{"id":86520,"date":"2016-01-26T19:44:41","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T03:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=86520"},"modified":"2016-01-27T01:05:06","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T09:05:06","slug":"is-trump-the-republican-bill-clinton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=86520","title":{"rendered":"Is Trump The Republican Bill Clinton?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Comments to Steve Sailer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

* It\u2019s because liberals fundamentally misunderstand what Trump is all about. They think he\u2019s some sort of far-right extremist. In the modern liberal mind, signaling that you\u2019re friendly to minorities is *the, single, issue* that matters, and everything else is boring policy stuff that no one reads or pays attention to. So someone like Rubio who wants to start several wars and cut off Medicare benefits gets moderate cred, because he says nice things about immigrants.<\/p>\n

The truth is that Trump is doing so well because he\u2019s dragging the Republican party kicking and screaming back to the center, jettisoning their insane ideas about foreign policy, dropping the unpopular entitlement program cuts, and focusing like a laser on the issues where Republican ideas are actually popular, like immigration control.<\/p>\n

Trump is essentially the Republican party\u2019s Bill Clinton.<\/p>\n

* Or he\u2019s a Reagan for the 2010s.<\/p>\n

What chimp movies were for the 80s, reality TV is in the 2010s.<\/p>\n

* That sounds to me like Trump is essentially the Republican Party\u2019s new Eisenhower, not the Republican Party\u2019s Bill Clinton. One thing that clearly distinguishes Trump from Bill Clinton is the beauty of his three wives. No comparison at all to that dumpy women in the pantsuits. Also Trump has invoked the 50\u2032s as America\u2019s great age. That sounds like he wants to take us back to Eisenhower. I believe Scott McConnell over at TAC makes the same argument about Trump invoking Eisenhower.<\/p>\n

* Trump might follow up by promising, like Clinton, 300,000 additional police, the aim being to bring law-and-order back to inner city neighborhoods. This, according to Heather MacDonald, is the single issue local residents care about most.<\/a><\/p>\n

More and better policing together with his promise to bring millions of low-skilled blue-collar factory jobs back from places like China and Mexico should help Trump attract a lot of African-American votes. Plus, they like his style!<\/p>\n

* Democrats weren\u2019t insane pre-Clinton.<\/p>\n

They actually used to have very pro-worker stances on issues like trade, immigration, financial regulation, and unions . As recently as the early 90s, Democrats were fairly responsive to the concerns of working class whites. It was under Clinton that NAFTA was passed in 1994, the H1b visa cap was expanded in 1998 (with further liberalization of regulations in 2000), and we had the repeal of Glass-Steagal in 1999. Under Clinton, the Democrats went from being a workingman\u2019s party to a financier-corporatist-diversitycrat alliance. For that, the media can\u2019t stop giving him credit.<\/p>\n

Republicans, on the other hand, have been borderline insane from W. Bush onward. On immigration, on financialization, on economic inequality, and on foreign policy.<\/p>\n

Trump represents a return to moderation on economic issues and foreign policy, with an emphasis on majoritarian policies that benefit the white working\/middle class. Clinton represented the embrace of extremist corporatism and financialization.<\/p>\n

However, the ruling overclass tends to be rather extreme on most issues these days. So moderation is pretty radical from their perspective, while starting a war with Russia (Carly Fiorina actually proposed this) makes one a mainstream thinker.<\/p>\n

* The problem is there is no more CENTER. Globalism undermined the notion of a center. Under nationalism, the nation is the center, and the majority population is the center, and middle class is the center, and core values are the center.<\/p>\n

In US, \u2018gay marriage\u2019 is now considered the center. Rule by Jewish minority is accepted as mainstream. Favoring Israel over US is mainstream in both parties.<\/p>\n

So, what is the center?<\/p>\n

* So much has been written about the appeal of his anti-PC rhetoric. Few in the mainstream media have acknowledged the appeal of his largely centrist policy prescriptions. He\u2019s not going to upset the apple cart over nickle\/dime World War T-type nonsense. He\u2019s going to focus his fire on immigration, trade, the debt. Jobs jobs jobs. He\u2019s a money guy.<\/p>\n

His foreign policy stance has generally been far to the LEFT of Hillary Clinton, who is a chickenhawk. It\u2019s a beautiful combo, IMHO.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if he (or anyone) is smart enough to figure out a way to slash the defense budget, raise the age for Social Security, and trim government pensions. But if anyone can cut those deals\u2026 maybe it\u2019s Trump.<\/p>\n

My biggest fear is that the Congressional wimps in his own party won\u2019t fall in line. If they do he\u2019ll end up on Mt. Rushmore.<\/p>\n

* It seems that a lot of Trump\u2019s ideas come from Ann Coulter. I remember Steve and David Frum separately making this claim. Also, Coulter is one of the few political people Trump follows in Twitter. He spends A LOT of time in Twitter.<\/p>\n

I just saw Coulter mention there how she connected with Trump:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026I attacked him on the Obama Birther stuff and he invited me to lunch.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is pretty important from the historical perspective. Who was influenced by whom and how? I remember Coulter writing things that strongly implied that she read iSteve.<\/p>\n

* Lots of foreign oligarchs live in Trump properties. Trump himself uses who is buying and who is selling to get some sense of what\u2019s going on in foreign countries.<\/p>\n

* If Trump is serious about his biggest slogan, then he wants to be America\u2019s Putin, who is the polar opposite of Yeltsin. Putin HAS made Russia solvent, functional and important again.<\/p>\n

