How a Conservative Wins the Presidency in a Liberal Decade

[LiberalLovinLug]

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/fear-and-voting-in-america/490631/

Amid the civil-rights protests, riots, and unrest of the 1960s, Richard Nixon found his way to the White House. Now Donald Trump is taking a page from his playbook.

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Trump has repurposed Nixon’s strategy during the 2016 presidential campaign. But, unlike Nixon, Trump has “dropped the code,” according to Boyd. “He has been direct and unapologetic in his appeals to fear, and the GOP establishment seems unnerved because he has exposed their game. He is suggesting that bigotry is inherently American and thus not something to hide from but instead something to embrace.”

According to Richard Reeves, an author and lecturer at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Trump’s appeal is much broader than his stance on any given policy issue. “I think the appeal—typically with white men—is that they are losing their place at the head of the table,” he said. These folks remember “when they were young and ran the country. He is appealing to people who feel they have lost control.”

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Will all of these tragic shootings recently, especially the ones against police officers, ignite the Pavlovian response to vote Republican, in not only the conservative base, the loyal idiots, but also enough of the so-called independents/undecided/moderates who may have been planning to perhaps vote Hillary or stay home because they didn't like either candidate? It doesn't seem to matter that the Republicans are terrible at law and order (they can't even stand up to the NRA and pass no fly no buy, and that little fact that they allowed the worst terrorist attack on US soil on their watch)...the inflammatory rhetoric of the right, and specifically Donald Trump, may become a problem for the Democrats. Because as this article points out, fear driven voters always run to the right.

So my question is...what is the best strategy to fight this seemingly proven trend? Does Hillary get "tough" and start sounding like Margaret Thatcher? Or double down on gun control and banning assault type weapons as her husband did? It is infuriating that these tragedies are awful in their own right, but that the spinoff is a frightened populace that is conditioned by media for decades to regard the left as soft on terror and gun violence, and the right as Arnold Schwarzenegger wrapped in the flag, is a difficult dilemma to say the least. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" sadly seems to be quickly forgotten in times like this for many Americans.

[treestar]

1. Fear

And the strange thing is that it is the same Republicans who support the NRA - don't they feel safe enough with their guns?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. The electorate was 88% white in 1968. The 2016 electorate will be 69% -70% white.

HHH wins easily in 68 with a 2016 electorate.


And Nixon was a lot more nuanced than Trump. Heck, he attended Dr. King's funeral.

[LiberalLovinLug]

3. Good point

That will help a bit.

But the question is...does a less nuanced approach galvanize even more of those that remain?