Monday, March 14, 2016

James Robbins: If anti-Trump protests grow, they could hand Donald the election

"In the wake of the 1968 riots, Nixon won by portraying his opponent as soft on crime."

Black Lives Matter protesters may help elect Donald Trump president, just as their predecessors did for Richard Nixon.
Scuffles broke out at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion on Friday after Trump canceled a rally citing security concerns. Earlier that day in St. Louis, Trump was repeatedly interrupted by demonstrators and police made almost three dozen arrests. On Saturday in Dayton, Ohioa protester rushed the stage being subdued by security. Trump told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that events such as these would only increase his vote tally.
Trump may be on to something. The scenario evokes the turbulent election year of 1968 when Richard Nixon successfully cast himself as the “law and order” candidateagainst Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Violent crime had jumped 85% since Dwight Eisenhower had left office. Nixon charged that Democrats had adopted a do-nothing approach to this rising crisis. When Humphrey denounced the "storm trooper tactics" used by Chicago police in suppressing demonstrations at the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention, his comment seemed to play into Nixon’s hands. Humphrey was attempting to placate his party’s left wing, but a Gallup poll at the time showed that 62% of Americans approved of the way Mayor Richard Daley handled the situation. Siding against the cops was bad politics.

44 comments:

edutcher said...

You have to have been following events in '68 to understand the import of what's being said here.

For 2 years, leading up to the Democrat convention in Chicago, the yoots had been revolting all across the country. what followed was 25 years of almost uninterrupted Republican Presidents and the eventual Republican retaking of the Senate (it had been Democrat, like the House since Truman, except for 2 years under Eisenhower).

Tomorrow, we'll find out if the Cruz campaign is effectively over (from what I saw here and elsewhere, I think it is). The nitwit trying to pull Trump off the stage Saturday and the threats from Dr Evil's thralls of more to come will cast The Donald as the guy fighting for Truth, Justice, and The American Way.

I've been saying this felt like '68 and now we're hearing it from elsewhere.

And Michelle Fields and (sad) Ben Shapiro have resigned from Breitbart after video surfaced absolving the Trump campaign.

Apparently, Breitabart was right to wait for the facts.

Methadras said...

Leftists made Chicago in 68 and now in 16. This is who started it, this is who incited it, this is who planned it. Leftists. This is who they are, this is what they do. For any buffoon to suggest that this was a Trump supporter incited violence requires a level of suspension of reality that borders on the insane. Conservatives and republicans do not incite violence. That's not who they are.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

edutcher has it right. This is really quite like 1968 all over again. Dejavu for me.

The out of control leftists who are blinded by their own ideaology have no concept of how they are appearing to the rest of America. I hesitate to say Middle America or even Mainstream America, but this is what it is. Most people are relatively moderate in their views and in the way they run their lives and do not appreciate the anarchy, violence, property damage and infringement of other people's rights.

This will boomerang back on them just as it did in 68.

Law and Order are the rallying calls that are fueling the populist movements, not just in the US but in Europe as well. Out of control and illegal immigration. Crime, rapes, robberies. Undermining of the economy by illegal immigration and bleeding dry the social welfare systems on both Continents.

People WANT law and order. People WANT to peaceably go about their lives without fear, without being hectored, without being told that they must pay for these things that they don't want and never asked for.

Trump is offering a vision of Law and Order. Whether he can deliver it or even whether we want that vision is another thing. Law and order is a good thing if it is served up correctly. It can be a horrible thing if not. Right now....we have no law and order and a government that is openly, brazenly breaking the laws WITH the help of both political parties elitists. Given the checks and balances in our system, if the spineless twits in Washington would use them, I have no fear that Trump will turn out to be a Dictator, or be the one that Obama desires to be. My worst fear is that nothing, again, will get done and we continue to slip into the abyss.

As I said yesterday. Dictators arise when there is a leadership vacuum. When the Elites who are in charge in the US and in Europe ignore the desires and will of the people. When they elites substitute their Utopian vision for the reality that the people on the ground are experiencing they are laying the groundwork for revolution and the rise of leaders that will take control in whatever way they can. As I said yesterday...Where do people like Hilter come from? We make them ourselves.

