… White working-class men are enraged because they inhabit a world they don’t recognize. It’s a world with a black president, same-sex marriage, illegal immigration, empowered women, anti-police protests and radical Islam. They want the Old America back — when white men were in charge, gays stayed in the closet, […] Read more »
Trump, Obama and the Assault on Political Correctness
“I’m so tired of this politically correct crap,” Donald Trump told a cheering audience of South Carolina business leaders in September. “That’s called politicians’ speak.” Opposition to political correctness has always been a weapon brandished by the right against what it sees as “multicultural” liberalism, but Trump has taken this […] Read more »
NBC/WSJ Poll: 57% oppose Trump’s Muslim proposal
Nearly six-in-10 Americans oppose Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposal to bar Muslims from entering the United States, but Republicans are evenly divided, according to a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. CONT. Mark Murray, NBC News Read more »
Along with Trump’s rhetoric, the stakes for 2016 have risen dramatically
… Nothing in modern politics equates with the kind of rhetoric now coming from Candidate Trump. There are no perfect analogies. One must scroll back decades for echoes, however imperfect, of what he is saying, from the populist and racially based appeals of then-Alabama Gov. George Wallace in 1968 and […] Read more »
Overrating Outrage in Obama’s Response to Paris Attacks
… How much are we missing when the president won’t emote on cue? On the one hand, we should take symbolic representation seriously. It’s part of how elected leaders show that they share our values and can give voice to our feelings. … At the same time, we can’t presume to […] Read more »
How Bernie Sanders Connects With His Crowds
Something surprising happens when Bernie Sanders starts speaking at his presidential campaign rallies. He doesn’t ingratiate himself with audiences by praising their hometowns, or telling easy jokes, the way many candidates do. He gets right down to business, delivering a searing indictment of American politics, with crusty, to-the-barricades exhortations. CONT. […] Read more »