us not forget what the NYT said two day ago.
"And it comes at a time when attacks on Jews are on the rise in Europe as ... a 57 percent rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States in 2017"
Gee, it sounds like at least a dotted line to me. Lord, cause and effect in the real world of complexity it a very difficult but it seems to me Trump is at least "assisting " in this rise.
16
Well, Ross Douthat is more willing than most Tory writers to do the math, but he is still blinking at the link between Trump and white, ring-wing violence. That may seem implausible in Manhattan. It seems a little more. Obvious when you see white guys in caries, with Confederate fags flying from thir trucks.
You can now see that all over the NORTH outside of big cities.
2
Just look at where we are. The party in power has seen its legislative branch abdicate its checks-and-balances responsibilities and in some cases even seemingly committed obstruction of justice in order to protect the executive branch; a second Republican perjury-committing judge has been seated on the US Supreme Court; and the executive is a demagogic, ignorant, narcissistic megalomaniac who cozies up to strongmen and attacks the foundations of democracy. But even as the Republican party and Trump (and Kavanaugh) spit out lie after lie after lie, fluff the pillows for corporations and the wealthiest Americans while spewing their almost overt racism, sexism, misogyny, etc., and using fear to win campaigns, I hear media people and Democrats saying, "Do they think the American people are stupid?" Yes! They do. And they're right. How else could the above get full power, including after 9/11 and using it to launch the biggest mistake of a war since Vietnam? The problem we have, in fact, is that too much of the American electorate now is ignorant and stupid. Trumpers and conservatives want non-PC? Well, there it is. The non-PC truth. Trump and the GOP play to that stupidity, and it seems to me they've done very well. Hillary Clinton spoke to us like we're thinking adults, and we saw what happened. So again, the problem is precisely that Trump knows his base will buy what he's selling because yes, he thinks they're stupid. And he's right. And it's time it be said.
3
Why shouldn’t the Reality Show Con Artist play his greatest hits? The Media spins his lies as if they are a hit record.
The grifter in chief was never running for President; he was running for attention. He was only in it for money and vanity and didn’t (and doesn’t) want the job. He would be much happier bilking the rubes with his own TV Network.
The Media, World Leaders and even the Vichy GOP (the collaborators) know he is not a real person with “beliefs”, “policies” and an “agenda” other than to get himself attention and money. But he knows the media is as desperate for ears and eyeballs as he is so they cover every inane comment and manufacture stories like his latest distraction on renouncing citizenship.
Does anyone really believe the grifter in chief has any idea what is and isn’t in the constitution? Does anyone really believe he cares about anyone other than himself? He objectifies his own daughter.
Why remember that the coward in chief prostrated himself before a foreign leader in a display a former CIA director called “treasonous” when you can write about the latest outrage? To cover him is to disseminate lies but he knows the mere repetition of a lie makes it more plausible to people.
We don’t cover people who run on the field at baseball games because we don’t want to enourage that type of behavior. Unfortunately we haven’t learned that lesson when it comes to someone as “entertaining” as the Reality Show Con Artist.
10
@Mike N
"Vichy" GOP. You hit the nail on the head.
2
He could stand in the middle of 5th Ave. and shoot someone, and never miss a beat with his base. And not just the blue collar crowd, the ultra-rich have ridden on his back to their tax cut, their coveted deregulation, and (for the neocons among them) the broken Iran deal.
He has ushered in a new era of right-wing parties gaining power in Europe and Latin America. It is reminiscent of nazi Germany and the bloody dictators we have backed all over the world to defeat socialist yearnings. Hatred of immigrants has enabled this takeover here and abroad. They flee the war and brutality in their country and in so doing disrupt countries giving them asylum.
We are left with nothing but our ability to speak truth to power. And the death and imprisonment of journalists and political opponents is happening as we speak.
Vote democrat next week.
4
Whew, framed that way by you in the first paragraph, you almost make him sound like an actual politician. That must have taken some work!
Simple wickedness? That’s a horrendously low bar for the president of the United States!! Isn’t the role of the president to shine a light into those dark minds? To foster unity, understanding, and truth in order to guide and our country to a better future? (It’s more like the stance of a wicked simpleton if you ask me)
Finally it’s appalling that you don’t acknowledge the way this president has emboldened the actions of Americans with the completely abhorrent views of racism and anti-semitism. The idea that our president uses his bully pulpit to read tepid statements of condemnation to the country while at the same time his campaign uses white nationalist dog whistles and does nothing but whip up his base with hatred and fear of others at his rallies should send up alarm bells for everyone...
5
Are you finally seeing the light, Ross? You are in the same position experienced members of the German General Staff were in several months into Operation Barbarossa--the invasion of the U.S.S.R.--in the fall of 1941.These seasoned commanding officers realized well before Stalingrad that invasion of their former ally to the east would lose Germany's war of choice--but their loyalty oath to Hitler (required in 1938) prevented them from speaking up.
You now realize that what misleadingly calls itself "conservatism" REALLY is--anything but conservative. Let the scales you put on your eyes be removed, and allow yourself to speak out factually.
1
Soon we'll see if the mentally frail Trump voter or the rational will win. However, as usual, Douthat just lies, like his creature Trump. There is a statistical surge in anti-Semitic violence since Trump began his hate program. Douthat says there is no rise in violence but he must make his denial because that is the whole point to what is occurring. Trump promotes the hate and violence of his dim-witted supporters.
1
Every day, the Times has not just one or 2, but at least 3 or more articles bashing Trump, calling him evil, wicked, nazi, and blaming everything under the sun on him. EVERYDAY.
And then you wonder why folks are so polarized, the extremes come out, and you in the media are referred to as the enemy of the people. If I never read your articles, and just looked at the results of this President,I would consider this a great time to be an American.The economy is booming, incomes are rising, the business community is ecpecting even more good times to come, as evidenced by the stock market, and yes, we are finally doing something about our border problems. The folks on the left say border crossings are down, so why bother, but over 35,000 arrests at the border each month is nothing to ignore. I grew up thinking the Times was the "thinkers" paper. Youve squandered that reputation and turned it into nothing but the lemmings of a left wing rag. You have lost all credibility. ill never believe anything you say or write, and thats a far cry from where you were years ago.
1
@Sports Medicine
There is opinion and there is news. Let's side aside editorial pieces for a moment. Covering this President - even if the journalist simply reports verbatim what he has said - makes clear what a disgraceful human being Trump is. The fact that some Americans can't bring themselves to acknowledge this is deeply disturbing.
what do you expect? he only knows one tune. and it works. divide and conquer.
3
And, Ross, I hope you and I are not again embarrassed by a majority of white Catholics voting for pro-Trump candidates. That white Catholics can see the big picture and relate the actual teachings and values of Catholicism, i.e., Christianity.
What would Jesus say about gun control?
What would Jesus say about tax cuts focused on the rich?
What would Jesus say about a Supreme court weighted toward business interests over employee justice?
What would Jesus say about slander and rejection toward immigrants and refugees?
What would Jesus say about health care, a right or a privilege?
1
"The idiosyncratic nature of lone-wolf attacks makes it a mistake to draw a line of direct responsibility from Trump’s rhetoric to the would-be pipe bomber and the synagogue shooting."
Ross, is still providing cover for the president. Hate crimes are have increased since his election. He spews hate, and lies about every minority that isn't white. I guess only when Trumps hands have blood on them will some of his enablers admit the monster he is.
5
"And the oft-repeated claim that the Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-Semitic violence seems dubious or wrong."
Ross, I take issue with this somewhat sweeping statement. The ADL has produced evidence that points to an overall 57% increase in hate crimes in 2017, compared to earlier years.
That's a huge percentage increase! And sure, just because the crimes aren't "violent" in terms of mortality, the fact remains that swashtikas spray-painted on synagogues, desecration of Jewish cemetaries, etc. reveal a political climate where hate groups feel they can flourish.
