Why Donald Trump Is So Popular

DONALD TRUMP: NOT A 'CUCKSERVATIVE'

The Federalist's Mytheos Holt writes that Donald Trump may have been inevitable--the left so overused its words like racist, sexist, and fascist that they no longer have any punch--or indeed any real meaning. As such, Trump is presently rising on the backs of cries of Wolf! He notes:

Yet until Thursday’s debate Trump was surging in the GOP field, where his former liberalism is apparently both forgiven and forgotten. His relentless love affair with gaffes that would end any other politician’s career have instead gotten him branded as a truth-teller in some circles. His undisciplined speech-making apparently comes off as authentic. Far from turning off voters and making him unrelatable, his Shelleyite “look on my works, ye mighty, and despair” brashness is apparently now considered endearing.

Noah Rothman, writing in Commentary, finds that the well of sympathy for the GOP Base's anger has run out--following the Thursday night debates, Trump was unmasked and Democrats had better hurry to make The Donald the face of the GOP. Time is running out--he's in decline. The Trumpification of the GOP is About To End:

Yes, the majority of Trump’s support comes not from an admiration for his policy positions but his style. His supporters think he upsets the apple cart, and they so deeply resent that apple cart. But these individuals are now clinging to an ideal that has been thoroughly dispelled. Trump backers in the grassroots, and those in conservative media outlets who would enable their self-delusion are embracing a series of category errors. They mistake rudeness for self-assuredness. They confuse incivility for resolve. They see pugnacity and presume efficacy.

At a certain point, coddling Trump supporters and trying to understand their grievances becomes a futile enterprise. When a loved one is making a terrible mistake that will eventually do them great harm, the priority is not to preserve their fragile self-image. The priority is to save them from themselves, regardless of how bitterly they will resent your efforts. For some Trump backers, no amount of contradictory information will dissuade them from their self-destructive course. For most, however, the carnival barker was exposed last night for what he was. What’s more, the members of his own party exposed him.

Really, Noah--these bitter clingers need to be saved from themselves? That's positively Obamish. The Omnivore is thrilled.

Of course, Rothman is probably quite right: following the battle of Trump vs. Fox/Kelley, The Donald has probably bitten off more than he can chew. FiveThirtyEight thinks so: Donald Trump Won't Win A War Against Fox News:

So let me put this very carefully. It might not be paranoid of Cohen to worry that there are powerful forces out to get his boss. Consider the case I made yesterday for why Trump’s candidacy is eventually doomed: Most importantly, the Republican Party is vehemently opposed to his nomination, a wee bit of a problem for Trump since it’s the Republican Party’s nomination to bestow. Yes, there are rules that govern the nomination process, but it’s the Republican Party that establishes the rules, interprets the rules and, if it absolutely had to, could change the rules. In the (unlikely) event that Trump survived the campaign long enough to have a mathematical chance at the nomination, influential members of the Republican Party would be expected to coordinate — some might even say conspire — to deny it to him.

Silver thinks that Fox News is so highly trusted, The Donald will win. In fact, in the polls following the debate, this is what we see:

Oops

Trump has, in fact, increased his lead in national polls. He now leads Scott Walker in Iowa. These are in polls taken after the debate--After the Megan Kelly menstruating dust-up. What's going on? Neo-NeoCon, a sober (if these days, perhaps dour) pundit writes on Trump:

Now might be a good time to revisit this prediction I made right before the 2012 election:

One thing I believe is that, if Romney loses this election, the right will start tearing itself apart in anger. That’s another thing the left banks on, and—if indeed some of the polls are being rigged to favor Obama at present—it would also be one of the goals of such deception: to demoralize the right and cause the usual circular firing squad to begin. I already see some evidence of it in articles and comments from the right that accuse Romney of not wanting to win, of not going on the attack enough (as though that would elude the negative media spin), of not doing whatever it might be that the brilliant armchair strategists would be doing if they were running for president, an election they of course would win by dint of their brilliant strategy. If Romney loses, the RINO theme will rise again undiminished, and the hatred of the “Republican establishment.”

It turns out she's pretty right--she just doesn't get the source of the anger (she thinks, you know, maybe the Democrats are responsible with their rigged polls). No--she's right that there's an Indiana Jones-giant-rolling-ball-of-anger chasing down the Republican party. She's just not quite willing to look at where it came from.

Fortunately, you have The Omnivore here to explain it to you.

Donald Trump: 'Not A Cuckservative'

In order to understand Trump's appeal you have to understand something about his voter-base. To understand that, you have to go into the dark world of the NeoReactionaries, white nationalists, and Brietbart News. The Omnivore will be your guide: DO NOT STRAY FROM THE PATH.

The term 'Cuckservative' comes from 4chan--an online hive of scum and villainy. The term, probably originating on /pol--dedicated to white nationalists--meant a white conservative who was insufficiently hard on race. Allowing immigrants (legal or illegal--from brown countries) or just failing to acknowledge the damage that the tide of brown rapists and murders were bringing across our boarders. They called these people cuckservatives--named after 'cuckolds'--as a rousing insult.

When it broke into the mainstream, it caught on---not because of its original racist meanings--but because of what it sounded like: it sounded like a dig at the impotent conservative politicians in Washington who engage in a kind of Failure Theater where their initiatives crash-and-burn but the goal is to save-face with the base: Gosh, Darn-It--Obama Got Us Again! We'll Get 'EM Next Time--Keep Donating!! (Cue 53rd vote to repeal Obamacare).

Indeed, it was: even when a few very surprised conservative commentators were swarmed by approving racists when using the word, Brietbart defended the term as a great insult--whatever its origins. Brietbart was right--it was a good insult--the world doesn't really have any race in its construct (although, yes, "cuckold porn" is often, ahem, interracial)--but basically, it did work as a multi-faceted expression of the anger a lot of the base felt.

Oh--and one more thing: Both the white nationalists who were promoting the term and a lot of the conservatives who were using it? They liked Donald Trump. That's not coincidence.

Donald Trump was the one guy on that stage Thursday night was was not a 'cuckservative' in any meaning of the term.

What They Mean When They Say 'Cuckservative'

Here's what you need to understand--what The Federalist knows (but won't say), what Nate Silver can't see--(Trump is back friends again with Fox News--easily predictable). What Neo-NeoCon is afraid to admit: The reason 'cuckservative' works is because the GOP Establishment is the husband, the GOP Base is the wife, and The Donald is the first (real) man to come along and satisfy them for the first time.

There are, in fact, a number of nuances and dimensions to this situation--not all of them specifically racial--but the dynamic is explicable in these terms (Boehner has jilted the Base, The Base is unsatisfied with its establishment stewards, The Donald is the 'real man'--he's also hitting the white nationalist buttons--and so on).

That's what's happening in conservative politics. You're welcome.

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