Are Democrats Crazy to Bash Trump
August 11, 2015

Political parties are jury-rigged contraptions in which the different wants and desires of various groups are held together by the hope that victory will provide enough goodies for all the groups.  No party has exemplified this more than the Grand Old Party.  When the Republican Party’s southern strategy swapped the South’s disaffected segregationists for African Americans, the GOP also invited the rich, anti-union businessmen; the religious right; and the better dead than red, anti-communists to join.

Of course, some segments of these groups overlapped and the GOP tried to strengthen or build bridges between these groups.  Any mention of economic class, in particular, was papered over, because of its potential to rip the GOP apart.  Anti-communism, anti-gay, and anti-abortion wedge issues were used to help paper over this potential rift.

Now after almost 50 years, a split has emerged between the GOPers who need their Social Security, Medicare, and (even if they don’t know it) Obamacare and the rich who want their taxes reduced, regardless of who has to pay for it. The face and, to some extent, a driver of this split is Donald Trump, candidate for Republican nomination for President.

Now after almost 50 years, a split has emerged between the GOPers who need their Social Security, Medicare, and (even if they don’t know it) Obamacare and the rich who want their taxes reduced, regardless of who has to pay for it.

For historical and current political reasons, one would think Progressives and Democrats would rejoice at this growing rift in the Republican Party and refrain from doing anything to calm the waters.  One of the ways Trump has roiled the waters is by exposing the use of coded language or dog whistles aimed at Republicans.  Trump’s statements about immigration generally and Mexicans in particular, are in line with the other Republican candidates for the Republican nomination for President. 

The Republican Political Establishment (e.g., the Fox News, the Koch Brothers, the Bushes) and the groups, media outlets, and politicians beholden to the establishment, want Trump to go away.  Trump was asked questions about the bankruptcies of his companies, but Marco Rubio was not asked about his personal financial troubles and Scott Walker was not asked about the convictions of several of his political aids.  The tactics used by the Fox News commentators, honed on Democrats, was to ask Trump personal rather than policy questions.  Thus, they present Trumped in an unfair and unbalanced way, compared to the other candidates who were asked policy questions. 

Fox News Insider Blog. July 30, 2015

Democrats, perhaps thinking Trump will soon drop out of the race, may be trying to tie him more closely to the Republican Party.  The effect, however, seems to be to gloss over the split and help the Republican Party repair it.  In addition, Democrats, especially women, have defended and expressed appreciation for Megyn Kelly.  While an admirable example of feminist solidarity by Democrats, Ms. Kelly does not seem to be fully worthy of this support.  Ms. Kelly has incorrectly charged the Department of Justice under Eric Holder for protecting a black hate group, the New Black Panther Party.  She has railed against black kids as racists because they would like to see a Santa Claus who looks like them.  And, she has wrongly charged that Planned Parenthood has admitted to selling fetuses and body parts.

Why would Democrats help the Republican Political Establishment repair itself when it seems on the edge of disintegration?  Why would Democrats defend Ms. Kelly, an agent of the Republican Political Establishment?  Democrats should do neither, assuming they want to win the Presidency in 2016.