* I agree with your depiction of Clinton and his affect on the dimocrats. I\u2019d just add that Clinton\u2019s foreign policies were as bad as his domestic and even more influential. George Kennan described Clinton\u2019s NATO expansion as one of the biggest foreign policy blunders of the 20th century. Clinton doubled down on this by involving the USA and NATO in a series of confrontations with Russian allies in the Balkans and the Caucusus. One outcome has been the conversion of Kosovo into a narco-terrorist state on the southern flank of Europe. All Clinton\u2019s disastrous policies were neocon gambits and foreshadowed the disastrous neocon\/zionist hijacking of US foreign policy under Bush II and BO.<\/p>\n

* Have Hillary\u2019s comments about Bill\u2019s sex crimes struck you as unusually odd? Why? I think I know why.<\/p>\n

Her responses are abnormally tangential, even for Hillary, to the point where she seems to have gone temporarily deaf and not heard the question. The responses are not just evasive, but almost completely off topic. She says things like \u201cthat is for the voters to decide\u201d or \u201cwomen victims should be believed unless there is a reason not to believe them,\u201d and then she shuts up.<\/p>\n

I think she has to do this for fear of a defamation lawsuit. Any denial, even the tiniest denial on her part would defame Juanita Broadrick and the other women, and could call down a nightmarish lawsuit that would drag on forever and force her to testify. She definitely can\u2019t say \u201cJuanita is lying\u201d and she can\u2019t say anything that implies Juanita is lying, such as \u201cthere is no credible evidence\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lawsuits based on her original actions are barred by the statute of limitations. Any new statement, however, would be a brand new offense and not barred. Her responses sound so odd because she is basically taking the Fifth without explicitly saying so.<\/p>\n

* One of Nate Silver\u2019s points is that enthusiasts for a candidates often exaggerate the likelihood a trend will continue. If Candidate X has risen from 5% to 20% in the last two months that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019ll rise from 20% to 50% in the next four months. Lots of Republican candidates in 2011 and 2015 topped out after a nice little rise.<\/p>\n

So far, Trump has been the exception.<\/p>\n

The Le Pens in France are an example of the difficulties of extending trend lines.<\/p>\n

* Perhaps Trump has activated in America\u2019s collective unconscious the need and desire for tribal safety, survival and growth. We are under attack, from without and within, and a strong fortress border and military to defend the country is paramount. We crave unity, purpose and prosperity and subconsciously recognize that many so called immigrants are more like invaders and parasites with widely different values and cultures rather than those of the past that willingly became Americanized. We want to be winners and not losers. We don\u2019t want to start unnecessary wars, but if attacked we will destroy the enemy. We want peace and friendship among peoples and nations and wish to maintain our own strong national character and abide by our own supreme law and Constitution.
\nSeems to me if Trump is elected Chieftain to ensure these needs are met he would be far more like Washington than Clinton.<\/p>\n

* The big picture: outside of the Anglosphere, Western Europe, Japan, Israel, South Korea, Singapore, and Brunei, the world\u2019s tap water isn\u2019t safe to drink. We take it for granted, but clean tap water seems to require levels of competence that are relatively rare.<\/p>\n

* You forgot to mention the Gay Nazi Bodybuilder contingent. We\u2019re very much a part of Trump\u2019s support.<\/p>\n

The gay anime nazi bodybuilder Alt Right types developed cuckservative, the most effective verbal shiv we\u2019ve seen in forever. Meanwhile the \u201crespectable\u201d types with the big brains sat around like they have for the last decade moaning about how we\u2019re all doomed because Demographics while they LARPed as doomed intellectuals. We\u2019ve caused Rick Wilson to meltdown on live TV about how Trump\u2019s support is \u201canime nerds jerking off in their mom\u2019s basement\u201d, among others.<\/p>\n

The GOP Smart Set tries to pretend that \u201cI know posting this is going to get my TF flooded by nazi animes\u201d is some sort of in joke, but it obviously bothers them after about five minutes of getting their ideas shredded by someone with an anime avatar and then called a low test cuck faggot who can\u2019t please his woman on top of it, usually with photoshop of them in cuck porn.<\/p>\n

* Two related issues history shows are stupid to run on:<\/p>\n

1) Reducing the growth in entitlement spending\/making Social Security and Medicare sustainable.<\/p>\n

2) Reducing the federal debt.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re stupid issues, they\u2019re just stupid to run on. They\u2019re easy for opponents to demagogue, and there\u2019s no political benefit in addressing them before circumstances force the issue (e.g., the bond market balks at our debt and starts demanding high interest rates to buy it; the OMB or some other nonpartisan watchdog raises an imminent warning about Social Security and Medicare).<\/p>\n

When circumstances force the issue, you hammer out a bipartisan fix and you move on. But running on it is just asking the other party to kick you in the nuts.<\/p>\n

* Republican voters are going to get serious and choose an establishment candidate any day now, you know? Trump\u2019s hateful rhetoric isn\u2019t who we are.<\/p>\n

* Chaim Amalek I think that is correct. Trump was fun, but I really am torn between Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. Each has crossover appeal to hispanics (republicans even if they don’t yet know it) and each has the steady hand not to rock the boat in trade talks with China or Mexico.<\/p>\n

David Kelsey There’s a huge difference between Jeb and Marco on so many important issues facing us. Not sure why anyone would put those two together.<\/p>\n

Chaim Amalek Exactly! I just cannot make up my mind as to which I prefer, since they both make a lot of sense to me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comments to Steve Sailer: * It\u2019s because liberals fundamentally misunderstand what Trump is all about. They think he\u2019s some sort of far-right extremist. In the modern liberal mind, signaling that you\u2019re friendly to minorities is *the, single, issue* that matters, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29752],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donald-trump"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86520"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86572,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86520\/revisions\/86572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}