It reminds me of poorly designed scientific studies, usually linked to funding by industry, with blaring headlines like "eating pasta helps you stay thin."
That this is patently false is obvious. And yet, when there's an increase in hate crimes during a time when a demagogic president explicitly or tacitly condones neo-nazi hate groups, it's obvious that the Trump's tolerance for these groups gives them license.
Overall, I agree with your premise that this president has achieved virtually nothing for the common man, preferring to reward his plutocrat (and by extension himself) friends.
But the one thing he has given his common man--the freedom to hate--isn't the sort of thing he can openly brag about.
7
Given Mr. Douthat’s weekend column asserting the Senate Republicans will temper Trump’s “crueler” policy instinctions, the deafening silence from Senate Republicans regarding Trump’s latest cynical end run around the Constitution - repealing the 14th Amendment by executive order - is especially noteworthy.
The amendment states: “any person born or naturalized in the United States, and under the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State in which they reside.” Hard to see interpretive space to allow Trump to invalidate the provision that any person born in the Untied States is a citizen thereof.
Senate a Republican leadership silent. Senate Republicans overall silent. Senate challengers for Senate seats this year silent. Hardly the tempering influence hypothesized.
4
Campaigning was easy and fun for Trump. Oh the adulation every day just soothed his damaged ego! Trump thought, if he gave it any thought, that being POTUS would be just like campaigning. Daily adoring crowds. Turns out the Oval Office was a place to work and the presidency had a lot of 'rules' to follow. Not much fun for a man who habitually ignores all norms and rules and laws in the pursuit of money.
The secrecy of this administration is unprecedented and has allowed Trump and his family to gain financially so there is that for Trump. Governing has proved to be beyond his skill set. So no wonder he has returned to the campaign mode time and time again. It's the only thing he was good at. The cameras and cheers of a rally are intoxicating, not even a staid White House event can compare.
So Trump whines and cries every day because he's stuck in the "dump" (his words) and can't get that ego fix.
And Trump's campaign was always about hate and fear used to set himself up as THE savior of America and the world. Two years in he hasn't saved us or the world. In fact he has done nothing but drive a huge wedge between the citizens of the country based on imagined threats and false claims.
He can not lead. He just destroys. Not much winning at all.
249
As well as making the US the laughing stock of the world.
17
@Elizabeth
The two hardest working men for Trump's coronation were Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin who shared his white supremacist axis of evil hatred for Barack Hussein Obama.
15
@Elizabeth
Amen!
5
"And the oft-repeated claim that the Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-Semitic violence seems dubious or wrong."
The numbers apparently say otherwise.
It is comforting to think that the deranged, the mentally ill, the angry, act in a vacuum and there's nothing we can do to control them. It isn't TRUE. We all have seeds of violence in us which can be brought out in various ways; one of the ways is to be given implicit--or explicit--permission. That is what Trump has done, whether he knows it or not. I suspect he knows but sees it as a necessary political and personal expedient, and refuses to connect any dots because that isn't useful to him.
Our culture is saturated with violence. Trump is the kind of person who actually loves that; it feeds him. We should be wary about IT feeding US.
VOTE DEM all down the line. The message must be sent that this is not acceptable despite the "good" economy.
2
It amazes me daily, that such a vast number of human beings will believe almost anything they're told, as with Trump's base.
Trump's rhetoric extolled those who chanted "Jews will not replace us". Now in the aftermath of the Tree of Life massacre, it wasn't him but the media who is to blame.
Trump referred to the media as the enemy, but blames democrats when journalists are butchered.
And his base believes him each and every time.
Believing obvious falsehoods is not unique to Trump"s base. It's a biological fact that is traceable throughout history. That's why our founding fathers made education a birthright of US citizenship. They knew that the long term success of our democracy rested on the vast ocean of big brains being trained to think critically and carefully.
But, sadly, the free time afforded humans by the advances of technology has not created a class of humans who sought to fill our mental voids with education, the eighteenth century panacea for human progress. Instead it's the titillating blather of commercial television, and diets loaded with fat, sugar and salt.
Capitalism will probably undo all the good of the enlightenment.
The reflexiveness of Trump's base can now let the rest of us predict the future with absolute certainty.
Our democracy is doomed, as is the earth's climate. We will not prevent the next world war. We will use nuclear weapons on each other while the climate is still favorable enough to allow us to do so.
Nice knowing you!
3
There is one sentence in your otherwise excellent op-Ed, Mr. Douthat that is not fact based.
The claim that the Trump era has produced a "general surge" in anti-Semitic violence is supported by all statistics.
In 2017 alone anti-Semitic incidents surged a whopping 57%, the largest ever in a single year.
Even if the majority of these incidents were not deadly, hateful acts and speech by a president about the Others was a driving point accelerating exponentially since he started campaigning, and ultimately led to the largest ever massacre of Jews on these shores.
Trump was the first ever president who didn't mention Jews on Holocaust Remembrance Day just about three month after his inauguration.
He only supports the equally corrupt Bibi because both of them are nationalist and arch-right winger, and he needed the oh-so-pious Evangelical base, the ones that were en masse voting for him only because of their own biblical beliefs.
3
If your favorite radio station played your top ten favorite hits over and over and over again eventually you get mad at the station and you either find a different station or shut the radio off.
Mr. Trump, ratings plummet when you play your same hits over and over and over again.
Eventually: "You're fired!"
1
I don't think, deep down, that Trump cares one whit about the "ordinary American" who has been hurt by economic and technological change, any more than he cares about ANYONE else beyond himself and maybe his family.
He simply panders to them because they comprise a large part of his base and will vote for him, as well as vote for those who are complicit with him. It's all about basking in the ratings, the adulation, and the money. And it's the latter that drives Trump and his family more than anything else--running for office (which I don't think he ever expected to win, but was a loss leader for setting up a communications empire) and what they do in office is all about leveraging the name and the position for more attention and therefore more moolah.
It's even possible that Trump is not even deeply racist (though evidence from earlier in his career seems to indicate he's at least casually so), or even really cares that much about immigrants or the press (though I think his sexism is pretty indisputable). It's just that he's calculated that these stances are the surest way to whip up support that allows him to remain in the spotlight and rake in the dough.
In a way, you have to respect someone who's that purely and singly directed, and that cynical.
Of course, you don't have to vote for him, his cronies, or the consequences both would engender.
4
Giving automatic citizenship to children born in America to illegal aliens is not fair and will lead to gaming the system as is happening now. Many people who have a 10 year tourist visa come here multiple times to deliver babies here and after birth take the babies to their countries. Trump is right to test the legality of this system.
1
It is disingenuous to release President Trump from all responsibility for his hate-provoking language and the “lone wolf” attacks on non-Christians, Jews, and African-Americans in the the roughly three years comprising his candidacy and presidency. Mr. Trump’s vitriolic bigotry and angry demagoguery is a permission slip. Mr. Trump says it is okay to hate; it is okay to be violent.
Of course, there is no direct link. Mr. Trump did not order apparently mentally disturbed individuals to harm and kill innocent people. He just states his agreement to acts of violence acts of human cruelty, and his hatred against those he has personally targeted in speeches and in press interviews. Denying any link is the epitome of purposeful ignorance.
Most Americans, one would think, would want elected leaders who accepted American, democratic, and human values, leaders who show sincere empathy during national tragedies we have recently experienced - 15 mail bombs from a domestic terrorist to Democrats and critics of the President, the cold-blooded slither of African-Americans and synagogue worshippers. The flat, near-sociopathic tone of the President reading prepared speeches of responsibilities to protecting Americans, to denouncing anti-Semistism are in direct conflict with his hate-filled speeches at rallies after the fact.
Mr. Trump will not accept responsibility, he will not tone down his hate, but it does not mean he bears no fault.
2
A good portion of Trump voters were pulling the anti-Hilary lever more than for the huckster himself. The boogeywoman is no longer there...in person at least. Look no further than FoxNews resurrection the zombie show of Benghazi, emails, etc.
