Saturday, August 08, 2015
Still thinking about the debate...
Yeah, I'm kind of obsessed. And I'm not even a Republican. Here are some thoughts:
-- Trump was fascinating and awful. He was confronted with terrible things he had said about women, and then responded by insulting Rosie O'Donnell and attacking "political correctness." And it worked, because many in the audience think as he does.
-- The Huckabee seemed to want to one-up Trump, so he suggested that we solve the Social Security problem by taxing pimps. Which is certainly a horrifying approach to human trafficking.
-- Rand Paul was exactly right in responding to Chris Christie (who was trying to claim that mass data collection is constitutional). It was a fascinating dialogue that could have used a little slowing down.
-- Scott Walker seems shallow and soft. That won't work for long.
-- There seems to be a mini-playoff between Cruz and Rubio, and Rubio is winning. They told similar origin stories.
-- Yes, Fox News did ask tough (but predictable) questions. Everyone was asked the hardest question imaginable... but they should have imagined it as they prepared. I hope the Democratic debate sees a similar approach.
-- It is now pretty clear what is going on with Trump's appeal: He is tapping right into all the anger that the Republican party has created over the past two decades by fear-mongering and vilification of government, a tactic pursued to get working-class people to vote against their own financial interests. They got people mad, and now they are, well, mad. And someone they don't like has figured out how to tap into it. There is a Democratic analogue, too-- Democrats have over-promised what government can do, and now many in their base are upset that they have under-delivered.
-- Trump was fascinating and awful. He was confronted with terrible things he had said about women, and then responded by insulting Rosie O'Donnell and attacking "political correctness." And it worked, because many in the audience think as he does.
-- The Huckabee seemed to want to one-up Trump, so he suggested that we solve the Social Security problem by taxing pimps. Which is certainly a horrifying approach to human trafficking.
-- Rand Paul was exactly right in responding to Chris Christie (who was trying to claim that mass data collection is constitutional). It was a fascinating dialogue that could have used a little slowing down.
-- Scott Walker seems shallow and soft. That won't work for long.
-- There seems to be a mini-playoff between Cruz and Rubio, and Rubio is winning. They told similar origin stories.
-- Yes, Fox News did ask tough (but predictable) questions. Everyone was asked the hardest question imaginable... but they should have imagined it as they prepared. I hope the Democratic debate sees a similar approach.
-- It is now pretty clear what is going on with Trump's appeal: He is tapping right into all the anger that the Republican party has created over the past two decades by fear-mongering and vilification of government, a tactic pursued to get working-class people to vote against their own financial interests. They got people mad, and now they are, well, mad. And someone they don't like has figured out how to tap into it. There is a Democratic analogue, too-- Democrats have over-promised what government can do, and now many in their base are upset that they have under-delivered.
Comments:
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Intriguing on many levels. But isn't your "analogue" actually not an analogue at all? Isn't it the exact same problem that antimates Republicans so skeptical of big government beyond reason?
Also, I would say that for all the similarities between Rubio and Cruz (sons of Cuban refugees from Bautista, youthful, excellent orators, and first-term senators), they are employing very different strategies. Rubio is vying to be the most conservative "establishment" candidate (really courting the Jeb Bush constituency). Cruz is dead-solid, Tea-Partry, "wacko bird" conservative. He is really hanging around waiting for the Trump caucus to fall apart and pick up the pieces of that highly vocal and volatile GOP voter bloc. Cruz is the darling of talk radio while Rubio was briefly a friend but currently looked askance by the true believers. Having said that, Rubio is in a wonderful position to unite the GOP in a way Jeb or John Kasich could never do (conservatives will rally around Rubio in the general). And, of course, as I have maintained from the day he announced his candidacy, he is the perfect GOP standard bearer to take advantage of all of Hillary's worst vulnerabilities.
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