What The Republican Elite Doesn’t Understand About Donald Trump, In One Ridiculous Tweet

[applegrove]

What The Republican Elite Doesn’t Understand About Donald Trump, In One Ridiculous Tweet

by Judd Legum at Think Progress

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/08/29/3696850/what-the-republican-elite-doesnt-understand-about-donald-trump/

"SNIP..............


The assumption in Kristol’s tweet is that Republican voters want cuts to Medicare and Social Security. Most Republican politicans act this way. Major cuts to Medicare and Social Security have been included in Republican budgets, drafted by Paul Ryan. The “serious” Republican candidates — Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and Marco Rubio — all support cuts. It is also a policy favored Republican donors.

But it is not a policy supported by Republican voters.

A Pew poll conducted in 2013 found that just 21% of Republicans favored cuts in Medicare. A higher percentage (24%) favored an increase in Medicare spending. The findings for Social Security were even more dramatic. Just 17% of Republicans favored Social Security spending cuts while 35% favored an increase.

Even among very conservative voters, support for entitlement spending is high. A 2014 Pew poll found that among “consistently conservative” Americans, 59% wanted to maintain current Social Security benefits. Only 38% favored reductions.




...............SNIP"

[Egnever]

1. Has Kristol ever been right about anything?

I would be surprised to see anyone able to point to a single thing he has ever been right about.

A guy could make a damn good living betting against anything he says.

I really don't understand what seems to be a republican obsession of sticking with shown losers.

Hell wolfowitz is making another comeback. I wouldn't be surprised to see rumsfeild popping up this election.

[niyad]

2. kristol has been "right" about many things. whether he has been correct or not, is entirely

different.

[Mass]

3. well, they also do not understand that Duke and Stormfront did not endorse him by error.

The latest PPP poll shows his supporters believe Obama was born abroad and is a Muslim more than GOP voters that support somebody else.

So, I really do not care about his views about Medicare and Social Security. Even if I believed he was honest, his views on race and on women would be enough to be upset, and I am really tired to see progressives deal with the two issues independently.

Yes, the establishment GOP is out of touch, but Trump is playing on issues that are really vile (much more than the rest of the field and the rest of the field is already not that great).

[pampango]

4. I think (hope) that most progressives see through Trump's RW version of populism.

The right's historical desire to identify 'enemies' based on race, religion, ethnicity or nationality (the dreaded "THEM&quot has not changed. Their hyper (if faux) nationalism/patriotism always morphs into nativism since that is what the "US (Americans) vs THEM (foreigners)" game inevitably leads to.

Their bases's support for walls (to stop immigration) and tariffs (to stop trade) makes clear that isolationism is not dead and probably never will be. Trump is tapping into the "Coolidge/Hoover" wing of their party that has been dormant, but not dead, for almost a hundred years.

Even if I believed he was honest, his views on race and on women would be enough to be upset, and I am really tired to see progressives deal with the two issues independently.

If you believed he was honest, you probably would not be here. Again, I think (hope) that most progressives see his lip service to a few genuinely progressive ideas as just that - lip service.

Perhaps the good to come out of this is not that many progressives will actually believe him but that it sows the seed of division and implosion in the republican party - long devoted to privatizing Social Security and Medicare, cutting taxes for the rich, etc.

Many are skeptical that even that will happen. Once Trump implodes, the RW media and republican party will strive to put his 'populist' views as far in the rear-view mirror as they can as quickly as they can. Where that leads for Donald and his supporters will be interesting to see.

[LiberalElite]

5. 32% of LIBERALS support cuts? nt

[TampaAnimusVortex]

6. I dont think most people think on this level.

I think most people vote because they get the "feelz" over certain candidates. I think Trump just has a more flamboyant personality and lots of people pick up on that. I don't see Joe Sixpack getting into a turmoil over wonky policy decisions in general.

[EL34x4]

7. I think most people vote because the feel a civic duty to do so.

They don't post on Democratic Underground. They don't post on Free Republic. They don't watch the Sunday morning news programs. They don't pay any attention to politics or even care about politics except when it comes time to elect the President.

I was watching one interview where a woman was praising Trump. She didn't even know what party he was running for.