2
What you say makes sense, Mr. Douthat...but too many people have become tribal and quick to label the others who disagree with them as "evil". These people look at Trump and excuse him with a lot of "but"s. Trump is a bully but he is their bully as he stands up to the media, etc. Trump talks without thinking but he is authentic because he is not a politician. Trump's tariff hurts the farmers but he is standing up to China. It goes on and on... this kind of tribalism has infected all classes and demographics -- from uneducated poor white working class to doctors and CEOs. They only care about what Trump can do for THEM. I never thought we would have a president who prefers to divide the country because he only cares for his own party members. Instead of trying to be the president for all people after the election, he continues to vilify those who didn't vote for him or agree with him.
96
@Sadie, I don't think Trump really cares about his party. He pretty much cares about only himself.
21
@Sadie Trump's caring only about his tribe is certainly reflected in his punitive "blue state" tax - removing the deduction for State, local and property taxes - in his tax bill.
15
A fish rots from the head down. Our head is rotten.
4
"Number seven in the green book - all five verses." When one considers the myriad of policy and social issues that confront most presidencies, this president stays with what he believes are the most popular - certainly those that he is most familiar with. Never mind the rest. But, they have caught the imagination of many people and the the popular media's reporting seem to give him more credence than recrimination. The hope is that the group of voters that is larger than the Trumpian group will send a message, loudly and clearly, 'enough!' Hopefully that group will see this midterm election as an imperative rather than a privilege.
3
Ross is a great writer and a sensitive commentator but he is so unshakably bound to his ideology that he can’t complete a crucial thought. The second- and third-to-last paragraphs posit first no correlation, and then *maybe* a possible correlation, between Trumpian rhetoric and the rise of domestic political violence. Which is it? Either you believe, as I do, that the President is stoking the fire of extremism and creating an atmosphere in which violence is acceptable, or you don’t. If you do, Trump’s role in fomenting the violence we see is clear. The President’s rhetoric is a cultural force; I suspect a Douthat column about the influence of cultural forces that tend in a liberal direction would stake out a clearer and tougher position.
Ross is correct that Pittsburgh and the mail bombs and Charlottesville, etc., have great potential as political motivators— that’s where the rubber hits the road and that’s where he keeps the conversation. But with his blithe dismissal of a ‘direct’ line from rhetoric to violence, followed by a lame equivocation, he slinks away from the crucial question: if a President and his Party are willing to win at any cost, what are the costs for the country?
15
Mr. Douthat outlines for us lesser mortals the strategy used by Trump but he doesn't use his column inches to opine on the morallity of that strategy. Come on, RD. You helped put this man in place. What up?
10
The reason why I and many others are going to vote against every Republican, is that there is no democracy in a nation where any person is above the law. And the GOP doesn’t yet dare say outright what leader Donald Trump already has: That only their party should have political rights, and only their political enemies should be prosecuted by the Justice Department, but when you follow their actions on voting rights and holding a corrupt and lying con artist accountable, it is plain that they will use the Constitution for toilet paper, while waving a flag that will no longer stand for the idea that was "America".
20
@rich
Thank you!
So happy to read your post. For months now we have heard that no one is paying attention to Trump’s behavior with the ‘Russia stuff.’ Reporting says that people are focused on ‘bread and butter’ issues and Russia stuff is just too confusing and irrelevant.
I think the Kavanaugh appointment is ALL about Trump skating from obstruction and conspiracy charges. THIS is much more frightening than anything else.
I am a northeast liberal, but treating the president as above the law is just wrong even if it was a Democrat sitting in the Oval.
3
Yet another fine summary of Trump era folly, which the New York Times is full of these days.
Always the effects, never the cause.
Citizens United anyone?
9
Yesterday Trump claimed that he can change the Constitution by executive fiat. Trump is a direct danger to the Constitution and Our Republic.
Every decision he makes is based on how it will affect Trump. He doesn't care what happens to We the People. That makes every decision he makes corrupt by definition.
Trump constantly attacks the Constitution and the founding principles of our government.
Trump has said that he should be "president for life" and that We the People should "sit in attention" for him with "fervor" like the North Koreans do for the Kims under punishment of torture.
Trump promotes torture and police brutality.
Trump attacks the press, which the founding fathers said should hold government accountable to the people. Just a few days ago Trump was acting out an attack on a reporter. He was not just promoting assault, a criminal act, but promoting the anti-Constitutional intent of attacking a member of the press because you don't like their questions.
Trump attacks the judiciary, a co-equal branch of government, throws ethnic slurs at judges that rule against him, and pardoned a sheriff running self described "concentration camps" for contempt of court.
Do not underestimate Trump's attack on the 14th Amendment as merely a political ploy. Trump is constantly testing the waters to see which part of the Constitution he can weaken next. That is the constant mission of the Republican Party, but Trump is not even subtle about it.
SAVE YOUR CONSTITUTION!
14
@McGloin
Apparently the Second Amendment may be interpreted without regard to qualifying phrases or context, but the Fourteenth Amendment doesn't mean what it plainly says, and may be parsed into nullity.
8
Let's be honest. Hillary Clinton was about a flawed a candidate as the Democrats could run for the presidency. I knew there was no way I could vote for Trump because I knew what he was. So I held my nose and voted for Hillary. That's not much of a choice. We can, and need, to have better candidates that were presented to us.
Is it time to fill the clown car already?
Vote November 6, 2018
4
Ross overestimates the intelligence of the American electorate.
5
Yes, we hope that Trump's demagoguery will be "disappointing" for Republicans this time around.
It would be even nicer if Republicans, and people who actually love America, would decide that lying and corruption are despicable traits in politicians. That Trump and his enablers would suffer - not prosper - by such immoral and anti-American conduct.
8
Glib dribble does not excuse anyone from the consequences that Trump means. Republican enthusiastic embrace and complete submission to Trump’s bullying, lies, and corruption in the name of lower taxes and the imposition of their religious beliefs on all women includes the treason in Helsinki and championing savages like MBS, Putin, Duterte, Xi Jinping while denigrating our allies.
“Lone wolf” straight line to bombs sent to 2 Presidents, a VP, a Secretary of State and other Democrats to 11 murders....glib and offensive. In normal times, Republicans would have screamed like Lindsey Graham at Supreme Court hearings. They have no voice. They have fallen to their knees as have all of Trump’s Cabinet Members. Let’s draw a straight line to evil? It’s Halloween and Trump’s President. Who wants to see Trump with the teenage daughters of the Freedom Caucus on Air Force One? Booo!
3
A large scale Democratic win would be the hardest slap in the face this misguided fool of a leader could receive. I hope we are up for it.
18
It's the same old tired response to the dreadful words and actions perpetrated on our country by Donald J. Trump, someone who by now, should be recognized by opinion writers as the master con he is. This liar, his family, his administration of corruption, and the entire GOP establishment need to be called out, voted out, and the power to govern returned to men and women who believe that together we can and will again serve this nation with honor, justice, and pride. We must rip the serpent of hate from the gut of this president. Now.
11
Perhaps Trump has overplayed his immigration card with his threat to change the constitution unilaterally. Republican's hate illegal immigrants for the very fact that they are illegally here, but rational republicans if there are a few would see that changing the constitution unilaterally by Trump is the ultimate illegality. Rabid Trumpians will of course never change their slavish devotion t o Trump to the point of forgiving him for murder or selling out to Russians or anyone for personal gain.
4
Why anyone still buys the snake oil of this blustering conman after two years of non-stop lies is beyond me. Do they really think he can amend the constitution by executive decree? Do they really think he'll reopen coal mines and get manufacturing jobs for everyone without a college degree? Do they really think they'll get another tax cut on top of the $2 trillion one he gave the top 1%? And do they really think that a pathological narcissist cares about them?
15
Perspective is always elusive in the moment, but our President has become a parody of himself, repeating the same phrases over and over that got him elected, with the help of the Russians and a weak opponent.
