Vox: Trump Brand of Identity Politics is Fundamentally a Con

[CousinIT]

Trump’s biggest political weakness is on regular policy issues

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/18/16899734/trump-weakness-policy

Donald Trump is a racist. From the foundation of his campaign — build a wall to keep out “rapist” Mexicans — to his recent Oval Office remarks that countries where black people live are a “shithole” (or “shithouse”). As Maya Angelou has said: When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.

That said, Trump’s opponents should note that the past couple of weeks of intense debate over the president’s “fitness” for office, concluding in a new round of “Trump is a bigot” takes, have corresponded with his approval ratings getting steadily better.

And it actually makes perfect sense. Being a racist (or totally uninformed about policy issues) may be in some sense a graver sin than favoring tax policy tilted in favor of the very rich. But in political terms, most Americans are white but few Americans are very rich, so a focus on the idea that Trump is excessively cruel to nonwhites moves fewer votes than the idea that Trump is excessively focused on the whims of plutocrats.

The overall character issue, meanwhile, could probably bury Trump in a moment of national crisis, but the basic reality is that the economy is humming nicely and objective reality is giving people who backed him 18 months ago no particular reason to reassess his competence.

To students of nativist demagogues abroad, like Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi, this is no surprise. In the wake of Trump’s win, the Italian-born economist Luigi Zingales reflected on the lessons of the two Italian politicians who’d managed to beat Berlusconi, observing, “Both of them treated Mr. Berlusconi as an ordinary opponent. They focused on the issues, not on his character.”

[LakeVermilion]

1. I'm thinking that Hillary could have chosen a better word than "deplorable."

While Trump voters are deplorable, the better word might be "uninformed." Considering how Trump plays his supporters and how they revel in Russian 'bot news and other obscure news sources, I am saying both Trump and his supporters are "uninformed."

[CousinIT]

2. I like "ignorant" or "willfully ignorant"

It puts the blame/onus on them for their ignorance. It is a choice - they don't have to be daft or listen to Fox.

[kentuck]

3. This may be a good strategy for Democrats??

“Both of them treated Mr. Berlusconi as an ordinary opponent. They focused on the issues, not on his character.”