The Dog Whistlers 0
Dick Polman observes that Republicans are putting away their dog whistles.
(Quoting Paul Ryan) “If a person wants to be the nominee of the Republican Party, there can be no evasion and no games. This party does not prey on people’s prejudices. We appeal to their highest ideals. This is the party of Lincoln.”
I’m glad I wasn’t sipping coffee when I heard Ryan say that, because the liquid would’ve exited through my nose. I thought of Keith Richard, who wrote in his rock n’ roll memoir that life’s absurdities are best handled with “legs-in-the-air laughter.”
“This party does not prey on people’s prejudices …”
Is Ryan kidding or what? Because it’s empirical fact that his party has been preying on prejudice for the past 50 years. Donald Trump is different only in degree. He has merely ditched the dog whistle and stripped away the code words.
Meanwhile, Werner Herzog’s Bear is not optimistic; he sees a real danger of a fascist America. Here’s a bit from his latest piece on Trumpery and Republicanism.
(Continued below the fold.)
At the Boston Review, Simon Waxman argues that, if anyone claims that Trump “blindsided” the polity, it’s because the polity actively chose not to look. A nugget:
Please do follow the links and read the pieces all the way through.