A Branson, Missouri, lounge singer in a nearly empty bar save a few blue-haired women and tooth-deficient men looking for love in all the wrong places barely paying his off-key crooning any mind.
Give it a rest, Mr. President, your act has grown way past tiresome.
7
From your mouth to God’s ear
2
Some of my 'oldies but goodies' are Secretary Tillerson being brought in to open up the drilling in Russia, Michael Flynn texting from the Inauguration platform about a big computer deal he was going to score with, the President bragging about his crowd size in front of the 'stars' at the CIA, Kellyanne Conway doing commercials from the White House lawn and, of course, Ivanka practicing to be the first woman President.
4
Greatest hits ??? Do you mean his “ lowlights “ ??? He’s floundering about like a nearly beached whale.
Seriously.
4
Trump’s message is about as fresh as a Foghat concert.
4
Trump is not only a mean, uncouth caricature of politician, he is a disoriented, debauched, despicable usurper of the office of presidency in America.
Forcefully, the country must vote him out along with the pack of Republican hypocrites and sycophants and the disoriented, ignorant armies of supporters who combined made a mockery of American Democracy and brought the country to a perilous state of existence!
6
Douthat fails to mention other reasons why voters are starting to turn against Trump. His incessant lying, his corruption, laziness, and divisive behavior.
Americans need to vote out all of his GOP lackeys on November 6.
11
Seriously, DUBIOUS that Trump's vicious rhetoric has incited antisemitism of late?
Antisemitic incidents:
2015 941
2016 1287
2017 1986
That's a 54% increase 2016-2017 and a 110% increase since the start of the campaign in 2015.
16
"... Trump has offered a set of closing arguments that might be summarized as follows: The fake news media is the enemy and reporters deserve to be roughed up a little, I’m going to help the middle class with tax cuts and cheaper prescription drugs, and nobody will be tougher on illegal immigration — whether that means sending thousands of troops to the southern border or ending birthright citizenship by fiat. …"
There is a flaw in this list: every single item is a big fat lie.
Let me do a little editing:
The fake president is the enemy and reporters deserve to be respected for exposing the president for what he is, I’m going to lie about the middle class with the out-of-session-congress tax cuts and cheaper prescription drugs, and nobody will be more pointlessly idiotic on illegal immigration — whether that means sending thousands of troops to the southern border, placing children into cages, or rewriting the 14th amendment to end birthright citizenship by fiat.
There, that's better.
3
This is a great reality based assessment of where Trump is operating right now. I just have one comment, it doesn't just 'smack of desperation', it is smothered in desperation. He is NOT just fighting for his political life, but his economic life, his celebrity life, and maybe his free life, where no one has made him accountable for anything his entire life. His days are numbered, as all of ours are. Justice will be served. The day of reckoning is at hand.
16
We're split.
About a third thinks Trump is the only politician who's ever heard them on lost manufacturing jobs, illegal immigration, etc.
Another third thinks Trump colluded with Russia to steal the election and TPP should have passed.
Some think we need to abolish birthright citizenship and others think we need to abolish ICE.
Some think the migrant caravan is a storming of our borders and a harbinger on things to come. Others say, what's 7000 people, they wouldn't fill a football stadium.
Trump is playing to those who agree with him. Many things he says are nuts, but they weed that out and focus on where they agree.
The future is in local elections. We're in a period of vast upheaval. And we're not going to come together as a nation for a while.
13
I see no reason to accept "the safest bet," offered here, that the President's efforts this year will not gain him what they did in 2016. (1) Like then, he doesn't have to win the popularity contest, he has only to win the jurisdictional contest, and in this we know his advantages are acute. (2) Like then, he doesn't need to shift much voting in his favor, if he can interlineate the right degree of disfavor of his opponent(s). (3) What we don't see, like then, is what he has been working on since Day 1. If this is the basis for a safe bet, I'm better off resuming filtered cigarettes.
4
"First, the voters who were won over by Trump’s economic populism when he was running against Hillary Clinton — especially the kind of Midwestern Democratic voters who flipped the Electoral College — now have . . ."
A different alternative to consider.
Now they are not rejecting a status quo they resoundingly felt had failed them, coming from someone who nothing better was possible and taking money from those plutocrats to finance telling them that.
Now Trump has a different opposition. True, some of it is mired in re-litigating Hillary's defeat, and that is a winner for Trump. But enough has moved on, especially with health care, but with some well chosen local issues too.
Trump's last opponent did not listen, did not even campaign in that Midwest, and was felt to be obnoxious by many such as my own mother and wife, not just me.
Now they are listening, some of them anyway. Now they try to win here, not just in California. Now they are not personally offensive.
If Trump loses, it won't be because of Trump, it will be because Democrats did better this time.
If Trump wins again, it will be because Democrats failed to learn enough of the lesson widely enough, and indulged too much in wallowing in Hillary's loss.
9
As the Imposter-In-Chief continues to thrill those Americans who reject evolution, geology, climate science and the spirit of Jesus in deference to the delicious taste of Snake Oil and White Spite, a larger number of Americans are waking up to the fact that America's abandoned infrastructure is collapsing, its healthcare remains the world's greatest free-market rip-off, its democracy has been reduced to Russian-Republican rubble, its uteruses are increasingly subject to state control, the income tax code remains a 1% Christmas banquet buffet, and the 1787 one-white-man-one-vote principle has made an historic white supremacist comeback.
It turns out that fear, loathing, tax cuts for the rich, rigged elections and a Trump University diploma are not the great building blocks of civilization, and woke Americans will be voting in historic numbers on November 6 2018 to fix the deplorable mess that Russian-Republicans successfully conspired to rig in 2016.
Sure, many from Trumpistan are looking forward to their Christmas stockings full of beautiful 'clean' lumps of filthy, fatal coal smothered in white spite, but Americans with any sense of decency, morality and respect for fact-based reality will be casting their votes for the party that subscribes to representative government, not for the party that consistently relieves its bladder on Americans under a waving flag, a hail of bullets and the best disinformation campaign that 0.1% money can buy.
D to go forward; R for reverse.
165
I hope you are correct Ross, that voters will see past the President’s false claims, empty rhetoric and fear mongering.
11
I appreciate the fact that Mr. Douthat is willing to call out Trump's fascist fear-mongering and lies. But at the same time he treats them as normal political rhetoric to be evaluated on the merits and results by voters. Whereas reasonable and honest proposals by Democrats he regularly treats as pandering attempts to gain power for a liberal dictatorship.
30
For years Americans have observed violence and violent protests in numerous countries as a run up to elections. Now others can look at "free" America and see violence dominating our news cycle as we approach Nov 6. Winking to extremists is perhaps the most evil of the sins. Threatening to revoke citizenship of those born in the US and playing with the constitution the leaders say they value is pathetic. A middle class tax cut please even utter those words.
I do agree that after 2 years not much has helped the "blue collar " voters who put the administration in office. Although plenty of white collar voters support this nationalistic posture. Their war cry can be rekindled in campaign rallies to "lock her up" but I believe that too is worn out.
I look to your thoughtful columns weekly and appreciate your positions.
4
It is puzzling that Ross Douthat is not more passionate about what he calls President Trump's "simple wickedness." To me (and to many others of course) what the President has done over these past two years is evil. And Trump is responsible for unleashing more evil in Pittsburgh.
One of the President's main targets is the free press where Douthat works. You would think Douthat would care more about the mail bombs directed at the press. What is happening to the US is not simply an academic exercise.
56
@rshapley Douthat is lukewarm in his opposition to wickedness because he thinks he will be getting what Roman Catholics desperately seek, elimination of abortion in the US. I believe he, and many other RC's, literally think that they can sell a bit their souls to the Trump devil to achieve this and be OK with the Catholic God.
Trump's closing message is to his fan base is to "Embrace the Hate". This in a nutshell is his populist message. Charlottesville along with Trump's response was the salvo that should have resulted in tens of millions of Republicans to revolt against Trump and their party, but nothing.
