Topic: WorldNetDaily
In her Dec. 6 WorldNetDaily column, Rachel Alexander seemingly wants to blame Saul Alinsky for the state of Donald Trump's political fortunes:
The left has mastered many clever tactics to defeat the right in recent years, not based on substantive arguments but rather on tricking people. One is straight out of Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals," and the right is falling into the trap.
Rule No. 5 states, "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." It basically consists of using fourth-grader insults to coerce people into a herd attack mentality. They mastered it with former President Donald Trump, "orange man bad."
Alexander then complained that nobody understands what a great comedian Trump is, and that his alleged jokes were taken out of context to disparage him:
Trump wasn't much different than Reagan in terms of policy. But by pouncing on his sarcastic tweets and off-the-cuff remarks, his opponents were able to create this faux impression of him. The reality is Trump has a gifted sense of humor. In another life, he could have been a comedian. Now imagine holding comedians up to everything they say on stage – which ironically is what the left is starting to do to them, especially Dave Chappelle.
Everyone knew Trump was joking when he made his insults. They were over the top and made you laugh. But the left pretended they were serious. The left mastered taking his remarks out of context. They took it to a whole other level when they tried to claim his remarks called for violence on Jan. 6, resulting in criminal investigations.
A hundred years ago, Trump could have been a funny leader and no one would have batted an eye. But in this politically correct era of snowflakes where everyone pretends to be constantly offended, the left can make traction against someone like that. Think of how many people on the right you know who bought into it; people who ranted about Trump's mouth and don't want him to run again in 2024.
Trump had the same mouth – if not worse – before he got into politics and was wildly popular. "The Celebrity Apprentice" lasted for eight seasons, excellent for a reality TV show. At its debut, viewership rivaled "Survivor" and "American Idol" at their heights. And by its last season under Trump, it performed better than "Shark Tank" and "Dancing With the Stars." It has since bombed under Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Trump accomplished as much as Reagan, if not more. The inroads he made into picking up minority votes alone were incredible for a Republican president in the modern era – especially considering how the left's main criticism of the right today is that we're racist. But this new era of judging politicians by how politically correct they are will never allow him to be considered one of the great presidents. They've disqualified him based on his clever sarcastic wit.
Alexander lamented that other conservatives are being destroyed for taking the same approach:
Any other conservatives at the top fond of saying provocative things are also gradually being destroyed. In Congress, the biggest targets are Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, Josh Hawley and Matt Gaetz. Can you remember anything they've said that was over the top? Probably not, because taken within the entire context of how they were saying it – sarcasm, metaphor not literally, merely a coincidence, etc. – the comments weren't particularly remarkable. Only if you distort their statements and believe that they really want to do things like murder fellow Americans could you take them seriously. Never mind that The Squad has said far more provocative things.
We're not seeing where "context" or "sarcasm" would make things like, for example, Boebert's smearing Ilhan Omar as a terrorist or Greene calling for a "Second Amendment solution" to launch a civil war any less offensive. But we apparently are not brilliant comedians like Trump and Alexander.
It seems like the lesson here is that Trump and the others shouldn't say provocative (or obviously mean-spirited) things that can be easily taken out of context. That, of course, is not the lesson Alexander is taking. She insists that her fellow right-wingers support these folks anyway: "You may not personally like the flamboyant style of some of these outspoken leaders on the right and prefer that more well-spoken conservatives run for office. But even if that happens, the left is going to come after them eventually for minor statements."
