A Tale of Two Rallies: My Summer With Bernie and Trump--Politico

[KoKo]

By BEN SCHRECKINGER-August 23, 2015

The breakout stars of 2015 are two old white guys from the outer boroughs of New York, and I’ve had access to the hottest tickets in town.

It is the summer of America’s discontent, and Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have tapped into a deep vein of anti-Washington frustration to capture a quarter of their (both adopted) parties’ voters and taken their country by surprise.

They’ve also put on the best political rallies of the cycle, drawing the biggest and most boisterous crowds of any candidates. Shuttling between them — a Sanders rally in Reno, Nevada on Tuesday and a Trump rally in Mobile, Alabama, on Friday — I snatched a glimpse of the two strains of populism taking American politics for a spin.

It’s that both have hit on the same populist sentiment — that a spineless elite has left the rest of the country at the mercy of global economic anarchy — and then put on events that embody such incompatible solutions.

Trump’s rallies magnify the cult of personality of a would-be leader who promises to save the country through personal talent and integrity so great that they transcend any issue or ideology.

Sanders’ serve as rallying points for a mass movement that promises to save the country through specific reforms and to which Sanders, as leader, is almost incidental.

Even where their policies overlap — their mutual opposition to trade deals and the corrupting of super PAC money — their stances seem wildly different when spilling out of their mouths.

The most telling differences, though, between a Sanders rally and a Trump rally are in the dynamic between the candidate, the press and the crowd.

Trump rallies are, of course, all about Trump. “I know the game better than anybody,” he said in Mobile on Friday night, and “I am the toughest guy,” and “I am going to be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.”

His rallies are not about sharing the stage. “Do you have a list of people speaking/standing on stage?” I texted his spokeswoman on Friday, hoping to find out more about the people who delivered their endorsements of the businessman and the man who gave the invocation. “Mr. Trump,” was the response.
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Sanders, on the other hand, tells his supporters, “I can’t do this alone.” As much as leader, he plays the role of spokesman and adored mascot — t-shirts featuring Sanders’ white hair and black glasses were popular in Reno — for a message and a policy platform. He has more or less inherited a constituency that had picked Elizabeth Warren as its first choice for standard-bearer.

In Nevada, the Vermont senator declared, “We need a mass political movement,” and implored his supporters to become proactive members of it, pulling their apathetic friends into the electoral process.

Both Trump and Sanders took shots at the media at their rallies this week, but Trump’s candidacy is fueled by free media exposure, and the press receives pride of place at his events. In Alabama, seating reserved for the press was front and center, at about the 20-yard line.

More of an interesting read at:

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/bernie-sanders-donald-trump-2016-rallies-121637.html#ixzz3jeg2KYkj

[Fred Sanders]

1. As much as the media wants to conflate the two, fascist Trump and socialist Sanders are mirror

opposites.

Fascism the mass media admires but socialism must not be mentioned - except when conflation is needed...what else can they do? If dinner table issues are actually discussed instead of personality, the GOP loses on every issue because they bring nothing to dine on, except never ending heaping helpings of steaming hot mounds of bullshit.

The mass media is no friend to socialism, but it has only kindness for fascism.

[KoKo]

4. The article points it out in an interesting way.

I found the whole read interesting.

Like you, I've seen some negative comparisons trying to put Bernie and Trump in the Fringe Candidate category..tying them together without doing any analysis of the difference.

What I liked about this article is it contrasts the two and how they are running their campaign and and the differences in what they are trying to achieve.

[Hortensis]

2. "It’s that both have hit on the same populist sentiment—that a spineless elite has left the rest of

the country at the mercy of global economic anarchy — and then put on events that embody such incompatible solutions."

THIS is what both groups of populists are mad about? Not that a spineless and irresponsible citizenry has unchained greed and HELPED it infiltrate government at all levels in order to sack the nation's wealth?

I listened a few months ago to some people who felt their middle class employees were both, in summary,
1. Obviously overpaid, as evidenced by purchasing far larger homes than needed and filling them with unnecessary possessions.
2. Extremely feckless and irresponsible, as evidenced by running up debts and wasting the money they made instead of investing it to build future wealth.

The discussion continued on enthusiastically to agreement on how poorly behaved these people were (NO, conservatives, they were NOT talking about low-income people) and some intimation that reduced incomes might actually help them morally. Seemed to be some doubt there, but couldn't hurt. One suggested that maybe a 1200-1400 square foot home like his grandparents had was not only quite nice but should improve family life and supervision of children. The others agreed it might help but anyway was a good family home, and that in any case wages needed to drop for all those employees who were being paid a lot more than necessary.

Why is it that more people are not worried about what the concentration of wealth in the hands of the top 0.1%, and especially the 0.01%, could do not just to the health of our nation but to our democracy itself?

[KoKo]

5. ...!

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, KoKo.

[sadoldgirl]

6. Very good read, but one that worries me.

Bernie tries to wake up the duty of a citizen in
a democracy. He tries to get people to unite and
act for themselves as a community.

Trump plays the STRONG man, who can handle
everything by himself. He brings xenophobic
nationalism to the front.

This country's electorate is very gullible and thus
may not recognize the fascist in Trump. History
has a habit to repeat itself, although not always
in the same place.so, YES, I worry.

[KoKo]

7. There's the worry of Trump/Reagan...

But, I still think he will fade in the coming months. His outrageousness is fun stuff for the MSM to cover at this point but its already getting tiresome. The positive thing is that we haven't had to listen to the 17 Repubs every weekend spouting their own RW idiocy while the MSM fauns all over them, imho.

[Uncle Joe]

8. Bernie will start pulling some people away from Trump.

Trump's main political strength is in misdirecting the peoples' anger and resentment, they see his "blunt talk" as him being honest about their dwindling fortunes because he supplies weak scapegoats which conform to their long conditioned beliefs.

Trump is riding a tiger and he can't get off.

Bernie gives a strong counter, fire in the belly direct challenge to that propaganda, he doesn't tiptoe around it, Bernie clearly points out the real villains behind the mess, his actions, record and words supports his campaign rhetoric.

No one else challenges Trump in the same direct in your face way as Bernie, the Republican candidates are too afraid because to buck Trump forcefully puts them in the quandary of having to confront what they've soft pedaled all along and the issue allergic, Milquetoast, corporate media is just towing the line, waiting for Trump to self-destruct and in some cases not caring.

Bernie's honest admission that he can't do this alone, delegating of authority and plea for his supporters to create and sustain the movement multiplies and magnifies his message to places that he could never reach on his own.

I'm convinced that Bernie's no hold barred style of speaking truth to power will reach some of Trumps angry supporters, certainly not all of them, there are too many other differences but Bernie is in the best position to reach the ones that can be saved from themselves.