Now, many Republican voters are realizing that the Republican Party under Trump has managed to cultivate and coalesce a significant militant or terrorist wing (white nationalists) of the party not unlike Hezbollah which has both humanitarian and terrorist wings, and it is too late. The mass murder and terrorism of this wing of the Republican Party is just beginning. It is going to get much worse than the pipe bomber and Pittsburgh. The Republican Party is becoming Hezbollah right before our eyes.
How long will it take before the GOP confronts the fact that they now have a militant white nationalist wing that they are enabling?
20
@shend It looks like that as long as they're winning and gaining absolute power, they don't care what he says of incites. I will never ever ever vote for another republican again.
1
Trump theatre. There’s no president, only a stage and an angry old third rate actor trying to get attention. When the first act doesn’t get results, the second act is worse.
39
In his November 2016 interview with Leslie Stahl, it has been widely reported that Donald Trump admitted that he disparages the news media to bulletproof himself from criticism and to boost his credibility among his supporters.
Stahl said Trump responded to a question on this topic as follows:
“You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you.”
That alleged statement speaks volumes on how shallow Trump is and how utterly despicable his 'winning at all costs' approach is.
86
Your statement that the President's desire to wink at extremism has been held in check by his staff and that the fortunes of his alt-right and white nationalist supporters have waned since 2016 is both short-sighted and dangerous.
15
Mr. Douthat writes as if this is an ordinary president making ordinary decisions regarding strategy, and that the outcome of this election can be predicted on the basis of how voters rationally evaluate his performance as well as his election strategy. This is nonsense. It seems patently obvious to me that this is a president unlike any other and voters will mostly be voting in response to him. Those who buy into his conspiracy theories and his hate and who do not see through his lies will likely vote for him. Those who want a more civil society, who believe we are all one people and ought to act like we are, and are exhausted by his tireless lies and personal attacks on anyone who see through his nonsense and do not kiss his feet, will vote for candidates who will put a check on him and the damage he is doing and will do. I am betting on the second group. America is better than what this president is calling them to be.
22
Glad to see the writer finally and forthrightly identifying a key character trait of this President: his wickedness. Wicked in his marriage, wicked in his business life, wicked in his politics.
Let’s all pull the levers next Tuesday for candidates with fidelity to basic morals, to public service, and to the country. We can and must do much better.
53
The insinuation that there is some policy nuance in Trump's strategy is sheer nonsense. He is simply playing to fear. This is nothing short of a cultish manipulation of the amygdala. To suggest that the violence in Pittsburgh and Kentucky and the terroristic bomb threats are not directly linked to this neo-fascist strategy might make Mr. Douthat feel better, but it is intellectually dishonest and moral cowardice. The best that can be said about Trump and his acolytes is that they view these events as collateral damage. Regardless, they are responsible.
87
When one studies the apparent lack of any milestone accomplishments (the bait and switch tax scam does not count) save from appointing two Trump toadies to the Supreme Court, a vision of a empty presidency is seen. Yes, he bullied our neighbors into a redux of the NAFTA, bullied other trading partners into a Trump Pacific trade deal that looks much like the Obama TPP (sans the name "Obama"), reportedly bullied our NATO allies into paying into the organization what those countries were already obligated to pay.
No, this is not a presidency as much as it is showmanship, a reality show (and sad one at that) starring a charlatan who is clueless what is good for the entire country, not just his gullible supporters who he cons on a daily basis.
History may use this "presidency" as an example to remind us to vote and choose wisely.
19
@Dan I've always called his presidency the "triumph of the media". Totally accomplished through TV (many people apparently don't realize those shows aren't real but are all scripted, and that trump isn't really the fabulous businessman he claims to be). Aided and abetted by internet memes of lies etc that began circulating as soon as people began acquiring their own computers. I recall all the anti-Hillary stuff I was getting all the time from my republican friends/family back in the 90's, on our dial up computers.
1
Part of Trump's appeal was populism, part of it was not being Hillary Clinton. As deeply as I loathe Trump - truly, deeply, with all fiber of my being loathe him - there is someone out there who cancelled me out loathing Clinton the same way.
Clinton is not running in the mid-terms.
So that just leaves the lies.
What bothers me most, is that while every politician out there lies, they do so with a kernel of truth. Trump just goes for the out and out falsehood. He'll cut taxes while congress is on break. He'll over turn the 14th amendment, with one hand tied behind his back!
I can understand how people will buy that tariffs will help them - global economics are complicated. I can buy that they hate Obamacare, while at the same time love the ACA, and want to be able to afford insurance if they are sick.
What i cannot comprehend is how they can know that the big guys is lying and vote for him anyway, because Democrats are bad by definition. Even if the Democrats support things that would help them personally.
So Trump will, people will drink the Kool-Aid, and if Trump gets anymore popular, people might literally drink the Kool-Aid. He is a cult.
Personally? I feel it likely that Trump prevails in the mid-terms.
5
Every single person who supported Trump whether they did not know much or whether they knew and did not care bc of their wish to stuff our courts to the gills with reactionary “judges” is responsible to some extent in the moral morass that we find ourselves in. The weakling, spineless politicians who choose to put out milquetoast pronouncements (Paul ryan’s, well we obviously cannot do that” the 14th amendment), the media (including the mainstream media) that covered every lie of his and insisted on false equivalence a in the name of balanced reporting, bears responsibility in creating this monstrous, malevolent, small minded, pathetic,weak, little “President” and “administration.”
I truly hope history will judge this time in our nation as deeply aberrant and abhorrent.
Vote early or on election day. Vote! Help drive people to the polls, call, send postcards, to remind people to vote. Each of us can and should do our own little bit.
15
Ah, the "lone-wolf" defense, used by conservative pundits when clearly politically-motivated violence occurs and the politics invoked are right-wing. And yet, anyone with a Muslim-sounding name who commits violence is linked to ISIS, automatically and without any obvious connection. There is a very clear line between Trump's dangerous rhetoric and the actions of these two men (and the third who killed two random African-American shoppers when he couldn't get into a locked Black church in Kentucky - let's not let that slide); one had Trump's picture plastered all over his van, the other quoted his paranoid rants about the caravan coming to destroy America while he killed! What would it take for you to draw that connection - a letter signed by Trump himself exhorting these lunatics to kill? They felt they had his approval, that much is clear. Those willing to absolve Trump of any responsibility in creating a climate that enables acts of violence against individuals and groups that the president himself has publicly vilified are denying the obvious and potent power of the president, no matter who he or she is, to affect public opinion. Trump sets the tone, and that tone is ugly. Douthat can look away, along with the rest of the Republican Party while they gaze lovingly at Brett Kavanaugh, but the world sees it as it is. Trump is a hateful man, inspiring hateful acts. History won't forget.
25
Ross,
Your latest commentary is deeply disappointing. Donald J. Chaos & Co. have been a disaster for our country. His lies. His no plans for the future. He was hoodwinked by Congress into starting with the unneeded tax cuts. This left no money or political capital to fight for the populist programs he falsely promised to his voters. He is a total amateur when it comes to political deal making. His main visionary advisor, Steve Bannon, only wanted to shake things up on a global scale.
Blue Wave 2018 !
14
Trump had done something, even a little, on Infrastructure? Can you cite? Antisemitism just doesn't seem "up" to you, even though it is tracked and reported? Participants in rallies incited to violence, are more violent. Individual's behavior in the context of a group has been studied and it isn't "idiosyncratic". Thanks for the feelings, but I sure miss facts.
23
"The idiosyncratic nature of lone-wolf attacks makes it a mistake to draw a line of direct responsibility from Trump’s rhetoric to the would-be pipe bomber and the synagogue shooting."
Wrong.
You have to be blind to not see the direct line of responsibility from Trump's "enemies list" of "dissidents" and "political opponents" and "the evil" and the "enemies of the people" and those who received pipe bombs from Saroc.
