This is an Amazing Article!

[monicaangela]

Donald Trump’s Policies Are Not Anathema to U.S. Mainstream but an Uncomfortable Reflection of It


Glenn Greenwald
Mar. 4 2016, 10:05 a.m.


The political and media establishments in the U.S. — which have jointly wrought so much destruction, decay, and decadence — recently decided to unite against Donald Trump. Their central claim is that the real estate mogul and longtime NBC reality TV star advocates morally reprehensible positions that are far outside the bounds of decency; relatedly, they argue, he is so personally repellent that his empowerment would degrade both the country and the presidency.

In some instances, their claim is plausible: There is at least genuine embarrassment if not revulsion even among America’s political class over Trump’s proposed mass deportation of 11 million human beings, banning of all Muslims from entering the country, and new laws to enable him to more easily sue (and thus destroy) media outlets that “falsely” criticize him. And his signature personality brew of deep-seated insecurities, vindictive narcissism, channeling of the darkest impulses, and gaudy, petty boasting is indeed uniquely grotesque.

But in many cases, probably most, the flamboyant denunciations of Trump by establishment figures make no sense except as self-aggrandizing pretense, because those condemning him have long tolerated if not outright advocated very similar ideas, albeit with less rhetorical candor.


https://theintercept.com/2016/03/04/trumps-policies-are-not-anathema-to-the-u-s-mainstream-but-an-uncomfortably-vivid-reflection-of-it/
snip~~~~

I have been asking myself why it appears many are so dumbfounded by the conduct of Donald Trump. I can't figure the reason why so many including the Republican Party itself are trying to act as though Trumps ideas and "policies" are an anathema to what the party stands for. Thanks to Glenn Greenwald for explaining it much better than I ever could.

[malaise]

1. Donald Trump’s Policies Are Not Anathema to U.S. Mainstream but an Uncomfortable Reflection of It

This

[monicaangela]

2. Exactly malaise!

I can't understand why it is so hard for some to see this.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027660330

We have been building towards this for, oh since at least Ronald Wilson Reagan, if not Richard Milhaus Nixon

[malaise]

4. The party is over

The Reagan Revolution is about to crash and burn - and good. If it doesn't here come the fascists.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. What makes me laugh is how many are whistling past the graveyard

[monicaangela]

8. Even longer than that nadinbrezinski

Just like the boiling frog anecdote, we are slowing being led to the slaughter. The boiling frog is an anecdote describing a frog slowly being boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to or be aware of threats that occur gradually.

They have systematically, I think since reconstruction tried to return the country to the 19th century. MHO.

[surrealAmerican]

6. It really is something we've been saying here all along.

He's saying, in the crudest terms, what Republicans have been dog-whistle hinting at for years.

[monicaangela]

10. Exactly surrealAmerican

It's amazing how the republicans and their establishment are trying to pretend this is in some way out of the norm for them. Jeff Sessions in the Senate should have been the first clue for anybody who believes this hasn't been going on for a long time. I believe Robert Byrd, a democrat at the time who admitted he had been a Klansman was not the beginning of the infiltration of government offices, but just another bird added to the flock...forgive the pun.

In the early 1940s, Byrd recruited 150 of his friends and associates to create a new chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in Sophia, West Virginia.

According to Byrd, a Klan official told him, "You have a talent for leadership, Bob ... The country needs young men like you in the leadership of the nation." Byrd later recalled, "Suddenly lights flashed in my mind! Someone important had recognized my abilities! I was only 23 or 24 years old, and the thought of a political career had never really hit me. But strike me that night, it did." Byrd became a recruiter and leader of his chapter. When it came time to elect the top officer (Exalted Cyclops) in the local Klan unit, Byrd won unanimously.

In December 1944, Byrd wrote to segregationist Mississippi Senator Theodore G. Bilbo:


I shall never fight in the armed forces with a negro by my side ... Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.

— Robert C. Byrd, in a letter to Sen. Theodore Bilbo (D-MS), 1944

In 1946, Byrd wrote a letter to a Grand Wizard stating, "The Klan is needed today as never before, and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia and in every state in the nation." However, when running for the United States House of Representatives in 1952, he announced "After about a year, I became disinterested, quit paying my dues, and dropped my membership in the organization. During the nine years that have followed, I have never been interested in the Klan." He said he had joined the Klan because he felt it offered excitement and was anti-communist.

