Kevin D. Williamson:
There were some low moments during the debates yesterday, both from the candidates (I often want to ask Rick Perry the question that Jules Winnfield asks that poor idiot in Pulp Fiction right before things go bad: “English . . . do you speak it?”) and from the moderators, too (“So, Dr. Carson, you’re black . . . ”). But the lowest moment was the big cheer Donald Trump got for his Rosie O’Donnell line and for his follow-up denunciation of political correctness.
That was a low moment for two reasons. First, it was a lie, albeit a lie that may have been offered in jest: Trump’s ungallant behavior hardly has been restricted to O’Donnell. Second, political correctness is in this case a dodge: The complaint isn’t that Trump violated some rarefied code of conduct dreamed up this morning by the dean of students. As Megyn Kelly reminded him: “You’ve called women you don’t like ‘fat pigs,’ ‘dogs,’ ‘slobs,’ and ‘disgusting animals.’ . . . You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees.” If you think that saying that sort of thing is merely a violation of political correctness and effete coastal liberal etiquette, try it on some dry-land cotton farmer’s wife or daughter and see if you live to boast of your free-spiritedness.
Trump afterward bawled that Kelly’s question was “not nice.” That’s fairly typical Trump: Call a woman a pig and you’re brashly disregarding political correctness; get criticized for it by the nice blonde lady on the news and you cry like a little princess who can’t find her favorite tiara in time for the tea party she’s throwing for her stuffed unicorn.
That is one of the problems with Trump that the Trumpkins don’t understand. It is true that the our inability to control our borders is an existential threat to these United States and that the crisis of illegal immigration is felt most intensely in downscale communities that do not register on Washington’s radar or Wall Street’s. But Trump’s buffoonery makes it less likely rather than more likely that something substantive will be done on the question. It is the case that the cult of political correctness is very much alive, that it is used to stifle criticism of powerful people and institutions and to render certain thoughts unspeakable. But if your solution to political correctness is to abandon manners and standards of conduct wholesale, then you are simply muddying the waters, making it less likely that we can respond intelligently to the little autocrats when they pipe up.
There is a kind of addiction to frisson at work, one that’s common among commentators and public figures. One is confronted with some po-faced p.c. policeman who insists that it is improper to acknowledge or speak about, e.g., the high rates of welfare dependency among non-whites relative to whites. And maybe one gets a nice little thrill from the squealing when one stomps all over that nonsensical sensibility. All good and fine and merry, but some people develop a jones for that feeling. You’ve all seen it: A man saying perfectly reasonable things about crime or poverty or the Middle East ends up a year or two down the road collecting Rhodesian flags and carefully tracking the number of Jews who have served on the Federal Reserve board. Ask him how and why he became a nutball, and he’ll protest that he has simply been liberated from the surly bonds of political correctness.
What a spot-on point.
Trump conflates PC with decorum.
When he acts rudely he excuses his actions by claiming to not be PC.
But rudeness was impolite way back when.*
And PC is only a modern construct.**
There is a way to answer the PC crowd without resorting to tasteless and crude language.
*
François-Marie Arouet, known by his nom de plume Voltaire,
Born: November 21, 1694, Paris, France
Died: May 30, 1778, Paris, France
Wrote:
An Essay On The Manners Of Nations: From The Reign Of Charlemaign To The Age Of Lewis Xiv.
**
Political Correctness is cultural Marxism.
Marxism translated from economic into cultural terms.
It is an effort that goes back to World War I.
If we compare the basic tenets of Political Correctness with classical Marxism the parallels are very obvious.
First of all, both are totalitarian ideologies.
The totalitarian nature of Political Correctness is revealed nowhere more clearly than on college campuses, many of which at this point are small ivy covered North Koreas.
Second, Political Correctness, like economic Marxism, has a single factor explanation of history.
Cultural Marxism, or Political Correctness, says that all history is determined by power, by which groups defined in terms of race, sex, etc., have power over which other groups.
Nothing else matters.
Third, in the cultural Marxism of Political Correctness certain groups are good – feminist women, (only feminist women, non-feminist women are deemed not to exist) blacks, Hispanics, homosexuals.