Come on, Mr. Douthat, open your eyes.
17
"And the oft-repeated claim that the Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-Semitic violence seems dubious or wrong."
Fake news.
All bias attacks, including anti-Semitic violence, have increased since November 8, 2016. No, Trump did not direct that these happen.
But he spread the myth that the "caravan" mainly consists of criminals, MS-13 members, and Middle Eastern terrorists. From that, others, often his supporters, asserted that George Soros and the HIAS (formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) had organized and were financing the caravan. And then one sick individual acted on this canard.
Words can kill just as much as bullets from an AR-15.
38
According to Douthat here are Trump's closing arguments:
1. The fake news media is the enemy and reporters deserve to be roughed up a little.
This is dangerous. It has always been dangerous to the republic, and I hope that more people are seeing it that way.
2. I’m going to help the middle class with tax cuts and cheaper prescription drugs.
This is yet another lie. Trump makes promises that are rarely kept. Trump, the businessman, has been known to stiff his subcontractors. Trump, the President, has not delivered on many promises. Broken promises are littered all over the place.
3, nobody will be tougher on illegal immigration — whether that means sending thousands of troops to the southern border or ending birthright citizenship by fiat.
This is a boogeyman that has been kicked around forever by many past Presidents. Most of the "illegals" come into the country legally and simply stay back. There are far better mechanisms to control that. But that will require a serious conversation, not political posturing or building a wall.
To sum up, Trump has very little power in his closing arguments. I can only hope that those who got suckered into voting for him will now vote with their eyes open.
15
I trust that Ross is anything but naive. So, your comment that the claim that the surge in anti-semitism is not linked to the era of Trump, is "dubious", makes me wonder about your motives. Are you a "data denier?" Are you lulling us, or yourself, into a false sense of security. Perhaps the one thing we can agree on, is that Trump will motivate both the haters and the decent people to come out of the woodwork. I will be watching for your column next week after the election. I learned long ago that it is preferable to combine my optimism with a serious dose of cynicism.
8
Mr Douthat,
This country is in existential danger. Time for you,Stephens, and Brooks to follow Friedman's lead and urge your readers to vote for Democrats. Please.
14
"...the way Medicare pays for prescription drugs so that we aren’t subsidizing the world." Well, that stopped me dead in my tracks. I thought we were subsidizing the breathtakingly lucrative pharmaceutical industry.
Countries with universal health care negotiate with the pharmaceutical company and the two sides reach a mutually beneficial price. We simply accept a monopoly-fixed price.
Does Ross ever vet these pieces before they go to publication?
5
Ross, you wrote: the politics of vilification and the paranoid style work darkly in darkened minds.
So, you must be concluding that Trump’s rhetoric makes him politically responsible for recent events of violence.
7
For those of my age, do you remember those old vinyl records and what happened to them over time? If they didn’t actually crack, they got warped. Both Side A and Side B. They became unusable, an annoyance, often stuck at one site, garbled and playing over and over and over, going nowhere. Well, welcome to the Sounds of Trump, 2018 version, still warped, beyond annoying to the point of danger, incoherent, and taking this nation nowhere except downward.
As Ross points out, how will this play out in six short days from now? Has a Silent Majority awaken to the fact that Trump personifies cruelty, injustice, amorality, and lust for not only money but also for total control and power? Those rants that we hear at his rallies from him and his fans perpetuate a hate for the “Other” as well as the not-so-other. Personally, I have had enough, more than enough. And I want to believe that there are more thinking, caring, and loving Americans than those loud and vociferous ones who leave us with visceral feelings of fear like their leader does. How I hope, even pray, that we can end this madness.
6
Can Newt Gingrich be given his due credit for the scorch & burn wedge approach to governance. This style of politics and governance was red carpeted by Newtie with much success.
Who better than Newt to channel Trump’s inner workings to the talk show circuit and op ed pages?
If a party is drubbed in the elections and the Trump subsumed GOP is swallowed by Pelosi, look for a double down.
Nastier, meaner with spite and spittle to soothe the base.
2
I would throw in sheer exhaustion. Remember how the Kavanaugh mess was going to be the bright shiny object to seal the deal on this election---In the world of Trump, there is no one bright shiny object--there is one or two each day, with a dash of corruptness and a pitch of vulgarity. Nancy Pelosi's persistent focus on policy is downright boring in Trump world---the public, I feel is yearning for boring.
1
The trump presidency is a media creation. Without the media, he is nothing. He bashes them daily, yet all branches of media come running back to report every tweet, every lie, every claim, every scandal, every everything. Why? Profits. Trump and the media have mutual interest in making money. There is no holy First Amendment to be held up by the "free press", because the press has long since ceased to function and watchdogs and truth-keepers. It is all entertainment, because entertainment sells. Right here in the NYT, the front page is covered with...trump. As it was yesterday, and the 2 years prior. So trump plays his "greatest hits" and the press can't wait to repeat them...as long as people will lap it up and pay money to do so. The simplest way to rein in this presidency is to reduce coverage to brief factual reports, burying the tweets and focus on all the other things going on in the world. THAT would show power of the press. And he would not be able to claim "fake news"...just no news. And with trump, no news is good news.
2
The Republican party has bound themselves to Trump. We'll see if it works since this election is dominated by attitudes to Trump.
2
It makes me think that this "caravan" is so perfectly timed for Fox commentators that perhaps it is the work of Trumpian donors rather than, as alleged by some, financed by Soros.
As you point out, these are his closing arguments. We will see if after the election the troops actually get to the border (for logistical duty only--I wonder if that includes humanitarian assistance).
Somewhere else in today's paper there is a comparison between today's "caravan crisis" and the 2014 Ebola scare. Please read.
2
Mr. Douthat writes:
"The idiosyncratic nature of lone-wolf attacks makes it a mistake to draw a line of direct responsibility from Trump’s rhetoric to the would-be pipe bomber and the synagogue shooting. And the oft-repeated claim that the Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-Semitic violence seems dubious or wrong."
I don't know about the anti-Semitic violence being caused by Trump but I do know that the Magabomber and the Pittsburgh shooter were driven by hatred for Trump's perceived enemies (Magabomber) and belief that Jews were paying the "caravan" to "invade" the U.S. (Pittsburgh shooter) Trump's tiny hands' fingerprints are there for all to see. Trump supporters would disagree I guess. I am not one of them.
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The whole strategy is just another reminder that Trump isn’t President of the United States. He’s only President of white Red State Republicans.
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Given our vertiginous style of politics there is still time for some unexpected development, some last-minute midterm twist
As the far fetched and debunked attempt to discredit Mueller will attest. This administration and its cohorts will stop at nothing to keep power in the hands of the undeserving and dangerous
6
Ross: Pretty interesting column, with the exception of your statement that the "Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-semitic violence seems dubious or wrong." Hate crimes jumped, according to FBI data immediately after Trump's election (Washington Post, March 23, 2018).
Further, the lawyer defending Patrick Stein, one of the Kansas Muslim bombers, has gone on record asking for a more lenient sentence for his client by blaming "Trump's inflammatory rhetoric" as a "backdrop" to outline some form of extenuating circumstances.
To quote Andrew Gillum, "I'm not saying he's racist. I'm saying that the racists think he's racist."
In my opinion, that perception is the problem. Your ongoing defense and downplaying of Trump's racism and anti-semitism continues to contribute to and enable his racism and anti-semitism.
14
@T T: Exactamundo! If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, our goose is cooked. Trump's tweets and outbursts of bilious misogyny, racial animus, and contempt for the spirit and the letter of the law all define him.
3
"The oft-repeated claim that the Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-Semitic violence seems dubious or wrong."
Sorry, it's neither dubious nor wrong. Anti-Defamation League statistics prove that anti-Semitic hate crimes have skyrocketed under Trump with the largest increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes on record occurring since Trump took office, and that was before the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue.
