{"id":312,"date":"2016-05-11T18:56:30","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T18:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pascaleditions.com\/peterthomassimon\/?p=312"},"modified":"2016-05-12T20:17:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T20:17:00","slug":"trump-sanders-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pascaleditions.com\/peterthomassimon\/trump-sanders-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Thinking Outside The Vice Presidential Box"},"content":{"rendered":"

Someone asked me the other day who I thought would be a good Vice Presidential choice for Trump. Monica Lewinsky sprang immediately to mind, but one can’t expect even this campaign to be that<\/em> amusing. There are, of course, any number of potential candidates, and pundits are typing fast and loose and applying the usual flaccid, pass\u00e9 criteria —\u00a0this<\/em> candidate will deliver his state! (Really? \u00a0Rubio couldn’t even deliver his home state of Florida.) That<\/em> candidate needs to be black, Hispanic or female (preferably all three) because as we all know, blacks, Hispanics and females invariably<\/em> vote for the person on the Number Two spot on the ticket. \u00a0(In actual practice, Carly Fiorina’s selection only hastened\u00a0the Cruz crash, just as the first female VP pick, Geraldine Ferraro, did little but follow Walter Mondale down to avalanche defeat.)<\/p>\n

We repeat these commonplaces because they are<\/em> commonplace. It spares us the effort and potential mockery involved in unconventional thinking. We ignore the commonplace results, and the fact that\u00a0all this conventional wisdom is being directed to one of the most unconventional and unpredictable candidates ever fielded. When it comes to Trump, guesswork is futile. \u00a0 No one knows who Trump will pick, and that probably includes Trump.<\/p>\n

Yet\u00a0Trump will<\/em> have to make a choice, and his choices are strangely constrained. Since every — and I mean literally every<\/em> — last Republican known has vilified Trump since Day One, he’s\u00a0not likely to reward an Establishment cutthroat with the nod.\u00a0 The establishment Democrats have been no less supportive and complimentary, so he’s even less unlikely to reach outside the party. \u00a0Will he range outside of the political box entirely, and turn to business associates whom he knows and likes and are competent? \u00a0That seems not unreasonable. \u00a0But it’s not likely Trump will pull out truly stellar corporate performers already thriving in place. Why\u00a0remove competent people from profit-generating business positions just to send them to foreign funerals for the next four to eight years?<\/p>\n

Conventional wisdom says Trump must make peace with the Beltway, and therefore musts need pick a stodgy Beltway figure — Newt Gingrich, say — so as to cement his tenuous bonds with the wounded elite. He well may. \u00a0But he certainly has no need to. \u00a0He’s demonstrated that he can win in the teeth of Republican establishment opposition. \u00a0In fact, shunning the establishment arguably\u00a0raises<\/em> his vote count.<\/p>\n

Besides this, hatred of Trump is so visceral among the elites that it would be poor life insurance indeed to pick an elite-friendly replacement. \u00a0Should Trump paired\u00a0with a Rubio, say, the odds rise astronomically on early impeachment hearings, as Republicans and Democrats join hands across the aisles to insert the Donor Party favorite. \u00a0Granted, this is better than the lock-and-load Mannlicher-Carcano alternative<\/a> kicked around by Ross Douthat and other<\/a> luminaries.<\/p>\n

One guiding criteria for Trump, therefore, is to pick someone at least as repellent to the establishment as himself.<\/p>\n

Yet what\u00a0figure is as revolting to the Republican Establishment as Trump? \u00a0To the Kochs and George Will. even Hillary<\/em>\u00a0is preferable, and who repels the Beltway even more Hillary? \u00a0David Duke? \u00a0One doesn’t really see The Donald introducing The David to his Jewish grandchildren.\u00a0Jesse “The Body” Ventura? \u00a0(There is<\/em> that wrestling connection link. \u00a0But Trump tends to prefer to keep the limelight on himself; he’s not likely to pick anymore more flamboyant.)<\/p>\n

Ann Coulter’s name has been mentioned, to suitable revulsion, and immediately laughed off. \u00a0I find her a stronger pick than she appears at first glance. She is female, and while that doesn’t guarantee the female vote, it might bring in more of the somewhat reluctant female Republican vote. \u00a0She is \u00a0fierce in televised debate. \u00a0One can easily see her making short work live of Julian Castro or any other conventional timeserver Hillary is sure to serve up. \u00a0Photogenic and telegenic, Coulter would eclipse her blander Democratic opposite number as surely as Trump overshadowed the likes of Pataki. \u00a0Trump has publicly acknowledged the impact of her book, Adios America<\/a>, on his thinking. \u00a0She has the prose style, the research chops, and the extensive familiarity with the political scene that Trump lacks, all packaged in an uber-Trumpista<\/em> aggressiveness that certainly resonates with the leader of the ticket.\u00a0 And who\u00a0would ever shoot Trump knowing that Ann Coulter<\/em> would be picking up the imperial standard?<\/p>\n

