TRUMP IS NOT SOLELY TO BLAME FOR THE VIOLENCE AT HIS RALLIES, Jonah Goldberg writes:
Trump is merely the latest actor to deliver such assurances to his coddled constituencies. Barack Obama — who recently absolved himself of all blame for the state of politics in the nation he’s led for seven years — has played this game with more finesse than most. But that’s the thing about the great ones: They make it look so easy. Obviously, he hasn’t encouraged violence — that is Trump’s special contribution to the degradation of our politics. But from his contemptuous rhetoric for his political opponents to his unilateral disregard for constitutional restraints, Obama has helped fuel distrust and discord in ways his fans can’t or won’t see.
Sanders lighted his populist fire by insisting the country is held hostage by malefactors of great wealth who are exempt from the rules that bind the rest of us. Hillary Clinton, who got rich(er) giving hidden speeches to those very same malefactors, is not trusted by the voters because she seems to think the rules are for other people, at least when it comes to handling classified materials.
The truth is that politics is downstream of culture. And all of these politicians, Trump included, reflect deeper tendencies. Identity politics on the left and the right — from the war on so-called white supremacy to the bitterness of the white backlash — amount to what the French philosopher Julien Benda described as the “intellectual organization of political hatreds.” What’s remarkable about the violence Trump encourages isn’t its sudden appearance. It’s that it took this long.
Read the whole thing. And of course:
Shades of the late Elizabeth Edwards being asked in late October by a supporter if there would be riots if Kerry and John Edwards fail to take Pennsylvania the next week: “Uh…..well…not if we win,” was her warning. Or pretty much the entire rhetorical oeuvre of Al Sharpton before become a Comcast spokesman/NBC News anchor.