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Roundup — 10 Comments

1. Breitbart has an historically interesting and insightful comparison between Trump and Cruz, the impulses that motivate their supporters and the Jacksonian political POV. “The Jacksonian Temptation: Trump vs. Cruz”

   “Jacksonianism properly understood has a solid foundation in principles that trace back to the founding–and it has a much larger appeal than the confines of Appalachia. The Jacksonians had three core principles: the rejection of a crony capitalist alliance between big business and big government, disgust with a permanent political class in Washington wedded to the benefits of those cushy deals, and a belief that they were restoring virtuous, republican institutions guided by the principles of the Founding–with an emphasis on strictly limited government and federalism.

   While Donald Trump may disgust the chattering classes with his un-presidential antics and demeanor, Texas Senator Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)97% is the one both parties fear will stop “cutting deals.”

   “Guys like Ted Cruz will never make a deal because he’s a strident guy,” Trump recently told reporters. According to the Associated Press, Trump was “pushing back against the idea that collaboration is a dirty word. He pointed to the famous relationship between Republican President Ronald Reagan and Democratic House Speaker Tip O’Neill in the 1980s. ‘That’s what the country’s about really, isn’t it?’”

   The party establishments, Democrat and Republican, fear Cruz over Trump for exactly this reason: his Jacksonian principles stand in direct contradiction to the way they are accustomed to doing business, while Trump just forces them to make room for a new lead dealmaker.

   Historian Daniel Feller concluded in The Jacksonian Promise that “Jackson saw federal agency not as nurturing energies and morals, but sapping them. Adams wanted to guide Americans to progress. Jackson expected them to find their own way.” The Jacksonian creed, which was the motto of the most influential Jacksonian newspaper, was “the world is governed too much.”

   The Jacksonians believed that power was inherently corrupting, and that government must be contained or it will become more dysfunctional and eventually tyrannical. Jackson’s policies and views on the Constitution flowed from that premise. For America’s second generation, everything boiled down to individual liberty and freedom; according to famous Jackson historian Robert Remini, it was America’s “most important heritage from the Revolutionary age.”

   In 2016, two major Republican candidates have channeled Jacksonian concerns in their own way–Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

   Trump has better exemplified some of the attributes that Jacksonians want in a leader: “straight talking,” fearlessness in standing up to elites, and unabashed Americanism. According to the Washington Post South Carolina exit polls reveal that Trump “scored overwhelmingly among voters looking for someone who tells it like it is and led the field among those who are looking for a candidate to bring change to Washington. But among those in South Carolina who said that they wanted a candidate who shares their values, just fewer than 1 in 10 backed Trump.”

   Both Trump and Cruz have both been relentlessly focused on issues that Jacksonians currently care about most: border security, immigration, and defeating radical, global Islam that threatens Western civilization. And both have sounded strongly Jacksonian tones when it comes to defense of Americans without the nation-building ideas associated with the George W. Bush administration and current Republican candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)79%
   . But there are some clear, fundamental differences in their overall messages.

   While Trump has captured much of the cultural zeitgeist of 21st century Jacksonianism, Cruz adheres to true Jacksonian principles. Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund Chairman Jenny Beth Martin said in her endorsement of Cruz, “We seek a candidate who shares our values: personal freedom, economic freedom, and a debt-free future.” Among those looking for a candidate who “shares my values,” Cruz received 34% in South Carolina to Trump’s 8%, according to exit polls.

   Trump is the best at communicating culturally to a frustrated Jacksonian Appalachia, but many of his solutions are far from Jacksonian. In sharp contrast to the historical Jacksonians, who promised only the freedom to rise rather than a piece of the corrupt action, a fundamental part of Trump’s message has been that he’s looking to get the system to take more account of “his people.” This is why he is spoken unashamedly of his record buying politicians, wheeling and dealing, eminent domain usage, and other crony capitalist moves that would have horrified the Jacksonians. He is looking to join the game, and the promise is that he will get a piece of it for his supporters.