When it gets so bad that the people feel they have no recourse, they turn to the 'strong man'.

Beware.

Chip Ahoy said...

I still don't have internet connection. And yet I am here somehow.

I saw the news today oh boy about a billionaire who made the grade. And though the news was rather sad well I just had to snort when I heard the lame report. He drew a crowd beyond compare and he took notice situations change. A crowd of people made some noise. They'd seen his face before. Everyone was really sure that he is on a hellhound course. I saw a clip today oh boy. Another campaign in another state. Another crowd has gathered by.
But I just had to look having read this dreadful book be-f-o-o-o-o-r-e I'd love to tur-ur-ur-ur-ur n yo-o-o-o-u o-o-o--o-o-off.

Every channel I went by covering it shows clips of Trump saying something about shutting down the agitators, he'll pay their bill, what have you. Many examples and he keeps doing it. And nobody understands. Nobody. Nobody mentioned paid agitators. It's all, "Well Trump certainly does seem to attract the lower element." And nothing at all on the people there to disrupt. No interest in liberal Democrat money. Nothing. No mention whatsoever of the anti-Trump money poured into creating this while putting on an innocent bewildered "how could they" face.

Meade said...

To understand 1968 you need to learn about George C. Wallace and his political movement which started in 1964. Nixon (and later, Reagan) both glommed on to that movement, successfully adopting "toned-down versions of Wallace's anti-busing, anti-federal government platform to pry low- and middle-income whites from the Democratic New Deal coalition." Trump has continued that movement, beginning with his involvement in Birtherism to anti-immigration to his specious empty promises to "bring manufacturing jobs back from China and Mexico and make America great again".

Meade said...

It's as if the "Knockout Game" has been accepted and adopted by Trump supporters. http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/03/12/trump-startled-ohio-protester.cnn/video/playlists/donald-trump/

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The trick people who not only don't support Trump but want to take him out (to borrow a phrase) is to call Trump "anti-immigration".

Trump is anti-ILLEGAL immigration. Which is the fuel that has lit a fire under his campaign (along with the base anti-GOP leaders anger) from day one. To twist that is that is dishonest.

Trump is a flawed candidate, but to misrepresent him is to do him a favor, imho.

ricpic said...

Things are more naked than they were in '68. For one thing the leftist thugs on the streets of Chicago in '68 had the cover of supposedly representing "peace and love." Remember the shaming chant of "The whole world's watching," as the cops did what the Left had maneuvered them into doing in order to keep the peace in those streets? Now it's a straightforward brute show of force. "We're going to shut you down" or "You're not going to hold a rally in OUR town." Plus, the entire Establishment - Dems and Pubbies - is perfectly fine with ends justify the means, in this case the taking down of Trump. Back then the Establishment denounced lawlessness. Perhaps it was hypocritical but at least it was a case of vice paying tribute to virtue. Now?.......

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Now?......

Now they have been emboldened by Occupy, Black Lives and Soros money funding it.

Meade said...

Lem said...
"Trump is anti-ILLEGAL immigration."

I agree. But he has tapped into something in his supporters that is much broader than just anti-ILLEGAL immigration. It really is fear of and anger toward "non-Americans".

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Another thing that is massivly different now than in 68 is the alternate sources of information that we have.

Internet, multiple blogs dispersing news, cable news channels, tweets, public photos instantly accessible, video capability on everyone's mobile phone, talk radio, alternate print media. Most of these things did not even exist or weren't dreamed up back then. The idea of mobile telephones, personal computers was the realm of science fiction. We've come a LONG way Baby!!!

Compare to 68 when all we had were the big 3 networks. Our news sources were tightly controlled by a handful of corporate interests. What we were "allowed" to know was filtered before we were given the watered down scraps. The propaganda mechanism of the News Media industry was powerful and tightly controlled.

The ability of the American people to be more connected with each other and share almost instantaneous information did not exist then. Now they cannot hide everything from us. The power brokers have lost their grip on the control of and access of news.

