by Atul Hatwal
Donald Trump has just moved the Overton window of US politics. That range of ideas which constitutes acceptable debate has been yanked hard, to the right.
It might not quite seem that way at the moment.
Currently we are in the condemnation phase that always follows when someone says something outrageous. A few might even hope that the apparent unity in appalled reaction will warn others off pursuing Trump down the foxhole of Islamophobia.
It won’t.
Next, will come the rationalisation.
Other candidates will talk about the unfortunate manner in which Trump expressed his views but that there is a real issue to debate. The style was wrong but there’s a point to the substance.
It’s already evident in some of the reaction from the rest of the Republican field.
Ted Cruz, who recently overtook Trump in an Iowa poll, issued a non-condemnation condemnation,
“No, that’s not my policy. I have introduced legislation in the Senate that would put in place a three year moratorium on refugees coming from countries where ISIS or al Qaeda control a substantial amount of territory. And the reason is that is where the threat is coming from.”
The premise of Trump’s disgraceful policy is accepted in Cruz’s statement.
Meanwhile, Rand Paul did not even go as far as refuting Trump’s proposal. Here’s his official response
“Sen. Rand Paul has led on the issue of border security, proposing real solutions. That’s why earlier this month he introduced legislation to block visitors and immigrants from nations with known radical elements while a new system is developed to screen properly.”
Tough on Muslims, tough on the causes of Muslims.
In the coming days three things will happen.
First, Donald Trump will double-down on his assertions, repeating them and standing by them. They will be discussed and regurgitated on air and in pixel, repeatedly. Words that were shocking a week earlier, will seem more mundane, less alarming.
Second, Trump will pivot to draw a dividing line based on political correctness. He will cast those who attack him as politically correct zealots who do not care about America’s safety. National security and the process of saying the unsayable will become the new loci of the debate rather than the content of what he actually said.
Third, the rest of the Republican field will scramble to occupy the political space that Trump has opened up with his lurch to the right.
They will each come forward with plans to crack-down on Muslim migration – validating Trump’s underlying point – as well as railing against a liberal media establishment for its reaction.
The net result will be that within three to four weeks, it will be acceptable for Republicans to talk about Muslims as a threat simply because they are Muslim.
Trump himself might suffer some toxic fall-out. Those who out-ride and move the debate rarely claim an electoral crown. However, his legacy will be a more sectarian, prejudiced and divisive US politics.
A political environment that has been virtually terraformed for the likes of Ted Cruz to thrive and become the Republican nominee.
Atul Hatwal is editor of Uncut
Tags: Atul Hatwal, Donald Trump, prejudice, Racism, Republican presidential primary, Republicans
If Donald Trump were to become the President of the United States, then “Britain’s” “independent” nuclear “deterrent” could not be fired without his permission. Mercifully, Donald Trump is not going to become the President of the United States. Rather less mercifully, people are becoming more and more resigned to the perceived inevitability of Hillary Clinton instead.
Imagine if the five permanent seats on the UN Security Council were respectively controlled by Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Marine Le Pen, either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, and either George Osborne or Boris Johnson. It would be no exaggeration to say that Putin was the best of that bunch.
Of course, the two-round runoff system that kept down the French Communist Party now also keeps down the Front National, and will continue to do so. And since the Democratic Presidential nominee is bound to beat the Republican, as is now more or less the law, then that nominee needs to be Bernie Sanders. Considering the alternatives, I defy anyone to argue that either Sanders or Jeremy Corbyn was all that bad.
If the Conservatives really wanted to give Corbyn a run for his money, then they would put up Theresa May, by then also in her sixties, and no less definite in her views, as well as equally calm and measured in her delivery. But those are exactly the reasons why they will choose the vile Osborne or the buffoonish Johnson instead. We opponents of Trident will have a short-term advantage from the fact that one or other of their fingers was on the nuclear button. But Corbyn would then wipe the floor with either of them.
As the Democratic nominee will inevitably wipe the floor with the Republican nominee, the economic changes of the Reagan years having created an electorate in which one in four voters is a single woman. Hillary Clinton does not deserve to be that inevitably floor-wiping nominee. Bernie Sanders does.
It’s so funny watching all these shockwaves going through the Liberal-left mainstream. One moment they’re freaking out about UKIP, then Pegida in Germany, then the Hungarian government, then the new Polish government, then Front Nationale in France, now it’s Trumps continued popularity. It just keeps on coming, more and more.
And at every step the Liberal-left convinces themselves that they’ve done nothing wrong and they’re still in charge. They think it’s all going to be OK because the Liberal-left still controls the “narrative” and understands “nuance” and everyone else is stupid and far-right and racist and blah blah blah.
I think that Trump may even get selected, but I can’t think of anyone more likely to shift the Democratic vote
And Trump extends his lead in the polls further.
People forget – particularly Labour Party apparatchiks and hangers-on, that the bulk of Americans do not live in the more liberal east and west coast cities. They are by nature insular and isolationist, even high profile ones such as Obama, as was evidenced last week when, during our Parliamentary debate about sending warplanes to Syria, the US announced it was withdrawing 7 combat aircraft with immediate effect, more by years-end and intends to accelerate it’s disengagement. (Obama intends to end his reign with few – if any, US servicemen and women involved in live operations – the US voters do not support continued involvement.)
Underlying this is also the fact that the American voters tend as a rule to give their presidents the maximum two terms, then they vote for the other party.
I can only support and endorse the comments of @Rallan above. If anyone is interested in a view from a different side that is not left wing self righteous invective then look here:
http://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/jane-kelly-the-liberal-sky-falls-in-on-trump-but-his-heretical-views-are-endorsed-from-japan-to-hungary/
Ban the infidels…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHdUgc6gxDI
Actually I think Trump has a lot of chances to win. He has the loathing vote- he’s the anti establishment candidate who, because he doesn’t depend on donors, doesn’t need to spout any of the mainstream bullshit.
That big mass of voters that whatever passes for Left in the USA has bee ignoring for decades have found their voice, and while not a pretty one at least it kinda looks like it’s honest.
The mainstream political bullshit machine pulled all the stops to get the empty suit Obama elected, but in the process they destroyed the shiny casing of the system and left its putrefying guts to be seen by the whole world- and contrary to what the horrid monster that murdered and skinned the western Left and is now wearing its skin as a grotesque costume that only fools idiots wants you to think, nobody’s gonna vote Dem for a looooong while.
Because Trump isn’t running against the current dem candidates- he’s running against Obama, and he’s already won that game.
http://soopermouse.com/blog/?p=98
Ban the infidels…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHdUgc6gxDI
Is Robert Spencer just telling the truth?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCQWaV2hSwY
Isn’t it better to have a calm rational debate?
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/12/video-knife-brandishing-muslim-threatens-donald-trump-i-will-circumcise-you
Trouble is Akira, that when you post these links, people think you are a tosser.
I don’t mind – so please keep posting. But you don’t actually have any credibilty in here at all and are just regarding as something to laugh at.
Most people don’t even bother looking at your links because they see your name and that’s a good enough reason to not bother.