   Cruz has crafted a very strong Jacksonian message based on limited government, the power of free enterprise, and the need to return to constitutional restraints. He’s even hit other, more limited issues that nonetheless appeal to Jacksonians–such as turning over federal land to the states and the American people. He fights crony deals and the establishment class, which is what most Jacksonians really want. But he has as yet failed to connect on a deeper level to Jacksonian voters because of his style.”

   There’s much more worth reading with a number of links to even more thought provoking articles.

2. “It’s not as if this stuff were unknown or hard to uncover” – it’s believed by many (Glenn Beck is a good example) that the NYT and the others want Trump as GOP candidate and are holding stuff that this and other sites have already reported for the time when candidate Trump can be relentlessly destroyed with it. The NYT trick is to get one or two stories on record that can later be pointed to as proof that they were always in there doing their job. I think that if we should (gasp)see a candidate Trump that stories of Trump the fraud, con man, hypocrite and meany will spring up in the NYT , TV , etc. like thousands of weeds.

3. Visa program story is a dead end. It’s a nothing. Why? Every single resort uses this model for high season hiring. These are part-time or short-term jobs filled by students from foreign countries. They have no interest in immigrating. They go back home after they do their summer work (winter in Florida is summer in South America).

   Ask me some time how National Park vendors do the same thing by taking advantage of American college kids. This is nothing scandalous.

4. Ace linked this one. Not live, but the replay is well worth watching.

   Ben Shapiro, a brilliant young man (32), takes on the hard Left agitators at Cal State U., Los Angeles — they objected violently to his being allowed to make a speech, the University head cancelled it “in the name of free speech” (nicely Orwellian touch); Ben and the Young Americans for Freedom decided to go ahead and do his speech anyway, and a Lefty lynch mob showed up screaming threats, physically blocking the doors to the venue, and threatening the people who wanted to attend — to such a degree that many campus police had to be called in, and the attendees had to come in through the BACK door, three at a time. Then one of the [anti]social [in]justice wankers pulled the Fire Alarm to force the freedom-loving dissidents out of the hall.

   By the time Ben takes the podium, he is On Fire:

   http://preview.tinyurl.com/zf3cspg

5. I didn’t think it was possible for me to despise Obama more than I already did but the Cuban visit does it. Not that it is really all that shocking or surprising. The opening towards Cuba brings exactly zero benefit to the US. He did it only because his entire life he has been trained to despise America and love its enemies.

6. Iran’s Technicolor Elections
   BY ROBIN WRIGHT
   http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/irans-technicolor-elections

7. Slightly off topic but important in regard to Trump:

   The 10 Personality Disorders

   “7. Narcissistic personality disorder

   In narcissistic PD, the person has an extreme feeling of self-importance, a sense of entitlement, and a need to be admired. He is envious of others [but typically conceals it] and expects them to be the same of him. He lacks empathy and readily exploits others to achieve his aims. To others, he may seem self-absorbed, controlling, intolerant, selfish, or insensitive. If he feels obstructed or ridiculed, he can fly into a fit of destructive anger and revenge. Such a reaction is sometimes called ‘narcissistic rage’, and can have disastrous consequences for all those involved.”

   https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201205/the-10-personality-disorders

8. Did anyone watch after the debate when the news anchor was interviewing Trump? He mentioned that during the primary with so many candidates running he needed to do something ‘to stand out.’ Thus, the over-the-top stuff we’ve been seeing.

   He is not a narcissist. Come on. This was a way to get noticed during the primaries, and it worked. He got his message through. People started to look at him more seriously. Now he is hitting 40%+.

   Also, what I found notable, Trump told the anchor how much he enjoyed the debate. He wasn’t sweating or tired looking. He LOVES this stuff. It is fun for him. Even when being attacked from both directions. He looked as cool as a cucumber. He was not angry or unhinged. Get a grip.

9. K-E:

   You apparently know next to nothing about Trump’s history. He has been a narcissist his entire life. I’ve read an enormous amount about the man and his life, most of it having nothing to do with this campaign, and he is the personification of narcissism almost in its pure form.

10. “Why is Obama visiting Cuba?”

    Because that’s where his totalitarian Marxist buds are.

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