Sadly, Ann\u00a0is reported to be writing a hagiography of the presumptive Republican nominee at the moment. Trump, thinking of The Ages rather than the short term, may not wish to interrupt her portraiture. \u00a0I would not put Ann out of the running, however. \u00a0Like Trump, she seems an impossibility at first glance, but upon second, third and seventh glances, she becomes stronger and stronger.<\/p>\n

Trump is so unconventional he may surprise us all and do something conventional. \u00a0So we should not dismiss the possibility of a Chris Christie, say; having touched pitch by endorsing The Donald early on, he has gained the green laurels of Establishment detestation. \u00a0(Remember the multiple<\/em> articles in the\u00a0Times<\/em> articles screeching “Your Career Is Over!” after his conversion?). \u00a0But I suspect that none of Trump’s vanquished opponents are likely to get the pick, even the converts. \u00a0(After all — they’re losers.<\/em>) \u00a0Jeff Sessions? \u00a0 An attractive possibility, since he seems the one figure in the Senate in strong tune with Trump’s views on immigration. \u00a0But precisely because he is, Trump may want to keep him in place. \u00a0Trump will need sympathizers in the House and Senate once the Democrats get the impeachment engines going.<\/p>\n

But that leaves one out-of-the-box candidate for Trump Vice-President who is completely overlooked. \u00a0And who would fit the bill to perfection.<\/p>\n

Consider. Of all the political figures out there, there really is only one that’s been anti-immigration even before Trump. Only one candidate that’s been consistently and effectively critical of Hillary Clinton, that has criticized our involvements in foreign wars and called for protectionist trade policies, that is as outside the Establishments as The Donald, and that could pull over a good deal of Democratic votes — Bernie Sanders.\u00a0If I thought Trump had outright\u00a0genius<\/em>, that is who I suspect he would pick. \u00a0For Trump-Sanders 2016 is the one truly unstoppable ticket.<\/p>\n

The numbers\u00a0speaks for themselves. Sanders alone has nearly beaten Hillary. \u00a0Almost half of all Democrats voting in the primaries have Felt The Bern. It\u2019s fair to say that even many an outright Clinton supporter secretly prefer Sanders, but is resignedly going along with the presumed winner. \u00a0God knows there is no reluctant resignation among the Sanders bloc. Their<\/em> loyalty borders on the obsessive. As Trump Veep, Sanders would not pull the full<\/em> half of Democrat supporters his way, maybe not even a quarter. But he would bring enough of them into the Trump camp to pull Hillary down in a landslide.<\/p>\n

Of course it would also outrage principled Beltway\u00a0intellectuals to the point of frenzy, but that is a Trump trademark, and the likes of George Wills have pledged his troth to Hillary already. \u00a0So what of it? As the\u00a0National Review<\/em>\u00a0assault on Trump shows, they don’t deliver any votes anyway. \u00a0Will principled Conservative pundit retch? Or rather, retch further? \u00a0Who cares? \u00a0The nomination is in the bag, and the masses clearly cares less whether National Review<\/em> places the Cuck Seal of Approval on Sanders\u2019 forehead or anyone else’s.<\/p>\n

In this the voters are wiser than the pundits. \u00a0There is no ideological conflict between contenders if one has no ideology. \u00a0The wisdom of the electoral crowd knows in its bones that there is nothing particularly conservative about Trump. \u00a0Journalists assume the evil populist right that supports Trump is opposed to a noble populist left that supports Sanders.\u00a0 But there is no such opposition, except at the cultural edges. \u00a0They overlap. \u00a0As even\u00a0CNN polls\u00a0show, many such voters are\u00a0torn\u00a0between<\/em> Trump and Sanders.\u00a0 The anti-immigration stance, the protectionism, the outsider status, the anti-establishment rhetoric, the save-the-social-programs and save-the-factories oratory, even the overwhelmingly high white demographic support for both old white males, and the relative indifference from minority voters, are common to both candidates, who have almost mirror-image commonalities and positions.<\/p>\n

