Monday, May 30, 2016

Will Trump make a play for Bernie Voters?

Serious question in light of this:



Note well: the question is not whether Trump will actually do anything after he is elected to raise minimum wages (excuse me while I laugh… because I would be genuinely astonished if he did), but whether, once he’s the official Republican party candidate, he will be smart enough to make a play for all those angry Bernie Bros who hate Hillary, the Democratic establishment and neoliberalism by presenting himself as pro-working class and as anti-neoliberal – at the same time without making his Republican base angry.

He recently said he wants to turn the Republican party into a “workers’ party” (see here and here). Is this part of a long-term strategy?

Did he chicken out of the proposed Trump versus Bernie Sanders debate as part of this strategy?

So can he do it? Well, to do so will require that all those Bernie people need to, say, hear more of the “old” Donald Trump who was actually in favour of some kind of single payer health care system (yes, as he really was in the past).

Even as recently as last year, he was making noises about something that sounds suspiciously like much more government involvement in health care provision:

4 comments:

  1. "Did he chicken out of the proposed Trump versus Bernie Sanders debate as part of this strategy?"

    The strategy was to draw attention to Bernie in California, Hilary's refusal to debate Bernie, and get media time for Bernie. Which he got.

    Trump wants to wound Clinton and drag out the democrat primaries but not fatally damage her until she gets the Democrat nomination.

    I get the feeling Trump could have finished off Clinton right now. But then he'd have to run against Bernie, which would be a tougher call.

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    1. I agree about the strategy.No candidate is going to debate someone just seeking the candidacy of the other party. All risk no gain. This was a tactic. I think the point was to stoke the resentment of Bernie voters at how he is (as they see it) marginalized and diddled by the democrats and the process.

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  2. "Bernie Bros" do not exist. That's a strategy of the Clinton camp to try and paint Sanders supporters as angry, white & sexist. The same thing was done with "Obama boys" in 2008. Cenk Uygur talked about it. I included this in the fist installment of my video of Feminism & Bernie Sanders:

    https://youtu.be/XkHjlROk4sg

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    1. I agree with you if people care more about economy than about toxic identity politics its not make them brogressives

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