Liberals Keep Falling for Donald Trump's Tricks

[applegrove]

by Erin Gloria Ryan at the Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/11/20/liberals-keep-falling-for-donald-trump-s-tricks.html

SNIP............

To a voter motivated to support Trump by a disdain for elites, that the people in the cities were laughing at them, booing them, looking down on them just confirms their suspicions. It provides justification for their recent electoral Fuck You, and excites them about future Trump administration Fuck Yous. They’ll revel when their president governs by the principle of schadenfreude, basking in the dissatisfaction and unhappiness of the elites they just know are laughing at them.

Hamilton and Alec Baldwin lashing out at the Trump administration is the sum of all aggrieved populist fears. No wonder Donald can't shut up about it.


..............

Trump will continue to harp on SNL and Hamilton for as long as people are paying attention. Trump will seize on dispatches from the culture wars that further the notion that this country consists of a salt of the earth cheated white us versus a snotty, wealthy, coddled urban dwelling them. The source of Trump’s faux-populist smokescreen rage won't be Hamilton next time; maybe it will be the Oscars, or the Emmys, or the Tony awards. Maybe it will be a thousand dollar a plate fundraiser, or the White House correspondents’ dinner, or the Met ball. And it will serve the same function then as it does now: a way to keep the public focused on issues that froth up Trump’s base, and a way to keep what’s really concerning about Trump’s leadership buried beneath a layer of petty bullshit.

If we on the coasts are so smart, we should know better than to keep falling for it.


...............SNIP

[meow2u3]

1. I think it's the press who's forever falling for Drumpf's tricks

They're blaming liberals for their own foolishness. The press and the TV media have been pillorying liberals and painting them as fools when in fact liberals are well onto his games.

[applegrove]

3. Still. Trump is president for now. The Dems should learn from what happens

when and how Trump is attacked. Trump went ballistic. Pence was gracious. I wonder if this is not a new underground presidential race between Pence and Trump....where Pence plays the sober second thought and tries to attract those that are afraid of Trump to him. So that when the great impeachment of 2017é2018 happens, people will feel relief Pence is the most famous adult in power and mistake that for an attachment to Pence.

[mfcorey1]

10. Not my President!

[bdamomma]

4. Again no one likes to read papers

right now I am off TV infotainment they are not reporting the news it is just BS. I will stick to Democracy now, DU and progressive radio. I have this sick feeling they will eliminate free speech and net neutrality.

[JI7]

2. they seem perfectly fine with Trump being from the elite city which his family plans on staying at

The truth is they agree with his bigotry.

I can't take anyone who doesn't factor this into their support for trump seriously.

[bdamomma]

7. you know I never heard this word

being thrown around "elite" that bastard started all this. Crap the other thing is Professional protestors what is that shit about??? these are young people in the streets who I wish continue these protests damn this is their country too. Something has to give? we will not back down no way. Tess Rafferty was right we got to stop being nice. They are infringing on us too.

[2naSalit]

9. Professional Protesters

is what activists were called by the drumpster types back in the late 90s... before 911 which instantly transformed all protesters into terrists... domestic terrists and eco-terrists. So get ready for that term to become prominent once again, and so soon.

What's going on at Standing Rock is the precursor for what's on the menu going forward.

[liberal N proud]

5. There will be a new shiny object next week

Trump is the one baiting people and the media.

[tenderfoot]

6. Disagree. The Media is falling for it. Not liberals on facebook.

eom

[Ruth Bonner]

8. Excellent read. Liberals fall for it to the extent that it

gets circulated around social media.

[UTUSN]

11. R#12 & K for, here's another citing "the BERLUSCONI parallel"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028294307
The how-to of dealing with DRUMPF (dealing him OUT), based on the BERLUSCONI experience
Re-post from Don Viejo's thread, for emphasis.

**********QUOTE*******

https://politicalwire.com/2016/11/19/trumps-secret-berlusconis/
[font size=5]Trump’s Secret Is the Same As Berlusconi’s[/font]
November 19, 2016 By Taegan Goddard

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/opinion/the-right-way-to-resist-trump.html
[font size=5]The Right Way to Resist Trump[/font]
By LUIGI ZINGALES NOV. 18, 2016

.... Mr. Berlusconi was able to govern Italy for as long as he did mostly [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]thanks to the incompetence of his opposition[/FONT]. It was so rabidly [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]obsessed with his personality[/FONT] that any substantive political debate disappeared; it focused only on [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]personal attacks[/FONT], the effect of which was to increase Mr. Berlusconi’s popularity. His secret was an ability to set off a Pavlovian reaction among his leftist opponents, which engendered instantaneous sympathy in most moderate voters. Mr. Trump is no different. ....

Unfortunately, the dynamic has not ended with the election. Shortly after Mr. Trump gave his acceptance speech, protests sprang up all over America. What are these people protesting against? Whether we like it or not, Mr. Trump won legitimately. Denying that only feeds the perception that there are “legitimate” candidates and “illegitimate” ones, and a small elite decides which is which. If that’s true, elections are just a beauty contest among candidates blessed by the Guardian Council of clerics, just like in Iran. The Italian experience provides a blueprint for how to defeat Mr. Trump. [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]Only two[/FONT] men in Italy [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]have won[/FONT] an electoral competition against Mr. Berlusconi: Romano Prodi and the current prime minister, Matteo Renzi (albeit only in a 2014 European election). Both of them [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]treated Mr. Berlusconi as an ordinary opponent[/FONT]. They focused on the [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]issues, not on his character[/FONT]. In different ways, both of them are seen as outsiders, not as members of what in Italy is defined as the political caste. ....

And an [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]opposition focused on personality[/FONT] would [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]crown Mr. Trump as the people’s leader[/FONT] of the fight against the Washington caste. It would also weaken the opposition voice on the issues, where it is important to [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]conduct a battle of principles[/FONT].

Democrats should also offer Mr. Trump [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]help against the Republican establishment[/FONT], an offer that would reveal whether his populism is empty language or a real position. For example, with Mr. Trump’s encouragement, the Republican platform called for reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act, which would separate investment and commercial banking. The Democrats should declare their support of this separation, a policy that many Republicans oppose. The last thing they should want is for Mr. [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]Trump to use the Republican establishment as a fig leaf for his own failure[/FONT], dumping on it the responsibility for blocking the popular reforms that he promised during the campaign and probably never intended to pass. That will only enlarge his image as a hero of the people shackled by the elites.

####

[FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]Luigi Zingales[/FONT], a professor of entrepreneurship and finance at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, is the author of “A Capitalism for the People: Recapturing the Lost Genius of American Prosperity.”

***********UNQUOTE*********