THIS is why they so badly want to hobble and limit the internet. You can't control and informed public.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Since Meade's article is behind a paywall and I wouldn't give the NTY a bucket of spit, I have no comment.

However, I disagree. It is not fear and anger toward "non-Americans". It is anger and fear of illegal aliens from all over the world invading the country and remaining unassimilated.

Legal immigrants are supported and are a source of pride to the American public. Most of us, practically ALL of us are immigrant descended. Granted we didn't have the same laws in those days of yore. You can't make a direct comparison between two completely diverse things. But we did have immigrants who when they came to this country assimilated and adopted the US as their country. Assimilation does not mean that you destroy your heritage or traditions. This is why we have Italian traditions and this week will celebrate some Irish traditions.

Anger is directed at the ILLEGAL alien invaders and at the forces in our Government that break the laws, subvert the laws, and bring in alien invaders to supplant existing LEGAL citizens. Anger for sure. Just not directed at Non Americans. It is much more complicated than that.

Meade said...

"Anger for sure. Just not directed at Non Americans. "

Let me ask you this question, DBQ: Suppose you began to observe, sense, receive evidence contrary to your assertion. Hypothetically, is there some point at which you might say, "Okay, I was mistaken — there really is a tremendous amount of xenophobia and outright racism in enough of my fellow Trump supporters that I — for my own conscience — need to disassociate with these people"?

edutcher said...

Chip Ahoy said...

I still don't have internet connection. And yet I am here somehow.

God loves you.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Another thing that is massivly different now than in 68 is the alternate sources of information that we have.

Internet, multiple blogs dispersing news, cable news channels, tweets, public photos instantly accessible, video capability on everyone's mobile phone, talk radio, alternate print media. Most of these things did not even exist or weren't dreamed up back then. The idea of mobile telephones, personal computers was the realm of science fiction. We've come a LONG way Baby!!!


Ain't that the troof. All we had back then was Wally Crankcase lying through his teeth.

Now we have direct video streamed right to us from people on the spot and what's about to happen to a lot of people who were regarded as fonts of objectivity and integrity on the Internet before this all started will not be pretty.

Meade said...

Let me ask you this question, DBQ...

How's bout you observe in all your fellow anti-Trump supporters a great deal of unreasoning fanaticism, unwillingness to face facts, and a level of hypocrisy hithertofore unimagined to the extent I need to see the light and realize Trump is the only honest guy out there.

Or, tell it not in Christendom, the realization that the Democrat Party only offers a choice between a blood-soaked, conscienceless walking cadaver who makes Lady Macbeth look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm or a looney old Socialist who thinks robbing the rich will fund every pie-in-the-sky social program dreamed up in a drug-fogged, orgasmic haze at Woodstock and that debt really doesn't matter so the only sensible, responsible choice is the man who thinks halting even legal immigration might be worth considering.

edutcher said...

Be interesting to see the effect this has

Kasich has not only gone full tilt on amnesty, but promises to submit a plan in his first 100 days

edutcher said...

This is what happens when you only teach the Lefty version of history

Rubio won't get enough signatures to be governor.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

"Okay, I was mistaken — there really is a tremendous amount of xenophobia and outright racism in enough of my fellow Trump supporters that I — for my own conscience — need to disassociate with these people"?

There are outliers in each and every movement. People who are extreme. I'm not about to throw the baby out with the bathwater (so to speak) because there exists a few nutball extremists. If the party platform or the official message were such, then I would certainly not support that. But it isn't and hasn't been.

However, opposing ILLEGAL immigration, supporting border controls, supporting a more restrictive and controlled immigration policy, perhaps one based on points and merit instead of "y'all come on down" with no qualifications or scrutiny..... is not racist nor is it xenophobic by any stretch of the imagination.

Rabel said...

If we had 12 million plus illegal immigrant Frenchmen in the US I'd be all for kicking them out too. Pack up their berets and white flags and send them home.

Trooper York said...

The people that will never be disavowed are the Black Lives Matters criminals and communists who were the shock troops that attacked the Trump supporters. They are the mainstays of the Democratic party. They are Bernie's and Hillary's people and no act will ever lead to criticism let allow disavowal.

