Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Public House › The Big Con: Trump as "populist."
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bnw.
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October 3, 2016 at 10:50 am #54377
Billy_TParticipantThe false narrative has been there for a long time, but in recent months, especially with the rise of the libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, it seems to be at peak-pundit. I’m guessing corporate media are pushing this, to blur the lines between actual populism — which comes from the left and is a threat to them — and the faux kind from the right. I’ve even seen talking heads say Trump and Sanders are the same on populist issues like trade and jobs, and that if only Trump would stay on that message, he could win.
Um, no. Trump just disguises the tired old “let’s blame everything on government” mantra that “conservatives” have perfected from at least Reagan on. He never, ever talks about private sector, corporate, business responsibility for our ills. He blames all of our economic woes, the loss of jobs, low wages, etc. etc. etc. on the government, and whips his fans into a frenzy of fear and loathing regarding black and brown immigrants. That’s the opposite of “populism.” That’s just good old-fashioned scapegoating, within spitting distance of classic fascism in general, while embracing it in particular cases.
Sanders called for a living wage, corporate responsibility for their fair share of taxes, Single Payer health care, free public colleges and universities, a repeal of Citizens United. The supposed “populist” Trump has called for an end to the minimum wage, a repeal of the ACA without replacing it, no word on Citizens United, other than a promise to nominate hard right judges who will certainly keep it in place. For all of his talk about trade deals, it’s still just scapegoating government and brown and black workers, again, without saying a single thing he’d do to create jobs, increase wages for workers, provide better working conditions, or any concern for the environment. He’s pushing policies only the financial elite should love, but because he’s such a good con man, he’s convinced white working class folks he’s in their corner.
Um, no way.
October 3, 2016 at 10:55 am #54378Billy_TParticipantAlso, Trump’s tax plan would wipe out hundreds of billions of tax revenues and provide a windfall for the rich, corporations, himself and his heirs. Repealing the Estate Tax, which only affects 0.2% of the nation, including the Trumps, would save his heirs billions — literally. He’s also called for massive deregulation of businesses.
He’s the financial elite’s dream come true, when it comes to playing Santa Claus for them. But because he’s a racist maniac, all too easily unhinged, many of them fear a Trump presidency.
Yeah, a real “populist,” to be sure.
October 3, 2016 at 10:59 am #54379Billy_TParticipantGonna go a bit further into the difference between right and left populism later . . . but I’d be really interested in reading anyone else’s thoughts on this.
Boiled down, for me: simply due to the nature of right-wing ideology and worldview, I can’t see how they can ever have a truly “populist” platform. The right has always been in favor of steep hierarchies, and believes inequality is “natural.” Their history has been (at first) to defend monarchy, Big Church, and now Big Business and the wealthy, and just the math alone tells us that can’t be “populist.” Their vision of society, and their aggressive attempts to realize this, have always gone against the interests of the vast majority of “the people.”
October 3, 2016 at 11:15 am #54381
bnwBlockedThe false narrative has been there for a long time, but in recent months, especially with the rise of the libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, it seems to be at peak-pundit. I’m guessing corporate media are pushing this, to blur the lines between actual populism — which comes from the left and is a threat to them — and the faux kind from the right.
Corporate media are firmly for Hildabeast. Six corporations now own 91% of the media in the USA. That is thanks to Bill “The Rapist” Clinton who in 1996 deregulated the media allowing for small independent radio stations to be bought up by large local media including TV and newspapers. Therefore the media will not press any issue of substance against Hildabeast as payback for their monopolies. Even Fox is now firmly against Trump with the exception of Hannity and Pirro. Despite the complicity of the media Trump will continue to gain support because his policies reflect the will of the people and the people can see the entire establishment including well known republicans are against Trump and of course, them.
The upside to being a Rams fan is heartbreak.
Sprinkles are for winners.
October 3, 2016 at 1:25 pm #54388
snowmanParticipant“The Will of the People” is a thing that does not exist but is used over and over again by political salespeople to convince each other that their position has unanimous support. It gets really funny and ironic when The Will of the People is trotted out to convince the very same People to vote a certain way.
October 3, 2016 at 1:41 pm #54391bnwBlocked“The Will of the People” is a thing that does not exist but is used over and over again by political salespeople to convince each other that their position has unanimous support. It gets really funny and ironic when The Will of the People is trotted out to convince the very same People to vote a certain way.
Except Trump isn’t campaigning as the will of the people. The people see the establishment lined up against Trump and the people realize he speaks for their interests.
The upside to being a Rams fan is heartbreak.
Sprinkles are for winners.
October 3, 2016 at 1:57 pm #54396snowmanParticipantHe doesn’t speak for the People’s interest otherwise he wouldn’t be criticized, despised and villified by the People as he has been and will continue to be.