Trump has appropriated and exploited White Nationalist rhetoric. White Nationalists have been using the same exact rhetoric for over a century, they even dramatically ramped it up during the Obama presidency, yet it was Trump legitimizing their hate and rhetoric which made all the difference as anti-Semitic hate crimes actually fell during every single year of Obama's presidency and were at the lowest level on record at the end of his term. They exploded when Trump became president.
Trump has not "winked at…extremism" and "vigilante violence," he explicitly called for it as far back as 2016 when appealing for vigilante poll watchers. Trump also didn’t "wink at extremism" in his “Charlottesville response," he blamed the victims and called the torch carrying White Supremacists "very fine people." Finally, stop pretending Trump was trying to build a populist movement, when he was always building a white nationalist movement. It's that movement which still defines everything he does, which is his true appeal to his base, and which now defines the entire GOP.
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Alas, I have only one vote to cast (sigh).
The country keeps reaping what it sowed.
4
What is interesting is that the Media does not ask itself "Why are these themes the Greatest Hits?" Does the average American like them for a reason that has inherent merit?
How would journalists react if an unlimited number of foreign journalists were set to displace them from their jobs at the NY Times and other media outlets?
Not well.
Trump began with a fragile coalition of voters. Ross, let me help you out here, because I know you don't know many Trump voters. I know a lot of them.
He has lost a considerable measure of support from the alt-right, most of whom only voted for him because they thought a wall would be constructed and the 22.8 million illegal aliens would be deported. Firing Steve Bannon sealed the deal for many of these voters. Those voters have been betrayed.
He has lost a lot of Independent voters, who wanted affordable, great healthcare, taxes on the wealthy, a realignment of trade and manufacturing. They have been betrayed as well.
Trump is not the real deal, for both moderate Independents and the alt-right, for different reasons.
There is a chance, given the chameleon that Trump is, he will take completely different stands on certain issues after the midterms, and the Dems have the House. Would not bet against that.
5
Trump is already seeding the ground for a possible defeat by blaming Republicans for not standing strongly enough with him and by saying any downturn in the economy will be the fault of democrats. Thus, even if defeated at the polls next week Trump will claim victory, just as he has claimed 2016 was a complete victory despite his loss of the popular vote. Whether or not the House and Senate are won by Democrats, Trump is prepared to continue sowing discord--his greatest hit has been mobilizing hatred.
5
Ross insists, "And the oft-repeated claim that the Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-Semitic violence seems dubious or wrong." What's your evidence for this assertion?
4
Americans will have to choose between politics without any human morality or anything goes as long as you win.
2
"And the oft-repeated claim that the Trump era has produced a general surge in anti-Semitic violence seems dubious or wrong."
Wrong? Really? Anti-Semitic acts in the US were up 57 percent in 2017, the largest increase since they started keeping track of these more than 60 years ago. Now, who was that who took over the presidency in 2017?
443
@qantas25 I also took notice of that remark in his column. It seems as though Ross has a hard time with verifiable facts here. There are several easy to find references that would show his assertion is incorrect. It may not be Trump doing it directly but his dog-whistles and redefining of terms like "nationalist" without any regard to their insidious origins have created a ripe environment and amplified the voice of the far right fringe and the truly dangerous minds that lurk there.
I am often struck by how hard Mr. Douthat has to work to seem as though he really dislikes Trump when in reality he is titillated at the prospect that Trump, the Conservative court and Republicans will finally deliver on overturning Roe v. Wade and prayer in schools. He knows he's in making a devil's bargain, but seems to be okay with it. He looks more and more like a single issue thinker in this regard.
76
@qantas25
This article is interesting:
http://theconversation.com/new-data-shows-us-hate-crimes-continued-to-rise-in-2017-97989
Notice the spikes in overall hate crimes after 9/11 and the 2016 election, along with the up-tick in anti-Hispanic hate crime after the 2016 election. The dots connect ...
37
@qantas25 The quote you reference hinges on those last 3 words, “dubious or wrong.” I just thought readers would like to know I actually clicked on those words to determine the source. Which is Reason Magazine, described as libertarian, “leaning Right” (as per Media Bias) source. There are no studies or research cited.
34
The literal attacks by right wing extremists will continue and become more frequent.
We have a good many mentally deranged individuals in this country. They are armed to the teeth and they have been given license to vent their anger by a president who sees this as an effective means to his desired ends: retaining power and self enrichment.
At some point, hopefully soon, responsible journalists, members of Congress and those on the Supreme Court will have to come to terms with this, else we will sink into complete chaos.
Head-in-the-sand, precatory prognostication has failed thus far and will never reverse this cycle of violence.
125
The ''strategy'' of 2016 has returned (as if it has ever left) and that is to lie. It is as simple as that.
There has been 5000+ (and counting) verifiable lies that the President has made and the only question is whether there will be enough voters that will be believe his lies AGAIN. That's it.
There have been absolutely no legislative achievements from this administration other than the tax theft. The tax theft took 83% of the gains for the rich and corporations that are permanent, while the other 17% were a meager amount to the middle class that will sunset. (evaporate like all of other promises that the President has lied about)
Now I am being direct and using the word ''lie''. Generally when I do, the comment does not go through, and the press has not been (until very recently) using the same word as well. That has been the problem, because enough voters seem to think that the President is somehow being characterized badly.
The President is lying. You can vote for them or not.
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@FunkyIrishman Exactly. Someone should make red hats that say "I Like Lying" because that's all this is really about.
13
I have just made a trip up through rural northwest Ohio, using secondary roads.
Two years ago, following similar routes, the countryside was covered, wall to wall, with Trump/Pence signs. This time it was difficult to discern that there is an election occurring. The few signs I did see were for local issues. In fact, there were more signs in support of a countywide 911 system than for any candidate. As for statewide races, none for the Ohio senate race and only 3 for the gubernatorial- 2 Democrat and one republican.
4
@Paul -- I too follow the signs. I see a lot for local Democrats this time. Last time there were almost none.
Last time felt like a protest, because of that remarkable void.
If there is a protest this time, it isn't against the Democrats.
2
@Paul I live in northeastern PA, and the same was true two years ago: 99% of signs for Trump. This year there seem to be as many signs or slightly more for Democrats, Casey, Cartwright, et al, as for Barletta and that other guy.
3
Trying to predict races in the 2018 election based on then2016 results in a given state or congressional districting a fool's game.
First and foremost is the fact HRC is not on the head of any ballot.
Secondly Trump is not on any ballot.
Thirdly voters have had two years to see how Trump really is not how he portrayed himself during 2016.
Finally voters have seen how all the Republican Congress has been cowed and wallowed in support and admiration of Trump.
If a voter is satisfied that his or her representative did the right thing in defending Trump then they will vote Republican.
8
Democratic or disappointed moderate conservative parents of voting age children! Whether they are Millennials or Zs, and have expressed their distaste for Trumpism, remind them early and often to vote on Tuesday.
53
@RDG Whether they are Millennials or Zs, and have expressed their distaste for Trumpism, remind them early and often to vote on Tuesday.
-----------
Right, because "kids" love to be told what to do, even in their mid to late 20s and 30s...
Perhaps their priorities and political inheritances might differ from yours, despite the "distaste for Trumpism"? Lots of issues on the ballots, afterall...
Let your kids be on election day. Either you've raised them to be conscientious voters, or not. They decide their futures, not you. Blessings!
1
@Midway Yes, they do decide their own futures. But at 20 or 30 something, unlike the teen years, they actually listen to what their folks have to say. They will think about it and then make their own call. And, regardless of the age of the kids, parents never stop parenting. My little victory was finally getting my son to start a 401k after a brief campaign of insisting.
5
@Midway It says remind them to vote. It does not say tell them who to vote for.
2
What Trump deserves (as we all do) is to be known for what he is. Everything else, voting included, follows that. Character will out, and the evidence for what sort of person Donald Trump is overwhelming and points in one direction, downward and into the darkness.