The idiot who stormed the stage was the guest of honor on CNN where he got to say he was proud to stop Trump from speaking. These bought and paid for morons are coddled and praised.

It is the Trump supporters....the white working class....that the elites want to see dead and buried along with their stupid communities clinging to their guns and their religion.

edutcher said...

A little something to keep in mind, those who have primaries tomorrow, 124 illegals freed from jail later charged in 138 murder cases. according to ICE.

Christy said...

I have never liked Trump, but the piling on by other candidates has antagonize me. Cruz may have lost my support over it.

edutcher said...

For those wondering, Troop was right Friday night.

Tippytoes cut police manpower, ordered no arrests.

Most of us figured as much, but to help the skeptic see the light...

AllenS said...

Because of Meade's inability to have any black friends, I disassociate myself from him.

ndspinelli said...

Abused as a child and rejected by his daughter, we get a glimpse into why the Kotex photographer has no friends; black, white or yellow.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Leftists made Chicago in 68 and now in 16. This is who started it, this is who incited it, this is who planned it. Leftists. This is who they are, this is what they do. For any buffoon to suggest that this was a Trump supporter incited violence requires a level of suspension of reality that borders on the insane. Conservatives and republicans do not incite violence. That's not who they are.

I think you are wrong. Trump is not doing anything technically wrong but he is stupidly encouraging things that will backfire. I don't welcome it. I'm telling him not to be stupid. This isn't 1968 all over again but the opposite of it. In 1968 the left lost a true hero, RFK, after losing MLK and before that JFK if you want to count him. (I don't, though. I don't think John could touch the courage and heart and honesty of RFK but then those five years between their assassinations were worlds apart and effectively different times that allowed RFK to say and potentially do more).

But the point is the same. I have no interest in seeing D Trump become the right-wing equivalent to RFK as far as the next martyr in American politics goes. I want to see him take his message as far as it goes but he should be smarter. It's all well and good to say anyone who threatens or assaults or worse is entirely wrong and responsible for his own actions, but offering to pay the legal fees of anyone taking them on (just as one example) is as stupid as it comes. People are rushing stages now. It is tragic. Watch 2:40. You think I want to see this? This is sad. I have no inclination to watch the RFK of the right become the former, post-1968 RFK from the land of the no longer living just because he couldn't realize when his mouth was rousing indefensible instincts that his own basic political and self-preservation instincts should have told him to KNOCK OFF.

edutcher said...

No, he isn't encouraging anything, certainly not at this point.

A lot of us saw this coming and good ol' Dr Evil was too busy in the 60s, plotting to take over the world to notice what was happening on the ground.

When you expand your rioting startup to prime time and are dumb enough to invite William Ayers as your special guest star, you deserve what happens.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

The people that will never be disavowed are the Black Lives Matters criminals and communists who were the shock troops that attacked the Trump supporters.

You know, it's a hell of a lot of good disavowals are going to do when crazies are involved. Both sides have crazies. Right-wing nuts had all sorts of weird incidents during the Clinton years. The left has crazies.

They are the mainstays of the Democratic party. They are Bernie's and Hillary's people and no act will ever lead to criticism let allow disavowal.

The mainstays of the Democratic party are HILLARY'S people. Read this and this from the Hillary Daily, NYT. The comments in these will convince you. Bernie's folks are concerned about economics. The rank-and-file tribal know nothings that call themselves "Democrats" to appease their DINO instincts are identity-politics obsessed victim mongering shits who can't even figure out why they should want Hillary to be president. (Hint: Gender gender gender and pandering and incompetent establishment politics and power). Those are sorts of kooks who are behind this shit, if I had to guess. The grievance mongering PC creeps who vote Hillary. As everyone knows the Sanders and Trump campaigns are the ones that are less interested in straight-up race baiting. They have overlapping support because they are both anti-establishment big-tent movements to address an American economy that should work in America's interests, and rightly see this identity shit as distracting and peripheral.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

When you expand your rioting startup to prime time and are dumb enough to invite William Ayers as your special guest star, you deserve what happens.

