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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow the Party of Sarah Palin Became the Party of Donald Trump - By Jonathan Chait
Donald Trump appeared on the national political stage almost eight years ago. Only then he was called Sarah Palin. The circumstances of Palins ascent came very differently. While Trump nurtured his fame for decades in the New York media spotlight and won the Republican nomination after a protracted nationwide campaign, Palin was plucked in her political youth from the most remote state in the union and presented to the party as a fait accompli. Having no chance to consider or debate her selection, Republicans defended her unreservedly. What critics saw as dangerous ignorance buttressed by anti-intellectual resentment, conservatives defended as populist authenticity, a noble victim of venal coastal elites.
The actual Palin, transparent to her handlers behind the scenes, was even more horrifyingly buffoonish than the public version. She required remedial ninth-grade-history-level tutorials on events like World War I, World War II, and the fact that there are actually two Koreas. She appeared to be mentally unstable. Some of her handlers found the prospect that she might assume the vice-presidency so dangerous that, in the weeks leading up to the election, they prepared a contingency plan to warn the public in the event John McCain had a chance to win. After the campaign, Palins defenders that is, the entire Republican Party began to slowly edge away as it became increasingly difficult to defend her erratic persona. Palin indulged conspiracy theories, like death panels in Obamacare and the allegedly murky circumstances surrounding the presidents birth, and praised Trump for pursuing the investigation (Hes not just throwing stones from the sidelines, hes digging in, hes paying for researchers to find out why President Obama would have spent $2 million to not show his birth certificate.). Her various attempts to monetize her gullible followers devolved into an embarrassing reality-television freak show.
One conservative who did not abandon Palin was Matthew Continetti, who wrote for The Weekly Standard, the editor of which, his father-in-law William Kristol, helped bring Palin to the attention of Washington Republicans. Now the editor of the Washington Free Beacon, Continetti continues to nurse grievances against Palins critics within the party. As recently as last summer, Continetti accused the McCain staffers who denounced Palin for their back-stabbing vindictiveness and self-seeking, for being small enough to curry favor with the liberal press by leak[ing] disparaging material about their vice presidential candidate even before Election Day.
The rise of Trump has given many Republicans, including Continetti, a different perspective on these very same questions. Trumps candidacy has given them the chance to debate the merits of an ignorant demagogue, rather than defend him reflexively. Many of them have decided that a president who knows things about public policy, and does not indulge conspiracy theories from email chains, has a certain charm. They have even come to view the dissent against such a candidate as an act of nobility, rather than traitorous currying of favor with the elite liberal media. And they have even begun questioning what pathologies have driven Republican voters into the arms of such patently unqualified demagogues. Continetti has a column today making the point in admirably clear terms:
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http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/06/how-the-party-of-palin-became-the-party-of-trump.html
PJMcK
(22,048 posts)"Donald Trump appeared on the national political stage almost eight years ago. Only then he was called Sarah Palin."
I think I'm gonna enjoy this article. Thanks, DonViejo.
edhopper
(33,615 posts)for decades. Still is and those two fit right in.
elljay
(1,178 posts)compared to Palin and Trump. Which still amazes and appalls me.
but he was also a clueless idiot. He just "communicated" better.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)certainot
(9,090 posts)commentators and analysts who read and watch tv for inspiration and information and just turn on the bloody radio.
hey chait- it's the radio stupid!
with palin it was even clearer - she didn't read because she got her info from the radio! and limbaugh wouldn't endorse mccain up until the friday before the convention. he'd have never endorsed mccain if he had chosen pawlenty or lieberman - who mccain was thinking of. so minutes before his friday show started they announced palin, and he started his show saying with that great pick for vp he was now on board. the convention would have been a disaster without limbaugh and the hundreds of sycophant wannabes on 1200 radio stations that repeat him.
trump gets everything from talk radio, his supporters are the same dittohead/republican activist base rove/koch/alec used to elect sycophants and fools and push and pass regressive, hateful, anti-democratic legislation all over the country for 25 years.
it is absurd that the polling cos don't relate trump with talk radio - there is no closer association that could be made to define his support.
the absurd part is that these 90 universities endorse 270 limbaugh/trump stations!
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,036 posts)TonyPDX
(962 posts)The upside to this surreal campaign season is a stake in the heart to the idea that a country should be run like a business.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Good one!
"... a president who knows things about public policy, and does not indulge conspiracy theories from email chains, has a certain charm ..."
niyad
(113,552 posts)do not have to live with the consequences.
Martin Eden
(12,875 posts)No surprise coming from a Republican deep thinker.
Ineeda
(3,626 posts)rearing its ugly head again. Disgusting and unconscionable. McCain's bitterness and hatred of that uppity black man who stole his opportunity for the white house is evident.
chapdrum
(930 posts)about these stateless s*ites?