These groups are determined to be “victims,” and therefore automatically good regardless of what any of them do. Similarly, white males are determined automatically to be evil, thereby becoming the equivalent of the bourgeoisie in economic Marxism.
Finally, Political Correctness has a method of analysis that automatically gives the answers it wants.
For the cultural Marxist, it’s deconstruction.
Deconstruction essentially takes any text, removes all meaning from it and re-inserts any meaning desired.
Ah, Kevin, Kevin, your University of Texas indoctrination is slipping out. So let’s takes things in revere order, shall we?
Megyn Kelly was NOT the “nice blond lady on the news” Thursday night. She was a hack saw, going after the candidate all establishment loves to hate. She acted like a prom queen, not a moderator. I might mention that the viewers were tuned in to see the answers coming from the candidates, not see the inquisitors see who could land the biggest blow on certain candidates. But then, Fox did play up the “We can only guess what Trump will say” meme for days before the inquisition.
When the moderators spend almost 40% of the time asking questions of 10 candidates, it kinda defeats the purpose of letting viewers learn about the candidates.
Now, about that Rosie comment; why was it not mentioned that Rosie started the feud? It seems the Feminazis want to be able to say any damn thing that enters the vast void between their ears about men, but hey, fight back and you are an evil sexist.
And the comment about a woman being on her knees? Odd that the gang of 3 at Fox had to dig through years of The Apprentice to find that comment, which was taken out of context, to find one comment. The comment, as shown by Mark Levin, came from season 6 (2009) of The Apprentice. The fact that the comment was turned into a sexual innuendo by the pretty blond lady on the news, and not taken in its true context which was that someone else had said the apprentice had “fallen to her knees” to beg for a task to which Trump jokingly replied. No wonder Chris Wallace, Brett Bair and Megyn Kelly touted how hard they worked to design the questions. There were years of The Apprentice they had to go through to find one sound bite.
Perhaps Kevin is thinking about the powerful people and institutions that John McCain referred to as “crazies.” Or maybe it is the many nasty comments that Democrats, especially Harry Reid, has made about every day people that attend TEA Party rallies? Who knows? His UT background is now rabidly at the forefront.
IOW, no matter what some ill-mannered, crass female says about you, if you are a man, just shut up and take it. After all, isn’t that the Feminazis vision of equal treatment?
No, again, Trump is not my guy. But the know-it-all pundits piling on him with abandon is only going to make Trump more popular, not less, and I would prefer that doesn’t happen.
Titiled:
Creepy Trump Tells Apprentice Contestant, “Must Be a Pretty Picture, You Dropping to Your Knees”
Only 22 seconds long but worth going to the very end for the lady’s non-verbal facial response.
Other examples:
From Trump:
Another one that was a surprise to me:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/column-anna-holmes-on-donald-trumps-sexism/2011/04/21/AFmSfEHF_story.html
@Nanny G:
Sorry, Nanny, but I’m not reading it the way you are. I don’t think Trump meant the comment in a “sexual” way. The other guy was explaining what she did to try to get the job (I don’t know who he is).
And frankly, I’m not a fan of the Miss USA contest thing. Are you saying that girls who come out in skimpy swimsuits and 3″ high heels are not trying to look sexy? Really? Were those girls “sobbing” when they had to walk out on stage that was being televised to millions of viewers? Yeah, they were sobbing when Donald Trump was judging them but not sobbing when millions of male TV viewers were judging them, right?
I’m sick of this bogus “feminism.” It’s like the woman that gets drunk in a bar who starts to punch the hell out of her husband/boy friend and then whines about being abused when he tries to stop her. You want to be treated like a lady? Act like a lady.
Why is it that women spent billions of dollars every year buying clothes and make up to make us look appealing and then when we are told we look pretty, or nice, or sexy, we get all apoplectic about it? Wasn’t that the goal in the first place?
