This opinion piece reads like a parody of the "Trump supporter in a Midwestern Diner" genre. /1 nyti.ms/35IlHfc
Raise your hand if you remember, as does "a local Republican official" quoted in this piece, the days when Republicans viewed Ted Kennedy as a "statesman." /2
The author notes a "backlash" against the Des Moines Register for, toward the end of it's profile of Carson King, mentioning that he had tweeted two racist (not "racially inappropriate," as Leonard calls them), jokes when he was 16. /3
Leonard doesn't say but the implication is that simply by mentioning these offensive "jokes" as part of its profile (which was quite flattered), the DMR acted inappropriately by "trying to bring a good man down." /4
And what is the evidence he adduces that the "loony libs" are out of control? 1) They are pursuing impeachment. 2) On the one hand, they have "no policy. no ideas." On the other hand, the are "Communists out to destroy America." 3) They are "tearing America apart"/5
Leonard admits that many of these claims, though false or incomplete, are circulated and magnified by Fox and the conservative media landscape./6
As Leonard acknowledges, the result is that many such claims--the Democrats have banned religion from the public square, Joe Biden is the "real criminal," liberals "are tearing the country apart"--are echoed without rebuttal. /7
Leonard concludes as he begins, by comparing the unfair treatment of Carson King and Donald Trump, both "targets of a politically correct mob." /8
I read the @DMRegister largely sympathetic profile of Carson King and I don't see how it represents "a pattern of misbehavior by liberals and the media." /9
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@DMRegister Leonard's conclusion is that to many for many of his Republican friends, "Mr. Trump can never be the fall guy. He’ll always be a beleaguered hero on a journey to Make America Great Again. And to many, God is with him." /10
@DMRegister The point is that, in spite of the title, this is not a piece about liberals, loony or otherwise, but about Leonard's characterization of Trump's diehard supporters, whom he characterizes in broad strokes but rarely quotes and never by name. /11
@DMRegister Other than it's characterization of the DMR article (which again reads like a fair-minded, nonideological profile) and impeachment, it discusses no specific actions or policies of liberals and/or Democrats to which the white rural people of Iowa object. /12
@DMRegister Nor does it mention any Republican policy that they like. The implication is that what they like about Trump, whom he acknowledges is hurting rural America with his tariffs and other policies, is that he represents a symbolic politics of white, male, victimization. /13
@DMRegister Leonard doesn't make the argument, made by many others, that the Democrats have gone too far left to win over white, rural voters. Indeed, he doesn't really make an argument at all; he just asserts that Trump will remain popular no matter what among this demographic. /14
@DMRegister Time will tell but I wouldn't be so sure. And if it is the case that nothing will dissuade this group from supporting Trump, what was the point of publishing an article about the supposed missteps of the "loony liberals"? /15
