Trump Promotes Caricature of What Conservatives Want

[Zorro]

A series of events during his White House tenure has made clear that Mr. Trump views the voters he calls “my people” through the lens of what he imagines they like.

By Maggie Haberman

Standing in the White House colonnade this week, President Trump told an interviewer that he’s “comfortable” with “freedom of speech” extending to the Confederate flag.

“People love it,” Mr. Trump told Catherine Herridge of CBS News, when she asked about a flag that many Americans equate with the brutal history of slavery in the United States. “I know people that like the Confederate flag, and they’re not thinking about slavery. I just think it’s freedom of speech.”

It was the latest example of Mr. Trump promoting a caricatured view of what he believes his base wants — in this case defending a symbol of oppression that even the state of Mississippi has decided to retire, as well as the U.S. military, which issued new guidance on flags on Friday.

From holding a Bible aloft for a photo op outside a historic church, to scolding NASCAR for banning the Confederate flag at its races, to heralding the “heritage” of the South, Mr. Trump repeatedly elevates to the public stage what he imagines are the top priorities for the voters who back him.

Liam Donovan, a Republican strategist and former National Republican Senatorial Committee aide, said that Mr. Trump’s “preternatural ability to sniff out and tap into what Republicans hate” got him to the Oval Office.

“His intimate connection with the base is one of shared grievance,” Mr. Donovan said. “But when it comes to what they’re for, it inevitably comes off like a cartoon version of what a New York billionaire would think conservatives believe.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/us/politics/trump-base.html

[louis-t]

1. He's not a billionaire.

[underpants]

2. "pretty Bible"

So it was Ivanka’s dumbass idea to do the whole thing.

[czarjak]

3. Shared hateful ignorance is easy.