Discussion: Down With The Confederate Flag, Up With Donald Trump!

system1 · July 17, 2015, 2:06pm

Discussion for article #238517

lestatdelc · July 17, 2015, 2:54pm

sponsored by the same corporations that underwrite Democratic conventions

Well what difference does it make then, right Mr. Perlstein?

Or was there some other dumbfuckery point you were trying to make with that insipid bit of stupidity?

mcbain · July 17, 2015, 3:17pm

Considering that Trump once ran on the Reform Party ticket, is a friend of the Clintons and has donated to their causes, I’m getting more and more convinced that Trump is just trolling. It’s a lot cheaper to troll than to donate to Dem candidates (which he has done in past), and I’m sure he’s smart enough to realize he could make more off campaign donations (if he wanted them) than he would lose in business. Plus he loves the attention. I don’t think he cares about the reputation hit because he knows he is just trolling, and the people he cares about must know that as well.

It’s possible he has made a drastic change in policy he supports, but it is so extreme that it is hard for me to believe that would be the case.

But you never know. If he is trolling, it is a performance for the ages.

littlegirlblue · July 17, 2015, 3:29pm

Perlstein must have been paid by the word. Was there even a point because somewhere between confederate battle flags, Trump and whack-a-moles I fell asleep.

jackson_frisell · July 17, 2015, 3:44pm

Down with the Confederhate flag and up with Trump? So the same hatred now wears a clownish toupee.

Meet the new hate, same as the old hate.

avattoir · July 17, 2015, 3:49pm

I see the advance troll patrol is in fettle.

haggie · July 17, 2015, 3:50pm

One massively conceited a-hole does not make a political party.

counter_coulter · July 17, 2015, 3:56pm

…the American swastika has finally become toxic…

Wow, Godwin within the first graf…that’s gotta be a new record! Congratz Mr. Perlstein!

ronbyers · July 17, 2015, 4:05pm

I noticed the same sentence. It needs clarification. Overall, however, Perlstein makes some interesting observations. I think calling the sentence an “insipid bit of stupidity” says more about you than it does about him.

dweb · July 17, 2015, 4:08pm

At the core of it all is hatred…

Hatred for those who do not believe as they do
Intolerance for those who are somehow different (i.e. not white and evangelical Protestant)
Hatred for change
Hatred for other nations
Intolerance for other cultures

And it is THAT which drives all else…

rollinnolan · July 17, 2015, 4:11pm

I agree. Trumps “hatred” and racist comments throw plenty of bloody meat to the base but don’t ring true to me. He doesn’t seem to feel it. His spot on attacks of Bush, surgically cutting, are a work of art. If he is trolling, he is a master.

chammy · July 17, 2015, 4:12pm

My eyes started glazing over this diatribe.

cwazycajun · July 17, 2015, 4:19pm

there’s one thing the republicons are very good at framing the issue to suit there porpose a turn of phrase code wording making things seem all American when there the complete opposite…like clean air and clean water act under the bush admin nice title worse for the environment…what we need is someone like a frank luntz who is very good at coming up with names to get there point across with out giving those who see those words what they are actually talking about…Obamacare is one example or climate change …his work.and have the dems running around chasing their own tails

thunderclapnewman · July 17, 2015, 4:21pm

But they’ve got 15 of the damned things vying for the nomination.
So, yeah—it does make a political party.

ronbyers · July 17, 2015, 4:32pm

This is reprinted from Washington Spectator and Washington Monthly’s Ten Mile Square. Their editors probably expect longer pieces than Josh. TPM is pretty much filled with short snark o rama stories.

rfscalf · July 17, 2015, 4:47pm

I think Trump is a lot like Palin; addicted to microphones, cameras and attention. He seems to thrive equally on positive and negative attention. Whichever, he just has to have it.
Honestly I don’t think it runs any deeper than that.

littlegirlblue · July 17, 2015, 4:48pm

I get Washington Monthly in my inbox and give it a longer or shorter look depending, but we’ve become accustomed to short and snappy and this was a slog.

doremus_jessup · July 17, 2015, 4:52pm

Wow. Not much love for Rick Perlstein. Insipid? Diatribe?

This article was about what motivates the Tea Party, the modern day Birchers, folks. I thought it was good.

sj660 · July 17, 2015, 6:00pm

or that Israel has staged a civilian-slaughtering war approximately every other year since 2006

W-what? This has… This has what exactly to do with literally anything else in the article? I mean seriously. I’m a big fan of all of Rick’s books on Goldwater, Nixon, and Reagan, but I’m disappointed to see he has Israel Tourette’s.

sj660 · July 17, 2015, 6:03pm

At the core of it all is hatred…

Hatred for those who aren’t Amy Goodman liberals as they are
Intolerance for those who are somehow different (i.e. not academics)
Hatred for complexity
Hatred for the United States and Israel
Intolerance for other cultures