Salon: Tim Kaine Terrible Pick to Stop Trump

Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

From Conor Lynch writing at Salon:

Trumpism is not a conservative ideology or movement, nor is it rooted in conservative principles. Its adherents do not want to safeguard traditional institutions or preserve the status quo; rather, they strive for its complete destruction. Reporter James Kirchick provided an interesting insight into the mind of a typical Trumpets when he asked prominent Trump supporter and writer Milo Yiannopolous what actual Trump policies he favors, to which the writer replied that Trump supporters don’t care about policies, “They [just] want to burn everything down.” This is nihilism, not conservatism.

In his speech on Wednesday, President Obama was accurate in saying that Trump’s message at the RNC “wasn’t particularly Republican — and it sure wasn’t conservative” — although I would argue that only the latter point is true for today’s GOP.

Trump is like a nuclear warhead aimed at everything that his reactionary base detests: liberal elites, “Cuckservatives,” “Social Justice Warriors,” political correctness, global elites, Muslims, eggheads, journalists and so on. He isn’t offering reform, but complete annihilation; and the Republican Party is his launching pad.

This all raises an important question: How will Democrats counter this destructive force? Now that the GOP has more or less embraced the reactionary politics of Trumpism, will the Democrats combat it with their own anti-establishment politics — i.e. progressivism — or with a cautious conservatism that attempts to please everyone (though usually ends up doing the complete opposite)?

Read the rest of the story at Salon.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.