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Fareed Zakaria provided a very cogent analysis of the rise of Donald Trump, Trumpism. He was not kind to the GOP’s role in his rise. His take is a bit different than Lawrence O’Donnell’s take who pretty much blamed us all.
Zakaria points out the similarities between the Republican Party’s reluctance to confront Donald Trump when it would have mattered.
“A main cause of the rise of extremism in the world of Islam has been the cowardice of Muslim moderates who for decades chose not to condemn bad ideas and ugly rhetoric,” said Fareed Zakaria. “Fearing that they’d be seen simply as ideological weaklings, they avoided confronting the cancer in plain sight. It is now clear that a similar dynamic has been at play in the world of conservatism.”
Zakaria points out that even as Donald Trump was one of the fathers of birtherism, Mitt Romney effectively made Donald Trump a mainstream character by seeking his endorsement. He pointed out that Donald Trump effectively used the talking points and vile attacks Newt Gingrich suggested that Republicans use against Democrats. Of course, Donald Trump has perfected them in his attacks of both Democrats and Republicans.
Here is the most prescient statement Zakaria made. It encapsulates the entire Donald Trump rise.
“Here’s a much simpler explanation for Donald Trump,” said Fareed Zakaria. “Republicans have fed the country ideas about decline, betrayal, and treason. They have encouraged the forces of anti-intellectualism, obstructionism and populism. They have flirted with bigotry and racism. Trump merely chose to unashamedly embrace all of it, saying plainly what they were hinting at for years. In doing so, he hit the jackpot. The problem is not that Republican leaders should have begun to condemn Trump last year. It is that they should have condemned the ideas and tactics that led to his rise when they began to flourish in the last century.”
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