Over the last week, I have decided to stop just taking for granted the media's depiction of Trump on this, and to try to look at it subjectively. I think too many of the "right" people got their knickers all in a twist over something that is unworthy of such gnashing and wailing of teeth.
I expect this kind of nonsense from the Left. They want to win, they have no guiding principle other than the constant expansion of government power (with them at the helm) and winning. Therefore, consistency in logic and equality of treatment is not something I expect from The Left.
I expect a little more from my friends on the right. In some ways, they are being more consistent in their approach. In other ways, they are employing the tactics of The Left against Trump, and in the quest to defeat Progressivism, this will have adverse affects for the country. It's also why, although I am drawn to their arguments like a moth to flame, I am at times annoyed with the stridency of the #neverTrump crowd.
But, I digress.
Over on Ricochet (membership required) I read Richard Epstein's take down of Trump and I (and you) can enjoy Professor Epstein's discussion of Trump on his "The Libertarian" podcast. I recommend you subscribe. I have just decided I don't agree and I find the reasoning of many,
people like Epstein, Mona Charen, Jay Nordlinger, Professor Tom Nichols, Rick Wilson flawed.
For many who are firmly #neverTrump, much of it is based, as Epstein discusses ad nauseum, on the Trump "temperament." Many of these people claim to have some inner window to Trump's soul. Mona Charen accuses him of having Narcissistic Personality Disorder ("McFly, have you seen Barack Obama?? "). Nichols, a "National Security Conservative" doesn't trust Trump with the nuclear button, unlike Marco Rubio, who doesn't trust him with the button, but figures, what the hell. Wilson is as anti-Trump as they come. Need I go on? Most of these people dismiss Trump because of things like his temperament. They use words like "unqualified, unfit" to describe his readiness for the Office of the President.
That's an opinion, and none of these people are qualified to make medical diagnoses.
It was while listening to the Need to Know Podcast (hosted by Charen and Nordlinger) that I realized why many of these people move to "temperament" when they have reservations about Trump. In an innocuous aside where Mona and Jay discussed home invasions and the usefulness of guns to deterring them, Charen remarked to Jay that they have things that will turn your lights off and on so you don't just have to leave a light on. It struck me as so out of touch. They've only had light timers for about 50 years at least, I'd guess. Today, Mona, did you know you can do this from the Internet?
I imagine in the circles these people run around in, they don't find a lot of guys like Trump. They read about them in the newspaper, they have friends who are friends with them, and they imagine them in their wildest dreams. But they've rarely come in contact with them, and when they do, they do consider them boorish and vulgar, and rude and nasty, and nouveau and they're just a tad bit disgusted by them.
In their circles they just don't talk like this. And thus, when Trump links the word "Mexican" with "biased" in that word jumble way that Trump speaks, they instantly, like their analogs on the Left, connect the dots and it becomes "Trump is a racist" and cue the right's outrage industry, because just as when the Left doesn't want to argue a point, they resort to racism, these guys so detest Trump that they've chosen the same tactics.
And that, my friends, is what is going on here.
Trump is incredibly flawed. He could use this case to demonstrate that people are biased, and that The Left celebrates their bias. Instead of a cheap personal attack (and it was a cheap personal attack, it just wasn't racist), Trump could have said,
"In a time where we have Leftist Supreme Court justices claiming being a 'wise Latina' is a qualification for a judge, is it any wonder that I can't get a fair shake from a Latino judge? After all, the Left has been telling Hispanics for years that the only way forward for them is to be treated as special snowflakes who can't do it on their own, they need the benevolent hand of their Leftists benefactors. Well, I KNOW they can do it on their own. I see Hispanics who have immigrated here legally working hard every day and they can make it without Hillary Clinton swooping down with some special government goodies stolen from someone else, they can live the American dream and own businesses and employ others and share that dream. But they can't do it while the Left is holding them down and making them losers, who only win when the Left decides they can share in the ill gotten spoils from the crooks who stole it. They can't. Believe me, when Trump is president, they will."
Or something like that.
Guy needs to think first. He could really turn these lemons into lemonade.
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