Re: #NeverTrump
While reading some news and commentary online this morning, I came across a link that led to an opinion piece by Laura Ingraham entitled “A Time to Unite” (
A Time to Unite | LifeZette). Ingraham called for Republicans to unite around Donald Trump.
...In today’s era of Social Media, the hashtag #NeverTrump conveys the only good, respectable, and honorable choice available to the electorate. #NeverTrump will be equally relevant in the Primary process and the general election. And, as Ingraham observed, “The citizenry will be watching closely.”
Ingraham has been a Trump booster since at least last fall, and like several other conservative pundits she has been relentless in her irrationality. As a former fan, its a disappointment that she (and others) have worked shamelessly at confirming Kahan's research finding that "politics makes you stupid".
She says that "...the truth is that most, if not all, of the folks supporting Trump don’t care who he offends, as long as he’s standing up for them. They feel like they’ve been bullied for years. For them, Trump is like the savior kid in the schoolyard who takes on the bully by popping him right in the eye. The kids who have been ridiculed or roughed up suddenly have a champion."
So "those folks" think that an opportunistic and fake oratorical enemy of their enemy, must be their friend? And do "those folks" or does Ingraham even notice on who's behalf he is running and what he is (and is not) championing? Does she even notice that they have adopted a champion whose views and allegiances have nothing to do with them, and are often oppositional to their interests?
Ingraham, thinking she is proving a point, unmindfully lists all the ways Americans have been bullied: the government telling property owners if and how they may use their land; how “Unelected bureaucrats stonewall and attack American citizens at every turn."; how federal judges acting as super-legislators harm our religious liberty, how the Federal Marriage Amendment should have worked out. She rightfully complains that "This bullying takes many forms, affects all aspects of our lives, and is carried out by many institutions.".
She adds " Yet one thing is clear — no Establishment figure in either party has put forward a credible program to make life better for middle America."
Gee, you would think that as a former clerk to Justice Thomas, Ingraham would have noticed that Trump has led a life using government to do the bullying she rails against. You would assume she knew that Trump thinks eminent domain and seizing private property for private use is good, and that he was more than suit happy to harass and bully an old woman in court for 10 years to get her tossed off so he could have a parking lot. And she might have noticed that Trump has "evolving" views on marriage equality as recently as 2013, but while he supports traditional marriage he is opposed to a federal amendment to the constitution allowing the states to actually make that determination. And when it comes to personal or religious liberty, he is all for it except when it comes to federal civil rights legislation to protect LBGT and supports affirmative action.
Does she think this is Trump putting forward "a credible program to make life better for middle America?"
Does Ingraham, in theory a movement conservative, think that Trump's position to keep SSI and Medicare entitlements as it is, is a credible program? How about his plan to increase the number of American's who don't pay income taxes to 63 percent, has anyone found that credible? Or how about Trump's promise to end Obamacare, or fix Obamacare, or to have single-payer health care, or to ensure every American has health insurance... (depending on which Donald Trump is speaking) even coherent, let alone credible, to Ms. Ingraham?
Ingraham concludes that:
For years, these people have yearned for someone to lead the charge, to take on the elitist bullies. If Trump is the only one who shows real fight, then they will support him. As of now, Iowans seem to believe that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is the best man to do battle. (That so many in GOP leadership dislike Cruz helps burnish his bona fides as populist warrior.)
So we are supposed to vote for Trump because he will "lead the charge" against "them" for ideas that are incoherent, plans that are not credible, and goals that are inconsistent with her conservative beliefs?
Too stupid to be believed.