It’s more likely they were upset they didn’t make the cut for whatever reason
If you think someone who gets to miss USA level doesn’t strut her stuff on a bunch of local or corporate sponsored pageants or events you’re delusional
I agree it may be exploitative on many levels but it’s what they signed up for
Now if Trump or someone was demanding sexual favors it would be another story but,
It’s like two women applying to be a stripper and the loser crying because she was forced to show her goodies and didn’t get the job
I’m not sure about the perceptions from the debate. First, I’ve been a fan of Fox as long as it’s existed. Lately I’ve been a fan of Megan because she’s ‘good looking’ (though I now guess me saying so would be ‘offensive’ to her.) and she has been a good questioner. And I’ve never been much of a fan of Trump, but he definitely has been saying some of the things the country needs to hear.
Yes, I realize Chris Wallace is now and has always been a liberal, though he sometimes wears a ‘Fox” face. Megan has been independent. Bret Baier has always been a good news man.
If Megan wanted to get her two cents worth in on feminism, she should have asked the question, something like this. “Those bitches on the View have always had it in for Conservatives, what do you think of there obvious anti-American rants’? Then Trump could have said quite honestly “well that fat dyke O’Donnell needs all the help she can get. ”
Megan has had some good ratings, occasionally as good as O’Reilly and I think she saw this as an opportunity to boost her popularity a little. It didn’t work, I now think ‘less’ of her. Will it make me stop watching Fox News, no there is no alternative.
Trump is talking about all the right things. He’s saying the things I want to hear. If he’s the candidate, I will vote for him. There is not one chance in hell that I will vote for a Dimocrat. Is he ‘my candidate’, I don’t have one right now. Will I vote for someone ineligible? No, we have one of those now, we don’t need another. That leaves out Rubio, Cruz and Jindal. I’m not voting for a Bush or a Christie or a Lindsay.
Does anyone here think that what Trump said about ‘women’ is more or less appropriate than all the comments made about him on a personal level?
Women in beauty contests is about femininity and sexism. I don’t feel as if a man telling a woman that she’s beautiful or sexy is ‘inappropriate’. With about 99% of women, that’s an objective. Many men are concerned about their appearance and ‘sexiness’ also. It’s a ‘human’ characteristic. Live with it.
Who did the best in the debate? Trump.
@Redteam:
Ms. Kelly didn’t seem to have a problem going on the Howard Stern show (worst shock-jock of them all) and talking about her breasts (said her husbands calls them the “Killer Bs), sex after childbirth and the size of her husband’s pen!s. OK, lady, you want to be treated as an equal. Great. But you don’t get to hide behind your skirt or your powder puff when you do.
Today, Erick Erickson of Red State cancelled Trumps appearance at RS’s confab. He claims his wife and daughters were there and didn’t want them exposed to Trump. This is the same guy that called retiring Justice Souter a “goat “f**ker” and called Michelle Obama a “Marxist harpy.” Erickson claims to be a conservative. He’s not. He’s an establishment Mitch McConnell Republican. I remember Red State having a booth at the last Texas GOP convention. People who were delegates were lined up at the table wanting to know why they had been banned from posting at Red State when they had not been insulting or profane. Seems that if you disagree with Erick, or one of his authors, you’re banned to Mongolia as far as they are concerned and you will never be able to post on Red State again. And who did Erickson replace Trump with? Megyn Kelly.
Women need to learn that if they want to play rough and tumble with the boys in the sand box, they can’t then whine and cry how they are being picked on when they get sand in their eyes.
@retire05: I agree. I think the objective of the debate was to determine how the candidates would run the country if they were elected. Megan didn’t have that objective at all. Her’s was to try to singlehandedly remove Trump. Didn’t work.
I don’t personally care for Megan Kelly’s politics, but her instincts regarding Trump are totally on target. She knows this guy is going to seriously damage the GOP’s chances in 2016 unless somebody gets him out of the swimming pool before then. Unfortunately he’s like the party guest that won’t leave until someone calls the police. And even then he won’t go quietly. That will just become another part of the Donald Trump Show.
@Greg:
It really tugs at my heart strings that so many Dimocrats are worried about the future of the Republican Party if they don’t get rid of Donald Trump.
I’m sure they would feel much better if a really strong person, like Christie or Bush were the candidates.
Greg, thank you ‘so much’ for your concern.
