Why Trump beating Bush in Iowa is good news for Democrats
By Spocko
As a time-traveling Vulcan I try not to violate the Time Prime Directive, but letting you know Jeb Bush didn’t win in Iowa isn’t a big surprise.
They were discussing the dynamic between Trump and Jeb. Sam plays clips showing how Trump got into Jeb’s head but he doesn’t quite understand why.
I think the key to understand this is to remember Jeb was the little brother of George W. Bush, bully in chief.
In a biography about George W, the author recounted a story of George shooting his younger brothers with a BB gun–inside their house. He also describes W’s “punching down” jokes and his assigning insult nicknames to people.
Donald Trump’s taunts and insults tapped into what W did to Jeb. Bullies are geniuses at finding hot button insults. When Jeb appealed to the moderator during the debates you can almost hear him saying, “Mommmm, he’s picking on me again!”
Throwing out a great insult or put down appeals to lots of people. They see it as “winning the conversation.” They would like to be able to do the same and hate being on the receiving end of the insults.
Most of us hate bullies, so how can a Bully like Trump defeating Jeb be good for progressives and America? The answer to that question came out yesterday in this great podcast on Virtually Speaking with Cliff Schecter and Digby. Start at 43:00 minutes.
Digby talks about some of the research by Ron Brownstein that she has been writing about over at Salon. It’s wonderful to listen to her explain it in the audio clip. (As Mrs. Spocko and I listened to it in the car yesterday she said, “That was so interesting! And Digby speaks in complete sentences, just like Obama.” )
It was encouraging to hear that the push ever rightward by Fox News, RW think tanks, and Citizen United money will not be able to continue to win over the new face of America.
Trump and the right are pushing a “Make America White Again” message that is just not going to continue, unless all the walls are built and the non-whites are kicked out.
We aren’t there yet, and the right is using all their tricks to stay in power.
Also, sadly, the Democrats at the DCCC haven’t got this message yet, and Cliff points out stupid moves in Ohio and how Debbie Wasserman Schultz continues to fail in her position.
It can be depressing when you read about the 100’s of millions dumped into electing right wing politicians post Citizens United, but
Cliff and Digby provide a message of hope for the future. More progressive Democrats are coming.
Listen to her, it might be just the thing for people to listen to today after they see the results from Iowa.
Do not despair about the future, even though you see RW bullies prevail! I could tell you more about the future, but as they say on Dr. Who, “Spoilers!”