Roger Cohen’s Faulty Logic
by tristero
Roger Cohen says the way to beat the “brute” — ie., Trump — is for Democrats to convince “sane, moderate Republicans” to vote for a Democratic candidate, He has in mind a Democrat (sic) like Bloomberg or, in a real pinch, Biden.
As an example of the type of voter he has in mind, Cohen found a white, retired 78-year-old pharmaceutical executive and Republican politician who voted for Trump because: (1) the fellow did not like the “scheming” Clintons; (2) he did not like the way the media mocked Trump during the primaries.
Those are not sane reasons to vote for anyone, let alone Donald Trump. Reason #1 is delusional: the Clintons are schemers, compared to Trump???? Reason #2 is simply a vindictive, self-destructive non-sequitur,
This very same exemplar of a sane maoderate the Dems should appeal to also admires Trump for (1) his energy; (2) his trade war with China; (3) his tax cuts that benefit corporations; and (4) Trump’s “revitalizing impact on American ambition,”
At least two of these reasons (1 and 4) are objectively nuts. The other two are (in addition to being not entirely rational) hard right/libertarian obsessions. .
In short, Cohen has found not a “sane, moderate Republican” but merely one more wooly-brained hardliner with pretensions of thoughtfulness who, given the chance, would gladly vote for a Ted Cruz over any Democrat, including Bloomberg or Biden.
If this is a “sane, moderate Republican,” I see no point whatsoever in Democrats trying to appeal to such people.