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Donald Trump and the Dark Soul of the GOP
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/07/donald-trump-rnc-speechAnd in Cleveland this week, Jones was a celebrity. (Trump has praised him in the past.) During the convention, he was often in the company of Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to Trump and veteran bad-boy political operative who also likes to sell conspiracy theories. Stone wrote one book asserting that LBJ killed JFK, and a more recent Stone volume claimed that Bill Clinton was a serial raper. Two years ago, Stone tweeted that Hillary Clinton should be executed for treason. In Cleveland, he organized the largest pro-Trump rally of the week, and he said he was meeting with Trump staffers.
The Stone-Jones vision is a dark one: Corrupt and tyrannical evildoers are in charge, and they must be removed—by death, if necessary. The existence of the United States is threatened by enemies at home, and extreme measures are called for. And Trump has encouraged and exploited this fear and hatred....
Trump's attempt to criminalize Clinton is a low in American politics. He started this effort by tagging Clinton—a woman he has praised in the past—as "Crooked Hillary." This name-calling and demonization, which has been accepted by a large chunk of GOP officialdom and embraced by much of the Republican electorate, has signaled to GOP voters that Clinton is not a legitimate candidate who should be debated honestly. It's a continuation of the birtherism that Trump championed. Politics is no longer the processing of policy disagreements. It is a titanic battle between the forces of good (us) and the sly treasonous enemy within (them). There's no need to contemplate policy disputes or dare consider compromises. You do not debate traitors. The foe must be derided, eviscerated, and placed in chains, because he (Barack Obama) or she (Hillary Clinton) has usurped power through underhanded means to implement a covert agenda to undermine the nation. In such extreme circumstances, why not resort to excessive measures? Isn't it a patriot's duty?
Not too long before Trump was to hit the stage on the final night, a Texas delegate for Trump explained what was at stake. Tom Mathis, a 38-year-old out-of-work oil worker now attending college, told me that Trump was needed now "to take back the country from our enemies who have taken away our freedom and liberty." What enemies? "Barack Hussein Obama," he said.
The Stone-Jones vision is a dark one: Corrupt and tyrannical evildoers are in charge, and they must be removed—by death, if necessary. The existence of the United States is threatened by enemies at home, and extreme measures are called for. And Trump has encouraged and exploited this fear and hatred....
Trump's attempt to criminalize Clinton is a low in American politics. He started this effort by tagging Clinton—a woman he has praised in the past—as "Crooked Hillary." This name-calling and demonization, which has been accepted by a large chunk of GOP officialdom and embraced by much of the Republican electorate, has signaled to GOP voters that Clinton is not a legitimate candidate who should be debated honestly. It's a continuation of the birtherism that Trump championed. Politics is no longer the processing of policy disagreements. It is a titanic battle between the forces of good (us) and the sly treasonous enemy within (them). There's no need to contemplate policy disputes or dare consider compromises. You do not debate traitors. The foe must be derided, eviscerated, and placed in chains, because he (Barack Obama) or she (Hillary Clinton) has usurped power through underhanded means to implement a covert agenda to undermine the nation. In such extreme circumstances, why not resort to excessive measures? Isn't it a patriot's duty?
Not too long before Trump was to hit the stage on the final night, a Texas delegate for Trump explained what was at stake. Tom Mathis, a 38-year-old out-of-work oil worker now attending college, told me that Trump was needed now "to take back the country from our enemies who have taken away our freedom and liberty." What enemies? "Barack Hussein Obama," he said.
Got fascism?
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