Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

Your curious cat stumbled onto an interesting interview which at an hour and a half long is probably too long for most of her followers.

The host and author Diana West discuss the hysterical rage the conservative and Republican establishment is directing not only at Donald Trump but at those who support him. The degree of toxicity directed at Mr. Trump and his supporters has forced many Trump supporters into what Ms. West refers to as “The Trump Closet”. An example is a friend who lives and works in Washington, DC who is a closet Trump supporter but keeps silent for fear if s/he came out, s/he would lose his/her job. (Ms. West is paranoid enough about her friend that she refuses to divulge the friend's gender).

Ms. West and the host observed the sheer, unbridled terror the Trump candidacy has had on establishment Republicans, "conservative" pundits and consultants, K Street lobbyists, the donor class who contribute to the political campaigns of he Republican establishment and most especially the neocons who demand that candidates be pro unfettered immigration, free trade even at the expense of America's workers and pro-internationalism. They see the unabashedly pro-American and anti-illegal immigration Trump as an existential threat to their carefully constructed “new world order”. They believe government power as a way to remake humanity, to remake the globe, and in so doing according to Ms. West allow the immigration equivalent of a new Los Angeles every three years.

Republican politicians like Benjamin Strasse of Nebraska are campaigning openly to "Stop Trump". Anyone with a functioning neuron has to wonder why. They claim Mr. Trump at the top of the Republican ticket will cause the GOP to lose their majorities. They claim Mr. Trump will drive away Hispanics and Independents. What they don't say is that Romney won the Independent vote, that Hispanics prefer big government 3:1 and that Romney could have gotten 73% of  the Hispanic vote, and still would have lost.

Mr. Trump, who once belonged to the donor class, has crashed the Establishment Party, and that is where the rage and invective from the right is coming from. She predicts it will only get worse, and posits that even if Mr. Trump loses the nomination, he will never be forgiven for ripping off the masks of pundits and politicians who have deceived and are deceiving the American people. One of the more interesting quotes that came out of the interview was on the subject of whether Europe is "committing suicide". No, the host observed, "governments (of Europe) are murdering their own countries." The fear is that the same thing is happening in America.

Below are a few excerpts from the dictionary Ms. West has compiled of quotes directed at Donald Trump (2) by "conservatives" demeaning Mr. Trump for being a crude vulgarian. Growltiger wonders how many of her readers have formed their opinion based upon the reports of these pundits.

• GOP strategist, Rick Wilson, in a quote directed at Ann Coulter which is too vulgar for Growltiger to include in her blog.

• A quote from Jonah Goldberg which is the particularly crude word for a bodily function that children refer to as Number 1. 

• A quote from one of Scott Walker’s strategists which doesn’t use Mr. Goldberg’s word, but uses a word usually descriptive of men one does not like that is not acceptable in polite society and begins with a p.

Below are some that can be printed.

• Trump is "a reality-television grotesque with his plastic-surgery-disaster wife." National Review's Kevin Williamson . Bonus: Williamson deplores Trump for "ungallant behavior". 

• "Witless Ape Rides Escalator" -- This is the headline for National Review's very first report by Kevin Williamson on Donald Trump's 2016 presidential run. 

• "Turning to Donald Trump to solve the problems in Washington is like turning to an ape to fix a broken refrigerator." -- Stephen Hayes, Fox News & Weekly Standard, August 8, 2015 

• "If by now you don’t find Donald Trump appalling, you’re appalling."  Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 31, 2015 

• The donor class "are still going to have to go out and put a bullet in Donald Trump. And that’s a fact.” -- Republican consultant Rick Wilson on MSNBC 

• "The clown site of the Internet beclowns itself yet again." Commentary editor John Podhoretz tweeting @ Breitbart News report on Trump rapping critic George Will for failing to disclose his Will's wife worked for then-presidential candidate Scott Walker.  

• "Fact-checking Donald Trump is like picking up after a dog with diarrhea."  Stephen Hayes, Weekly Standard, on Fox News . (At least Mr. Hayes used the word diarrhea. Perhaps it was because he was on television. In a written article, Mr. Hayes used the same word Mr. Goldberg used above which Growltiger, while certainly no prude, shows her own snobbishness by consigning anyone who uses it to incredibly low social status.)

• "Trump’s Immigration Plan Is Hardcore Porn For Nativists," August 19, 2015 -- headline over article by David Harsanyi at The Federalist. It opens: Donald Trump is porn for nativists. Now, a person can derive much political self-gratification from wishful thinking, but remember porn isn’t real. So enjoy daydreaming about mass deportations and visualizing the repeal of birthright citizenship, but don’t let yourself get desensitized to reality....

• Trump "is soiling the robe of conservatism and dragging it through the dust."  Bill Kristol, editor, Weekly Standard, on why he "loathes" Donald Trump.

• "The gross thing is, you can kind of imagine a Trump sex tape." -- Kevin Williamson, National Review correspondent, director of the William F. Buckley fellowship program in political journalism, New Criterion theatre critic.

• "Trump’s fans—not all, but enough—aren’t turned on by softcore white papers authored by Jeff Sessions, they want the hard stuff. " David Harsanyi, The Federalist   

• Trump's policies are "a parade of semi-sophisticated policies that act as bathroom deodorizer to mask the stench of this candidacy."  Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal 

• "Finally, this thing [Trump's candidacy] cannot be cut off at the head. An insurgency needs its supply lines cut." -- Noah Rothman, Commentary assistant online editor, referring, it would seem, to free press/free citizens not sufficiently hostile enough to Trump. 