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@Christophership If that were the case we'd have a different President Sadly they will probably remain in power for 2 to 6 more years. If this sounds like a sentence, well then...if the shoe fits...
1
@Christophership
Character will out, as you note, and supporters of Mr. Trump, including some of my well-educated relatives, will still line up to vote republican. It is impossible to reason with them because they refuse to think.
IMHO, if one has even a vestige of a conscience, he or she cannot possibly support republicans, given the collective spinelessness of the party and its adulation of Mr. Trump, a man who would be king. And may still get to be one.
The Dems aren't ideal either. But they at least understand what democracy is about.
11
Douthat correctly sets out the problem:
" Every good politician knows that you need a closing argument for your campaign, a way to seal the deal with wavering voters or goose turnout among the already committed. So in the last two weeks, with the midterms looming, Donald Trump has offered a set of closing arguments that might be summarized as follows: "
since Pres. Mayhem 45* isn't running for anything so he doesn't need a 'closing argument' - and isn't on a ticket anywhere - though he can't stand it and wants to pretend he's on the ballot, to justify his gadding about the country trying to dominate every news cycle 2-3 times per day.
Unless, of course, his party loses - in which case he's told us all it won't be his fault.
He is the moth constantly seeking TeeVee cameras and klieg lights.
It is the seminal problem of this White House that His Weaselness never adapted to being POTUS vs. being a candidate, since that would mean governing instead of dividing/inflaming; dividing/inflaming is his default mode.
He is manifestly unfit.
197
@R. Law The donald is actually running scared and he should be. If he no longer has toadies like Devin Nunes to protect him he knows full well that he is in serious danger from a subpoena-powered chairman like Gerry Nadler. If he can no longer claim to be above the law (in spite of his flank being covered by such as Kavanaugh and Thomas) he may well spend his pension years folding laundry at Club Fed. And while he may be generally ignorant about trade wars and such, he is probably fully aware of the danger he is in. Thus his carrying on at Nuremberg-ish rallies smacks of hysteria and panic, and this is mirrored in his cult followers' ever more strident cheering.
24
@jprfrog - Agree His Unhinged Unraveling Unfitness is trying to save his own hide, but we believe his lawyers will claim he is non compos mentis to keep him out of jail; there is ample evidence to support such a claim, with groundwork already being laid by his lawyers refusing to allow him to be interviewed by Mueller.
He is the epitome of an 'useful idiot' to GOP'ers, who prop him in office despite all manner of administration malfeasance(s). He is exactly the empty suit Grover Norquist described at CPAC in 2012 when saying GOP'ers didn't need a 'fearless leader' - they just wanted a warm body with enough working digits to sign what was already prepared:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/norquist-romney-will-do-as-tolddavid-frum
It took 4 years longer than Norquist wanted, but the careening Rolling Trumpster Fire saw a need which he could fil;, a way to polish up his brand and pad his resume, not undergoing many prying questions and minimum vetting.
The resulting grotesquery of need meets supply has been on display for 2 long years.
By manipulating compliant GOP'er gatekeepers, as well as a ratings-obsessed media typified by CBS CEO Les Moonves's famous comment on the 2016 primary circus:
" It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS. "
and the Russia factor, Very Stable Genius eked out a 77,000 vote margin across 3 states to win the Electoral College.
His impervious shamelessness is his armor.
17
@R. Law
Trump's opening and closing argument is to distract from whatever he is trying to preserve, protect and defend the profitable advantage for the Trump Organization that he is hiding from the American people in his personal and family income tax returns and business records.
5
Ross casually tosses off the adjective “hated” as a descriptor for Obamacare. “Vilified” would be more appropriate. In fact, as Trump and his GOP claque got close to repeal and then tried various ways to undermine the Affordable Care Act, they discovered its provisions are not hated at all. In fact they are quite popular. Thus the rush by Republican candidates to meretriciously claim they have always defended covering existing conditions, a centerpiece of the ACA made possible only by the “hated” individual mandate. As all the polls show, healthcare is a Democratic issue in these midterms because it turns out Obamacare is not hated at all.
208
@Michael Hill I believe the actual quote is "failed and hated Obamacare replacement", suggesting that it is the replacement that was hated.
3
Ross has said that he hopes voters will flip the House but leave the Senate in Republican hands. I don't think that's enough.
I hear people around here, a region that voted for Trump in both the primaries and general election, saying that they like what Trump has done. That scares me.
Our congressional district is a tossup. It is possible that those Trump supporters will be fired up and come out to win the election. I've donated money and will be canvassing for Democrats next Monday. I worry that will not be enough.
The irony for me is that this region has not been sharing in the economic boom. Unemployment is down, but I wonder how much that reflect people leaving for greener pastures. Our farmers are still in trouble. The industries that depend on agriculture are also suffering. We don't seem to have many new ideas for revitalization and the people with money aren't likely to invest in towns and villages caught in a downward spiral.
Immigration brings new workers to our region. It's one hope for the future. Believing that Trump will do anything to save us is likely to delay positive action until it is too late.
67
@Betsy S As coincidence would have it, I was in upstate New York last week, where most of the job creation I saw was minimum-wage stuff not too far removed from the gig economy (confirming your comment).
Another point that surprised me: front-lawn signs promoting this or that candidate for local public office had no indication of party affiliation -- zero, nothing at all. Reds and blues and swirls and American flags, full stop.
Could someone please explain?
Perhaps: local elections = sick and tired of partisanship, let's not go there, or (possibly) candidates who feel they can only lose (not gain) from affiliation.
This comes in striking contrast to federal/national elections, where partisanship is stronger than ever.
15
@Chris Durban You visited ... I live here (probably Betsy's neighbor and fellow Resistance member) - No need for party ID on signs - Dist. 22 Tenney = Trump and as for far too many of my friends and neighbors, as the Kinks once sang,: "... and that's the way I want it to stay, and I always want it to be that way..." regardless of fact or acknowledgment of what they aren't getting out of the deal.
6
@Chris Durban
I live in a small rural town in central MA. We have town government by selectmen and town manager. None run on a party, instead policies and platform. I know some party affiliations as we see them campaigning for the state reps. But as town elected officials they run on ideas not party. This seems to work much better. We have great schools, low taxes and great services. Maybe the perfect solution would be to rid ourselves of political parties and then vote for the candidate who most aligns with our ideals. Blind polls indicate that voters support many Democratic ideals and policies until they find out the party promoting them. I have a friend who has voted Republican her entire adult life. It is unthinkable for her to even consider voting Dem. Yet she supports environmental issues, shops organic, rails against the private insurance system, corporate welfare, believes in funding education, accepts climate science and worries about her grandchildren's future, supports Social Security and Medicare, and a multitude of other policies. If voting was truly blind she would support the Democrats. But she votes straight Republican party every time. If she was just voting for what she felt was best for America would she vote for progressive policies if they were not attached to a political party? Probably yes. We are divided instead of united in what would be best for the PEOPLE of the United States. Partisan politics and blind party allegiance are killing our country.
10
I am hoping those independent voters that Mr. Douthat writes about are paying attention. I know my anxiety level, already pretty high from two years of Trump, is nearing off-the-scale proportions as November 6th fast approaches.
I will be voting, as I have voted in every election since I returned from Vietnam in 1969, for the best candidate. Sometimes that was a Republican, but mostly it was a Democrat. Does that make me an "independent" I wonder?
I don't have a crystal ball, and neither have the pollsters if the 2016 election is any indication, but I will make this prediction: there will be a Blue Wave, and turnout will be historic. People like me will be watching the election results for this mid-term as if it were a presidential election.
In a very real way, it will be.
365
@Len: In Colorado, where I live, the voting population is split three ways: one-third Democratic, one-third Republican, one-third Independent. Not good for Trump and the GOP.
34
@Len
Len, I hope that you are right. And yes, anxiety level is through the roof!
19
@Len
If a blue wave, is that a vote against Trump or is it truly a D-vote? If the former, then it really isn't a true-blue wave. Alas.
1