Maddow’s side-by-side Trump vs. George Wallace comparison is so spot-on it’s scary

[UCmeNdc]

While some political observers argue that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign — and his success — are unprecedented, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow argued on Tuesday that his style can be traced back to the rhetoric employed by segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace (D).

“Close your eyes and just listen to the news reports from that election, it’s almost like they’re talking about Donald Trump,” she said.

Maddow played several clips detailing coverage of Wallace’s run, including one describing his supporters as being angry about the political climate, and being drawn to his confrontational style. She also showed footage of protesters being violently taken out of the governor’s campaign events, much like they have been during several Trump rallies thus far in his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.


http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/maddows-side-by-side-trump-vs-george-wallace-comparison-is-so-spot-on-its-scary/

[katmondoo]

1. Wallace was shot at one of his rallies

Left him permanently crippled. I don't remember who shot him and why.

[pampango]

2. Trump is the latest in a long line of RW populists - the Know Nothings of the 1850's to Pat Buchanan

of the 1990's.

Trump's naked appeals to nativist, anti-immigrant populism have parallels in American history, from Pat Buchanan in the 1990s to George Wallace in the 1960s and 1970s to Millard Fillmore's Know-Nothing Party in the 1850s. (Trump) has totally ignored the Planned Parenthood undercover video controversy; and he has been griping about foreign trade since the 1980s (then it was Japan, now China).

The European right wing traces its heritage in part to the old monarchists. Yet its populist leaders also echo mid-20th century dictators such as Mussolini and Hitler, who were simultaneously violent nationalists and self-proclaimed socialists who disdained individual rights and sought domination over private business and Christian churches. ... In that sense, Trump's anti-immigrant, anti-trade, “Make America great again” nationalism may not be un-conservative, but it is literally un-American. It lacks the reverence for America's founding principles and the Lincolnesque concern for individual rights to life and liberty that have long called American conservatives to the more hopeful better angels of our nature.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-1215-mclaughlin-trump-european-nationalist-20151215-story.html

I wonder if Trump is a student of RW European populist politicians and sees in their recent successes a pattern for him to follow here. Or if he is just the latest in a long history of American "nativist, anti-immigration" populists ( like "Pat Buchanan in the 1990s to George Wallace in the 1960s and 1970s to ... the Know-Nothing Party in the 1850's&quot .