Trump yesterday:
“I’m using my own money. I’m not using donors. I don’t care. I’m really rich.”
Trump today:
Donald Trump launched an online fundraising campaign
Which one of you can accurately guess what Trump will say tomorrow.
@Nanny G:
Nanny, do you not understand? Trump is saying what a lot of Americans are thinking. That resonates with the general conservative public that thinks that the Boehner/McConnell tag team are just as bad as the Democrats.
I don’t think Trump will make the primaries, but he is getting other candidates to talk about things the GOP has tried to ignore, and have managed to go back on promises about, for years.
Everyone is whining about poor widdle Megyn Kelly and how The Donald is being mean to her. Well, she was the one that wanted to play with the big boys and now she is. The Fox News “debates” were a joke. The “moderators” basically ignored Dr. Carson and Ted Cruz. They tried to get the candidates to go after each others throats (in true Democrat style) and it didn’t work except with the bellicose Christy and Rand Paul. Nothing but “gotcha” questions and very little on the real issues facing this nation after 7 years of the disaster than has been Obama.
People don’t care that Donald Trump called Rosie O’Donnell names after she went after his family. She deserved it. I would have cleaned her clock over what she said had it been my family. They don’t care that he filed bankruptcy or that, like Roger Ailes and George Soros and every other wealthy person in this country, used the tax codes and laws to benefit his company. They care that Kate Steinle was murdered by an illegal who had been deported five time. They care that all the jobs women gain have gone to immigrant women. They care that we have the lowest employment force since Jimmie Carter. They care that we are $18 trillion in debt and rising. They care that our military is being decimated to numbers that even top brass says is dangerous. They care that wages are not keeping up with inflation.
Not what Trump said about Rosie.
@retire05: #13
OK, this is weird.
I am actually in 100% agreement with you. You wrote the comment that I wanted to write.
So what if Trump is a loudmouthed, aggressive pig?
Better than a subdued, milquest, metrosexual.
Trump actually sees, articulates, and proposes solutions to the major problems facing the USA today.
No, he’s not my first choice as candidate.
But I’ll vote for him if he gets the slot.
I won’t vote for him as a third-party candidate, but I won’t vote for any third party candidate.
There’s too much at risk.
But It would be good to have a President who is not afraid to speak his mind.
One thing that Trump isn’t is an appeaser. We’ve got one of those now, we’ve had them before. How’s it going?
Who is not afraid to listen to advisors who know more about a topic than he does.
Who is smart enough to choose advisors who know more than he does.
Who has actually accomplished something, who understands business, and how government affects business.
This nation needs a president who is more than a pretty face and polished voice in front of a teleprompter.
We’ve tried that. How’s it going?
This nation needs a president who has scars on his knuckles… And I’m not too picky about how he got them.
No, Trump is not my first choice. But he is far from my last.
@Nanny G: who cares. If people want him to run, let them donate. That’s the way politics have always been. Why should he spend his money. You can bet Shrillary and Obozo aren’t spending theirs.
@retire05:
Actually I like what Trump said about Rosie, except there are a couple other adjectives that fit very well.
@Petercat:
Me too!
@Petercat:
First, let’s establish this: Rosie O’Donnell IS a pig. She spouts off about other people, and their families no less, and then plays the victim card when someone punches her back.
But you see, Megyn Kelly can pose for GQ and give them sexy pictures to publish and talk about her sex life with Howard Stern but noooooo, no one can say anything about Rupert Murdoch’s pet poodle.
She got in the mud Thursday night and now she’s getting muddy and all the gentlemanly pundits are rushing to her rescue to prove they are not misogynists. Conservatives are so afraid of being called names that they just roll over now and ask the abuser to scratch their bellies.
The debates were terrible. We heard about Trump and Rosie, Trump and bankruptcy, Trump and Jeb!, meanwhile Kelly giggles and carries on like Miss Prom Queen and Wallace shows that he is his father’s son. What did you learn at the debates? That the governor from Ohio was softballed (remember, he worked for Fox), that they ignored Dr. Carson, that it took them 44 minutes to ask Ted Cruz a question, that Jeb! was basically given a pass and that Kelly likes Huckabee (obvious from her interview with him), that Christie is simply a blow hard and Rand Paul has a temper. It was a total waste of time.
