erik lundegaard

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Thursday November 23, 2017

Must-Read

The quote below is from “The Nationalist's Delusion,” by Andrew Serwer in The Atlantic. Please check it out. It's a brutal dismantling of the mainstream media argument that economic anxieties led to Trump. Serwer, who's African-American, is having none of it. As such, it's the must-read piece of the year, especially for anyone working at NPR, which keeps pushing the economic argument. 

I love this part in particular, because it gets at what has driven me crazy about the Trump/Obama eras:

The president's supporters have stood by him even as he has evinced every quality they described as a deal breaker under Obama. Conservatives attacked Obama's lack of faith; Trump is a thrice-married libertine who has never asked God for forgiveness. They accused Obama of being under malign foreign influence; Trump eagerly accepted the aid of a foreign adversary during the election. They accused Obama of genuflecting before Russian President Vladimir Putin; Trump has refused to even criticize Putin publicly. They attacked Obama for his ties to Tony Rezko, the crooked real-estate agent; Trump's ties to organized crime are too numerous to name. Conservatives said Obama was lazy; Trump “gets bored and likes to watch TV.” They said Obama's golfing was excessive; as of August Trump had spent nearly a fifth of his presidency golfing. They attributed Obama's intellectual prowess to his teleprompter; Trump seems unable to describe the basics of any of his own policies. They said Obama was a self-obsessed egomaniac; Trump is unable to broach topics of public concern without boasting. Conservatives said Obama quietly used the power of the state to attack his enemies; Trump has publicly attempted to use the power of the state to attack his enemies. Republicans said Obama was racially divisive; Trump has called Nazis “very fine people.” Conservatives portrayed Obama as a vapid celebrity; Trump is a vapid celebrity.

There is virtually no personality defect that conservatives accused Obama of possessing that Trump himself does not actually possess.

This is the reason why Trump's numbers won't go below what they're at now: mid-30s. As long as he remains racist, his supporters will abide anything. Even treason. 

Think about that for a moment. They'll take treason as long as he's racist. 

There's nothing good in this, and in him.  

Posted at 07:13 AM on Thursday November 23, 2017 in category Politics