• "By the way, I knew Andrew Breitbart. Andrew Breitbart was a friend of mine. He would vomit over what you've done to his name."  Commentary editor John Podhoretz, tweeting @ Breibart report on Trump rapping Trump critic Will not disclosing wife's ties to Walker campaign.

And these are the "classy" folks who call out Donald Trump for being crude. Growltiger's readers can decide for themselves whether crudeness lies more in an unacceptable word like damn or hell or whether it lies in descriptions like those above applied to human beings or whether it's downright creepy for so many sexual allusions to be included in writing about a political candidate.

For those who wish to read the entire dictionary, it can be found at:

The Big Conservative Dictionary of Donald Trump

Those who have the time to listen to the entire interview can find it at:

Interview with Diana West

In Moderation

Growltiger did not watch the Democrats' last debate. Since she won't be voting in the Democrat primary, she doesn't need to evaluate the candidates. But she does have an opinion. Right or wrong, Senator Sanders believes what he's saying. Right or wrong, Secretary Clinton says what she needs to say to get elected. And like Donald Trump's candidacy, Senator Sanders's candidacy is the clarion call of an electorate fed up with the professional political establishment that has developed into a ruling political class which the people believe rightly or wrongly represent only the interests of Wall Street and Washington.

The same questions were asked that have been asked in all the other debates and will be asked in all the future debates. The difference was in what happened before the debate as outlined below and the professionalism of the moderators which stood out in stark contrast to the moderators of previous debates with the exception of Fox Business. 

David Muir and Martha Radditz were professional and courteous while at the same time kept control, asked difficult questions and corrected the record when necessary. (When Senator Cruz blamed CNN misreporting Ben Carson's dropping out for his campaign having deceived Iowa caucus goers, Ms. Radditz quietly interjected that CNN corrected its false report within one minute.) As an added bonus, Ms. Radditz was dressed in proper business attire and did not look like she was going to a cocktail party.  

The classiest moment of the debate occurred before the first question was asked, when the applause for Governor Christie drowned out the announcers calling out Dr. Carson's name. Not having heard his name, the retired neurosurgeon stood in the wings and looked confused when the announcer called for Senator Cruz. (Perhaps he thought the Cruz campaign had convinced ABC he had dropped out).  

Senator Cruz looked surprised, but pushed around Dr. Carson and took the stage. The announcer, still not realizing Dr. Carson had not taken the stage then called Mr. Trump's name. Unlike Senator Cruz who was taken unawares, Mr. Trump had forewarning. Instead of taking the stage, he walked over to Dr. Carson and stood beside him. They had a brief, unrecorded, conversation which one supposes Mr. Trump explained what had happened. The announcer, still unaware of the mix-up called for Senator Rubio and Governors Bush and Kasich. Rather than pausing and remaining with Mr. Trump and Dr. Carson, the Senator and Governors Bush and Kasich took their places. 

When the announcer finally realized Dr. Carson and Mr. Trump were not on the stage, he called their names. Mr. Trump paused, allowing Dr. Carson to take his place with the applause he deserved. 

To Growltiger, this small kindness to a fellow competitor showed more class and told more about Donald Trump's character than any answer to any question he might ever give.  

As in other debates, Mr. Trump neither helped nor harmed his candidacy. Those who dislike him will continue to dislike him; those who support him will continue to support him. He is not a professional politician, so does not give canned answers nor does he recite a list of his achievements in government. He is, however, an executive, so has more in common with the governors than the senators. His biggest vulnerability is on eminent domain, and in that instance, he would do well to have a canned answer.  Eminent domain is a complicated issue, and most people, including the cool cat, equate eminent domain to the Kelo decision and not the Keystone pipeline which also involves the private taking of property.

Governor Christie demolished Senator Rubio by pointing out that the first term senator gives a canned, rehearsed statement with which he responds to any question he's asked at which point Senator Rubio repeated the same canned, rehearsed statement at least four times. If the presidency were not in contention, this would have made excellent farce. At one point, Senator Rubio was gleaming with perspiration, not a good visual for a presidential candidate. 

Governor Bush looks presidential and is quite handsome until he opens his mouth. His delivery is halting and he comes across as a bit dim. Governor Kasich had an excellent debate, and had he not come unhinged in two of the previous debates, would be the establishment favorite. Ms. Fiorina was not allowed to participate due to her poll numbers which the tiger cat believes is a mistake and will be used against the eventual Republican nominee should Hillary Clinton win the Democrat nomination.

The one fault Growltiger had with the moderators was that they seemed to forget Dr. Carson was there. Dr. Carson is a good, honest, honorable (and probably the smartest and best educated) of the candidates, but he is too gentle to be president. In his one opportunity to show grit, he failed. When asked about Senator Cruz's campaign's shady political tricks in Iowa, Dr. Carson was accepting of Cruz's apology which brought to mind a letter in the Wall Street Journal letters section when Mitt Romney was running against President Obama. "If he won't fight for himself," the writer asked, "why should we believe he'd fight for us?" 

Pundits on both sides of the political spectrum realize there is a great the divide in the country, but few seem to realize the divide is not between the right and the left but rather between the globalists of the established political class and the American people, between the Washington politicians and the people they govern, and that explains the candidacies of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders and why on trade at least, they have more in common with each other than they do with their respective establishments.