Many attempts have been made to explain the sudden, and to many, horrifying rise of Donald Trump and his seemingly hate fueled rhetoric. Republican elites have been stumped while many conservatives have simply aided and abetted his rise to the top of the party's presidential hopefuls.
However, as The Daily Beast's Joy-Ann Reid explained today, Trump's ascendancy is actually nothing new in American politics, but is simply just a different shade of centuries old, every man populism:
Like Trump, Wallace rose steadily and improbably in the polls, with consistently high ratings for “saying it the way it really is” and “standing by his convictions.” New Republic columnist Richard Strout in 1967 dubbed Wallace “the ablest demagogue of our time, with a voice of venom and a gut knowledge of the prejudices of the low-income class.” Even John Wayne donated to his campaign, which raised most of its money through small donations.
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| Pictured: Joe McCarthy, Donald Trump, George Wallace. |
In many ways, the United States of today is quite similar to the political climate that gave Wallace almost ten million votes in the 1968 election, with large swathes of middle America in disconnect with not only Washington, but in full rebellion against the tides of cultural change.
Although Wallace had been a lifelong Democrat, he abandoned the party when it embraced civil rights under LBJ and staked out on his own path in defiance. Sound familiar?
Reid continues:
Which brings us to the Republican Party in 2016.
If their George Wallace—Donald Trump—wins the nomination, the party’s die is cast with a message that’s doomed among the increasingly multiracial presidential-year electorate. If he loses but his opponents continue to pander, self-protectively, to the most hateful aspects of Trump’s message, that die is cast anyway.
If he loses, particularly through some convention gamesmanship, and his supporters decide he was robbed of the nomination by a party elite who looked down on him, and on them, Trump could launch a third party effort of Wallace-like proportions and tear the GOP in two. And that, in the end, is what Republican elites fear most.
Mr. Knight makes good points in his comparison of George Wallace and Donald Trump as Populists. I remember George Wallace very well. I campaigned for him at the age of 14. I was not a racist then and never hand been since but it is undeniable that there were racial overtones and there were a number of people who voted for Governor Wallace in the mistaken belief he would maintain racial inequality by keeping the status quo. However, it’s too easy to say the Wallace candidacy was based on race. Like today, back in 1968 there were many critical issues facing our country. And that’s where the similarities between Wallace and Trump come into play. The similarities are not the issues but rather that both candidacies address serious problems that resonate with many Americans. Wallace ran while the country was being divided over our commitment in Vietnam, lawlessness in our streets, two assassinations and racial inequality coming to a tipping point. In 2016, we have Mr. Trump talking to issues that it would appear our President is reluctant or unable to address. Namely, defeating terrorism here and abroad, the decline in the earning power of the American worker due to the unfair trade practices of our trading partners, unabated illegal immigration and a staggering unemployment rate when you take into account those persons who have simply dropped out of the workforce and the entitlement mentality it has fostered.
ReplyDeleteWallace back in 1968 and now Trump are filling an acute void created by the leadership of their respective times. There was a craving 47 years ago and now once again by the electorate for responsible leadership to address the problems of the country.
I am not a supporter of Mr. Trump but I have to admit that he, like Governor Wallace, both populists, is striking a chord with an electorate who are tired of political correctness and many in both parties leadership who it would appear are more interested in maintaining power than addressing the dire issues facing our country.