Stop talking in code, ed, and say what you mean. Be clear.

edutcher said...

No code, just the fact that the guy who gave us Ferg thought he was something special and set up Friday as the beginning of an assault on the US electoral process in the face of which we were all supposed to tremble in fear.

All he did was get people mad and ensure greater support of the Trump campaign.

Got it?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Sounds like more code.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

R & B

La la la la la....fingers in ears....I can't hear you ....la la la la.

This is a fine example of refusing to even think about what someone is saying. It's code. I don't want to consider it. Too much work to address the other side's arguments. La la la la.

As if your points are always crystal clear....not.

Come on Ritmo. You are better than this. I thought.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I seriously have no idea what he's saying.

It sounds vaguely conspiratorial and tinfoil-ish, though.

Trooper told me that I have to try to be nice to ed (believe me, I try. Oh my god, do I try). I can't see how he does the same but I can't vouch for the reciprocity of the effort.

You are not someone that I ever really have much trouble understanding, though, DBQ. Perhaps you can translate?

edutcher said...

Spare me.

Funny how nobody else has any trouble, but I guess that's what happens when you try to speak to the purposefully obtuse.

Forget it, Rit. Way over your head.

Meade said...

"Trooper told me that I have to try to be nice to ed"

Trooper is your mama.
Makes sense. You often act like you're his little boy.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

That's hilarious Larry. You really think that's how it is? Neither of us operate that way. We respect each other and this is his place, so that's how it goes.

Not that you would know anything about respect. You can't know about something that you never had. Certainly no one's ever had any respect for you.

Are you about done for tonight?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

ed - I'm not being purposely obtuse. OTOH, the terms there sound purposely vague. Who is "the guy that gave us Ferg?" Obama? Why do you assume I know who "the guy that gave us Ferg" is supposed to be, at least as you mean it? I don't.

And of course I know of no one who is "beginning an assault on the US electoral process". Although I think that when Republican state legislators and governors shorten polling times and when the media and Hillary Clinton try to pre-empt the primary nominating processes, those are both pretty objectionable "assaults" - to me, at least.

You can't assume that people always understand what you're referring to. None of us can.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Well, apparently it's getting pretty bad.

Trooper York said...

i think Ed is referring to George Soros who is funding the protestors and people like Ayers. He has a point.

Ed is a great commenter with a strong point of view,

His only problem is that he doesn't know anything about Westerns.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Well, I learn something new every day.

Like how George Soros would be in good company with Larry, as they both lack any balls.

To be fair however, Soros probably lost his balls in a prison camp as a child. Whereas Larry lost his balls in a bizarre lawnmower accident. It would have been tragic - other than for the blessing that it provides to future generations who will not have to put up with Little Larry Juniors.

Thank goodness for the small things. And I wouldn't have learned about any of this were it not for Ed -

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

The Professor actually met Larry long before the NYT wrote about them.

It's an interesting story, actually - because it was more of a reunification than a first date.

When they were younger, the Professor actually was very girlish, outdoorsy and carefree. She would spend weekends tanning out on her lawn, when all of a sudden Larry's balls rolled over... following their untimely removal by some wayward weedwackers and lawnmower blades.

The Professor was intrigued by this miniature human croquet set, and kept it for a day when some Connecticut blue-bloods with a young suitor might be invited over for a courtship and picnic party.

But that didn't happen. Instead, she waited and waited, until a taciturn internet blog commenter caught her ear and her eye.

When they met, the Professor showed Larry the human croquet set that he'd left behind. It was stored in a jar.

The Professor informed him that that was where they would stay. And they've been happy ever since. ;-)

Trooper York said...

On the other hand Lawnboy has no friends and no one respects him. That is why he has to rent a dog.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

If you need me to delete any of that, I understand.

However, the nexus of croquet sets, lawnmower accidents, and mojo in a sealed Mason jar was just too much to pass up. The story pretty much wrote itself.

Trooper York said...

No I only delete Lawnboy on my threads. Everyone else should use their own judgement.

Methadras said...

Oh how I wish he could be deleted permanently if you get my meaning.