Trump and His Apologists
http://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-and-his-apologists-1437345060
The conservative media who applaud him are hurting the cause.
It came slightly ahead of schedule, but Donald Trump’s inevitable self-immolation arrived on the weekend when he assailed John McCain’s war record. The question now is how long his political and media apologists on the right will keep pretending he’s a serious candidate.
Speaking at a forum in Iowa, Mr. Trump declared that Senator McCain was “not a war hero,” adding that “he’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
Mr. McCain spent more than five years in a Vietnamese prison camp, was tortured to the point of lifelong disability, and yet refused an offer to be released before all of his fellow prisoners. Mr. Trump had a more relaxed war due to military deferments. The Trump dump drew immediate condemnations from most GOP candidates and others, but the political apprentice refused to apologize.
His campaign instead released a statement that compounded the felony. “I am not a fan [sic] John McCain because he has done so little for our Veterans,” the statement said. “He is yet another all talk, no action politician who spends too much time on television and not enough time doing his job and helping the Vets. He is also allowing our military to decrease substantially in size and strength, something which should never be allowed to happen.”
Coming from a reality TV star, this too-much-time-on-television line is hilarious. Mr. McCain doesn’t need our defense on Mr. Trump’s other insults, but they are notable because anyone with a cursory knowledge of politics knows they’re false. They show that Mr. Trump has barely a passing acquaintance with America’s current policy debates.
The summer Trump polling spurt has nonetheless been instructive in exposing a growing problem on the political right. All too many conservatives, including some magazine editors, have been willing to overlook his hucksterism as he’s risen in the polls. They pretend that he deserves respect because he’s giving voice to some deep disquiet or anger in the American electorate.
But America has rarely lacked for demagogues willing to exploit public discontents. William Jennings Bryan won three Democratic presidential nominations running against eastern elites. In 1948 Henry Wallace ran as a Soviet sympathizer while Strom Thurmond won 39 electoral votes running as a segregationist. Either one would have been a disaster as President.
As a standard-bearer for conservative ideas, Mr. Trump would likewise be a catastrophe. His only discernible principle is the promotion of his personal brand. His main message seems to be that because he’s rich and doesn’t care what anyone thinks, he can afford to tell everyone to go to hell. Some Americans may find it satisfying 16 months from Election Day to tell pollsters they’d vote for him, but that doesn’t mean conservative elites should validate this nonsense.
So full credit to Rick Perry, the former Texas Governor, who led the pack in saying even before the weekend that Mr. Trump lacks the temperament to be Commander in Chief. Several other candidates have now said the same.
But note the silence of Ted Cruz, who declined to criticize Mr. Trump because he said the media enjoy such intra-Republican fights. Mr. Cruz has recently released a book whose main theme is an attack on other Republicans. It’s central to his campaign strategy. The Texas Senator must be hoping to inherit Trump voters once the casino magnate flames out, but he’s revealing his own lack of political character.
As for conservative media elites, too many have adopted the view that there can be no adversary to their right. This was mainly a left-wing affliction in the last century as many liberals refused to condemn Communists. But today many on the right seem willing to indulge any populist outburst no matter how divorced from reality or insulting to most Americans. If Donald Trump becomes the voice of conservatives, conservatism will implode along with him.
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