Authentic Asininity

[EasyAce]

By Jonah Goldberg
http://www.nationalreview.com/g-file/455420/trumps-shithole-comments-authenticity-misunderstanding

As the sh**hole continues to hit the fan, I find myself in one of those moods where I think everyone, on the right and left, is arguing about the wrong things.

Let’s start with the question of Donald Trump’s racism. I find the competition to be most offended by the offensiveness of President Trump’s fecal-crater comments to be more than a little tedious.

Don’t get me wrong: I think they were offensive and, yes, racist. But that, to me, is the least interesting aspect of this episode of The Trump Show . . . No, he’s not a Klansman. The pillowcases at Mar-a-Lago don’t have eyeholes cut out of them. But Trump is a man of deeply held prejudices, a glandular decision-maker who famously thinks his instincts are more dispositive than any expert’s judgment or any rational argument. His bigotry isn’t the biological racism of Woodrow Wilson, but of a midtown-Manhattan doorman from Queens who gives the Nigerian deliveryman a harder time than he deserves.

Then there’s the conservative response, or rather responses. For the Trump faithful, this incident is just more proof that Trump tells it like it is and that he isn’t politically correct. The real outrage to them — per usual — is the hypocrisy of people who are outraged. Thus the waves of whataboutist fury crashing every few minutes on Twitter . . .

. . . Then there’s the old standby that this is just Trump being Trump, and we must all respect the fact that he’s the authentic oracle of his people . . .

. . . I think this is largely true. It’s also a pathetic defense. Donald Trump isn’t the president of “forgotten” white men in bars. He’s the president of the United States of America. Which means he’s the president of Haitian Americans and Nigerian Americans and, well, African Americans. Saying we should deport a blanket category of Americans because they came from the wrong countries is grotesquely simplistic . . . The idea that anything the president says can be justified by simply asserting that he’s speaking in the authentic voice of his base is an argument no conservative would dream of making under an Elizabeth Warren presidency. Lending credence to it is not only politically myopic, but it lends support to the centrifugal forces tearing this country apart. It is the type of thinking I associate with “sh**hole” countries — to borrow a phrase. In many third-world countries, tribes and other factions vie to gain power and then reward only their team. That is contrary to virtually everything good and noble about our constitutional system . . .

. . . Finally, some serious conservatives have tried to make the case that there’s a legitimate argument behind the great “sh**holes versus Norway” distinction . . . We should be able to distinguish sh**holes from shinolaholes, as it were . . .

[DB]

I agree with this analysis and is why I'm a "Republican" no more.

Over and over "conservatives" prostitute themselves defending the indefensible lowering what was conservatism further and further until it is no different than the deranged left. Character and principle no longer matter. Only "truth" to power, the rawer and cruder the better.

Schwarzenegger was the final straw in California and Trump will likely be the final straw in the country for conservatism.

In both elections there was the option for a renewal of conservative principle, to change course and improve things, but coarse celebrity won the day instead.

For short term stick it to the establishment populism we traded our long term future.

[Cripplecreek]

I agree with this analysis and is why I'm a "Republican" no more.

Over and over "conservatives" prostitute themselves defending the indefensible lowering what was conservatism further and further until it is no different than the deranged left. Character and principle no longer matter. Only "truth" to power, the rawer and cruder the better.

Schwarzenegger was the final straw in California and Trump will likely be the final straw in the country for conservatism.

In both elections there was the option for a renewal of conservative principle, to change course and improve things, but coarse celebrity won the day instead.

For short term stick it to the establishment populism we traded our long term future.

@DB

I now consider myself to be a federalist. Pretty hard for political suicide bomber Trump to twist its's definition much.

[musiclady]

I agree with this analysis and is why I'm a "Republican" no more.

Over and over "conservatives" prostitute themselves defending the indefensible lowering what was conservatism further and further until it is no different than the deranged left. Character and principle no longer matter. Only "truth" to power, the rawer and cruder the better.

Schwarzenegger was the final straw in California and Trump will likely be the final straw in the country for conservatism.

In both elections there was the option for a renewal of conservative principle, to change course and improve things, but coarse celebrity won the day instead.

For short term stick it to the establishment populism we traded our long term future.

    

[WingNot]

I am a member of the new vulgarian party. We  call a spade a spade and know a shithole when we see it and are not afraid to say so.

[Cyber Liberty]

I am a member of the new vulgarian party. We  call a spade a spade and know a shithole when we see it and are not afraid to say so.

These past couple of days has me feeling like I've been huffing the tailpipe of my car.