October 3, 2016 at 2:20 pm #54401bnwBlockedHe doesn’t speak for the People’s interest otherwise he wouldn’t be criticized, despised and villified by the People as he has been and will continue to be.
You’re confusing the establishment with the people.
The upside to being a Rams fan is heartbreak.
Sprinkles are for winners.
October 3, 2016 at 4:57 pm #54417Billy_TParticipantHe doesn’t speak for the People’s interest otherwise he wouldn’t be criticized, despised and villified by the People as he has been and will continue to be.
He doesn’t have majority support for any of his policy stances. Not one. And on most of them — though it’s tough to sift through the word salad to figure out where he does stand — strong majorities of Americans oppose him. Like tax cuts for rich people. Majorities of Americans favor increasing them. Majorities also favor tougher environmental standards. Trump says he’d slash those standards. Majorities also favor tougher gun control measures, and Trump has sold his soul to the NRA. Majorities favor raising the minimum wage. Trump wants to get rid of it, etc. etc.
His supporters can’t name a single policy stance that garners majority support, unless they keep it extremely vague, like, “create millions of jobs and redo our trade deals.”
Trump has never said how he would create those jobs, or what any new trade deal would actually look like. He’s only broad-brushed the topic, blamed everything on other countries, our government and black and brown people. Given the fact that the people most responsible for wage stagnation and shipping jobs overseas are American business men and women, primarily corporate America, and he never holds them accountable, he’s not going to improve those trade deals to help “the people” in the slightest.
About the only “people” he does speak for are white nationalists, as they frequently tell us in their own words. Fascists in general love him. Good article on fascism in America here:
October 3, 2016 at 5:00 pm #54418Billy_TParticipantThe opening part of the New Republic article:
At a rally in Iowa on Wednesday, Donald Trump tried to whip up the crowd by asking anyone who was a Christian conservative to raise their hand. The crowd cheered. The Republican nominee then made a strange follow-up request: “Raise your hand if you’re not a Christian conservative. I want to see this, right? Oh there’s a a couple people, that’s all right,” the candidate said as he brusquely waived his right hand. “I think we’ll keep them, right? Should we keep them in the room, yes? I think so.” He was in a jovial mood as he said all this, but if he was making a joke, it had a sinister undertone. Trump, after all, is running to be president of the pluralistic United States, but here he is suggesting that it might good to apply a religious test and to kick out anyone who wasn’t a Christian conservative. The remarks were a reminder of Tump’s notorious call to ban Muslims from entering the country, if not also of his Fox and Friends appearance on September 19 when he described Muslim immigrants as a “Trojan Horse” who were bringing a “cancer from within” to America.
Trump habitually sees the world in stark “us versus them” terms, and makes wholesale denunciations of entire ethnic groups. Which inevitably raises the question, “Is Donald Trump a fascist?”
October 3, 2016 at 6:21 pm #54429Billy_TParticipantMore evidence that Trump is all hat and no cattle:
Excerpt:
Plenty of blue-collar workers believe that, as president, Donald Trump would be ready to fight off U.S. trade adversaries and reinvigorate the country’s manufacturing industries through his commitment to the Rust Belt. What they likely don’t know is that Trump has been stiffing American steel workers on his own construction projects for years, choosing to deprive untold millions of dollars from four key electoral swing states and instead directing it to China—the country whose trade practices have helped decimate the once-powerful industrial center of the United States.
A Newsweek investigation has found that in at least two of Trump’s last three construction projects, Trump opted to purchase his steel and aluminum from Chinese manufacturers rather than United States corporations based in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. In other instances, he abandoned steel altogether, instead choosing the far-less-expensive option of buying concrete from various companies, including some linked to the Luchese and Genovese crime families. Trump has never been accused of engaging in any wrongdoing for his business dealings with those companies, but it’s true that the Mafia has long controlled much of the concrete industry in New York.
Throughout his campaign, Trump has maintained that some controversial decisions for his companies amounted to nothing more than taking actions that were good for business, and were therefore reflections of his financial acumen. But, with the exception of one business that collapsed into multiple bankruptcies, Trump does not operate a public company; he has no fiduciary obligation to shareholders to obtain the highest returns he can. His decisions to turn away from American producers were not driven by legal obligations to investors, but simply resulted in higher profits for himself and his family.
Again, he’s a con man, a serial liar and a faux “populist.” He’s not going to help the people who believe he’s their messiah — not in the slightest. Trump is all about Trump. Always has been.
October 3, 2016 at 6:52 pm #54434bnwBlockedAnd you think Hildabeast isn’t all about Hildabeast? Of course in her case sans the building of anything other than her bank account.
The upside to being a Rams fan is heartbreak.
Sprinkles are for winners.
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