In 1997, Byrd told an interviewer he would encourage young people to become involved in politics but also warned, "Be sure you avoid the Ku Klux Klan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Byrd

So, I believe we have to confront our entire two party system. I don't believe the republicans are the only ones involved in this, if they were we would have gotten rid of it long ago. Time for the electorate to step up and stamp this out.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Mainstream among white men

Poll: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2321

Overall: 34% favorable, 59% unfavorable

All women: 29% favorable, 64% unfavorable
All men: 39% favorable, 54% unfavorable

Black: 8% favorable, 84% unfavorable
White: 41% favorable, 52% unfavorable

White women: 36% favorable, 57% unfavorable
White men: 47% favorable, 46% unfavourable

(and, in a separate poll, very unpopular with Hispanics: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2016/02/25/poll-trumps-negatives-among-hispanics-rise-worst-in-gop-field/ )

[noretreatnosurrender]

9. Agree with Greenwald

Here we see the elite class agreeing to pretend that Trump is advocating views that are inherently disqualifying when — thanks to those doing the denouncing — those views are actually quite mainstream, even popular, among both the American political class and its population. Torture was the official American policy for years. It went way beyond waterboarding. One Republican president ordered it and his Democratic successor immunized it from all forms of accountability, ensuring that not a single official would be prosecuted for authorizing even the most extreme techniques, ones that killed people — or even allowed to be sued by their victims.

Many of the high officials most responsible for that torture regime and who defended it — from Condoleezza Rice and John Brennan — remain not just acceptable in mainstream circles but hold high office and are virtually revered. And, just by the way, both of Trump’s main rivals — Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz — refuse to rule out classic torture techniques as part of their campaign. In light of all that, who takes seriously the notion that Trump’s advocacy of torture — including techniques beyond waterboarding — places him beyond the American pale? To the contrary, it places him within its establishment mainstream.

Then there’s the outrage du jour from last night. A couple of weeks ago, George W. Bush’s NSA and CIA chief, Gen. Michael Hayden, claimed that members of the military would never follow Trump’s orders if it meant committing war crimes such as torturing detainees or killing a terrorist’s family members (perish the thought). When asked about this last night, Trump insisted that the U.S. military would do so: “They’re not going to refuse. Believe me,” he said. “If I say do it, they’re going to do it. That’s what leadership is about.” Of all the statements Trump made last night, this was the one most often cited by pundits as being the most outrageous, shocking, disgusting, etc. Even bona fide war criminals such as the Bush White House’s pro-invasion and torture propagandist got in on the moral outrage act:

Trump is wrong when he says military will do whatever he tells them. They'll resign before carrying out what they think is an illegal order.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) March 4, 2016

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. I think Ari is sort of talking from experience

hmm... starting to percolate I see

[monicaangela]

13. Isn't it amazing

We, the citizens of this nation sit back and watch all of this as though it were some TV program that "in reality can't be true" these are just actors on a virtual stage or something. That is the impression I get when I talk to friends and neighbors. Many I have spoken with would say before the details came out, " Oh our country is better than that, this never happened, the leaders of our country would not and could not do something like that...We signed the Geneva Convention Rules of War didn't we?...Just couldn't happen, this is the greatest nation on earth, we're a democracy and we're trying to help the rest of the world be exactly as we are. Then the rumors of Black Sites began...In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black project is conducted. Recently, the term has gained notoriety in describing secret prisons operated by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), generally outside of U.S. territory and legal jurisdiction.[citation needed] It can refer to the facilities that are controlled by the CIA and used by the U.S. government in its War on Terror to detain alleged unlawful enemy combatants.

U.S. President George W. Bush acknowledged the existence of secret prisons operated by the CIA during a speech on September 6, 2006. A claim that the black sites existed was made by The Washington Post in November 2005 and before this by human rights NGOs (non-governmental organizations).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_site

With operations like the one I mentioned above who's to say what we have done to prisoners, who is to say we haven't done worse that what we accuse ISIS and others of doing. It is time we begin clearing this all up if our nation is to survive. That of course is my opinion, but things do not appear to be getting better, and it doesn't appear to matter which of the two parties we elect, nothing seems to change. We need to change course, I believe Bernie Sanders can be the beginning of that change. If Hillary Clinton someone proven to be a war hawk gets that position I fear for where we might be going next, not to mention any of the republican candidate that are running, including Kasich who appears to be giving the impression of being the adult in the room. Believe me, nothing could be further from the truth.

[Lodestar]

12. That's pretty much what Obama said when asked about Trump

He wisely said Trump just expressed in more colorful ways what the GOP has been advocating all along.

[monicaangela]

14. He called it for what it is

Obama has a way of being optimistic at all times. He is not an alarmist, and he has before he became president had faith in the American people and appears to still have that same faith. He's been insulated in a bubble in the White House and even when he has an opportunity to get out. I sincerely hope he is correct, but I'm sure that is the way the citizens of Germany felt in regards to Hitler or the people of Italy felt before Mussolini came to power. I suppose time will tell. Again, I hope he is correct.

[Lodestar]

15. Well, I don't think Trump has the numbers to beat the Democrat

so long as people vote. He still represents a minority in this country
even if that is magnified quite a bit through the hungry lens of the media.

I do think Obama sees things through a much wider and longer lens than most and sometimes doesn't see what's in front of him as clearly. I still much prefer someone who has vision and faith in the basic goodness of humanity.