Maybe “I love the poorly educated” was taken out of context. But not this:
“And you’ll find that when you become very successful, the people that you will like best are the people that are less successful than you, because when you go to a table you can tell them all of these wonderful stories, and they’ll sit back and listen,” [Donald Trump] said. “Does that make sense to you? OK? Always be around unsuccessful people because everybody will respect you. Do you understand that?”
This slip provides insight into the caliber of staff and advisers he would select as president — and also into why an elitist New York City liberal who just a few years ago was denouncing America for being too racist to appreciate the greatness of Obama would run for president as a populist Republican, holding his nose out in flyover country as he harvests the votes of people he despises.
Trump has been acting out a liberal’s stereotypical notion of a right-winger. The stuff that doesn’t fit the liberal narrative — e.g., limited government, economic freedom, fiscal responsibility — is ignored, while he leans heavily on nativism exaggerated to the point of xenophobia, misogynistic boorishness, and fascistic strongman posturing.
Trump’s whole shtick for the past year has been almost openly parodic. His contempt for those who buy into it has not been subtle. “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters,” he sneered. He may as well have said, “I could call my supporters belly-scratching idiots to their faces and they would still kiss my Gucci loafers.”
For some it is too late to turn back. They have made such colossal fools of themselves that to admit they have been tricked out of their integrity by a cheesy second-rate conman is unthinkable. That’s why Sean Hannity et al. keep digging themselves deeper.
On a tip from Torcer. Cross-posted at Moonbattery.