@retire05 #18
Nailed it!!
The GOP base loves Trump. He is far up in the polls
What does this say about the base?
Nothing good
Retire 05 is NOT a pig he never spouts off on anyone. Not even Rosie.
: The debates showed the quiet yet intelligent strength of Dr.Carson. Walker acted like he’d rather be somewhere else
Trump may well be a Dem. plant.
@john:
It’s not possible to insult Rosie. If you called her a bloated dyke, that would be a compliment.
@Rich Wheeler: You taking the weekend off from the Gay Pride Events? Runkle must not have been able to find anyone to rip off this weekend.
@Redteam:
There are some debate rules; for the moderators and the candidates.
The moderators should keep their questions quick and to the point. One sentence questions are generally best. Example: Mr. X, in March, 2013 you said you supported Y. Have you changed your opinion and if so, why?” “Mr, C, you said Z was a mistake. How would you have done it and how would you change it?”
So you have history and current stance and reason for any change. Quick, direct and to the point.
Instead, 3 Fox talking heads took up almost 40% of the time with 60% being left for 10 candidates. At best, it should be 20/80.
Then Erick Erickson (publicity hog), after he disinvited Trump and replaced Trump with Kelly, said in his introduction of Jeb! that he “loved the guy” and that when Jeb! was governor, he was the most conservative governor at the time. Erickson was giving his “whoop, whoop, whoop” rallying cry for the Jeb!. Bet that made the other governors at Red State Gathering feel really good about showing up.
Funny that Trump could say all the things he has said about others and that didn’t raise Erickson’s cockles but point out that Kelly was a disaster and bang! Trump’s dumped. Now RedState is purging comments that take Erickson on about his decision. So much for the First Amendment. Little Green Footballs does the same thing and now the guy is down to about 10 readers.
@Redteam: Don’t you get bored pounding away 24/7. I’m working a festival in La Habra then to a concert.
Semper Fi
@retire05: Little Green Footballs is still in existence? I thought they died about 10 years ago. I don’t think I’ve ever been to Red State? are they supposed to be conservative? Apparently they have agendas.
@Rich Wheeler: Funny that whenever I write something you usually respond with 30 minutes. Then I look at my mail at 8 AM and see where you’ve got about 5 comments after I went to bed at 2 AM, so you must be putting some serious time into your commenting.
Between your promoting the Gay Pride stuff and supporting the Fund raising Runkle, it must be hard to find time for commenting. Especially by the time you get through ‘jogging with the guys’.
Is that La Habra thing a gay event, or can straights participate? Don’t forget the rainbow flag.
Retire, you own this commentary, good job.
I don’t necessarily agree with Trump, but he is irritating the infected thorns that have plagued many Americans and made them mad as Hello; without Trump, we would be listening to an endless droning monotones, with worn out cliches and euphemisms, from the other candidates, as they try to rephrase amnesty to make it sound more appealing and inevitable.
@Skookum:
Thanks, Skookum. I appreciate that.
I’m sick of the politically correct Feminazis that don’t like being female, demand to be treated equally with men and then whine and cry when they are. I’m tired of Feminazis demanding that exams for police and fire academies be lessened for them. If they want to be treated equally, they can damn sure go through the same training and take the same exams. Can’t physically hack it? Oh well, so sad. You fail.
Same with the women that think they have the ability to be Special Forces. You want equal treatment, lady, then you really get equal treatment. Now, get your ass back in the freezing water.
You notice that no one is demanding equal treatment for women in the NBA or the NFL. Can’t wait to see the first 4’11”, 90 lb. Asian woman playing for the NFL, can you?
@Skookum: Correct on the amnesty issue. I have said a few times, that if it is up to Bush, Rubio, Lindsay, they would take down what little border fence we have.
@retire05: There are reasons why a fireman must be able to pick up a 180 pound man and run. Apparently women will be excused when they leave their fellow firemen behind, because it was just too much to ask of them.