Mark Twain once observed that History does not repeat itself, “but it does rhyme.” \u00a0Trump and Sanders rhyme.<\/em> \u00a0They harmonize in even their\u00a0secularism — except that, as a Jew, Sanders might even get\u00a0more\u00a0right-wing\u00a0evangelical support than Trump, since fundies adore Jews on the crackpot theory that they’re a key element in bringing on the Apocalypse.<\/p>\n

The union of the popular favorites would — after the initial shock — take it all.<\/p>\n

But would Bernie agree? That’s the question. \u00a0Trump, as we all know, is capable of anything, but Sanders\u2019 legendary integrity and consistency would seem to preclude a hop on the Trump Train.<\/p>\n

One shouldn’t make assumptions, however.\u00a0 Hillary, severely challenged by poor primary showings, ever under the cold eye of FBI prosecution, still losing primaries on the very eve of the convention, will assuredly deploy every dirty trick she knows to deny Sanders the nomination in the teeth of his swelling popular support. \u00a0A righteous and justly incensed Sanders may reason — correctly — that Trump is a much better option for bringing the whole rotten system irreparably down. \u00a0A far better option than supporting Hillary Clinton, war hawk and Goldman-Sachs marionette, the Establishment incarnate.<\/p>\n

In terms of personal\u00a0compatibility, Trump and Sanders may be no consummation devoutly to be wished.\u00a0 But politics is hardball.\u00a0 Sanders can pull votes away from Hillary, for which gift alone Trump has suggested Bernie run independently. Why not add<\/em> those votes to Trump\u2019s total, instead of merely reducing Hillary\u2019s? Surely Bernie is preferable to Cruz or Rubio or Jeb, who have been twisting their shivs into The Donald from the day he announced, and who pulled votes in the single digits among the masses. Sure, Bernie has called The Donald names; Trump calls Bernie names too.\u00a0 So what? Trump calls everyone names, and vice versa.\u00a0 He’s called Hillary worse, and contributed $100,000 to her 2008 campaign.<\/p>\n

How might Trump present the offer to Bernie, and in what light could Bernie reframe it to himself? \u00a0How about that Trump, administratively, is a delegator, not an executor: \u00a0a business person who sets the priorities, but employs\u00a0other people do the actual building and delivery. Bernie has a Senatorial feel for such nuts and bolts activity, for actually crafting legislation \u2014 he could view himself as a humane Cheney, fostering needed tight policies on an less than coherent Big Picture chief executive; he could look at the ideological void that is Trump and fill the conceptual darkness with socialist light; he might feel that as Vice President, he could hold back The Donald’s wilder excesses, even educate him: \u00a0for if the Conservative screams are correct and Trump is at heart a closet liberal, would Trump not benefit by having someone at his elbow showing him the genuine left at its most rathional and its finest? \u00a0And if saying “Yes” meant keeping a Rapture-ready Vice President Ted Cruz more than a heartbeat away from The Bomb, Sanders might come to see accepting the post as his moral duty.<\/p>\n

And sentiment aside: \u00a0if Sanders holds office, he holds power, and has a direct path of holding much much more.\u00a0 Very few politicians turn down power.\u00a0 It\u2019s the essence of the job description.<\/p>\n

Mind you, I don’t say this will come about.\u00a0 Sadly, I expect it will not. \u00a0Conventional and reasonable candidates and rationales are surely being pushed on Trump like manacles even as we speak.\u00a0But since when does Trump do “conventional” and “reasonable”?\u00a0 He favors decisions that make Establishment figures and the intellectual classes shriek and crap their pants.\u00a0 This<\/em> decision would leave Hillary gibbering, the Establishments flummoxed, and make Trump the lead story for weeks.\u00a0 I can see him smile as he\u00a0considers it.<\/p>\n

But — from a larger perspective — the meaning of Sanders and Trump is larger than Sanders and Trump. \u00a0In politics as in all else, causality rules.\u00a0 Their parallel rise and their evident similarities stem from\u00a0deeper historical currents and forces lifting them up. Hillary’s poor showing against the then-outsider Obama predicted her weak showing against the current outsider, Sanders. But beyond such practical indicators, the larger the spectre haunting\u00a0these elections is Europe. The evident success of the Western European economies and of Scandinavian socialism made it inevitable that even American politicians, like Sanders, would take up these tested and successful political paths and their promise; and the palpable horrors of the ongoing European immigration crises and Scandinavian multiculturalism as the continent lurches into riot made it inevitable that\u00a0politicians elsewhere, like Trump, would shun\u00a0the multicultural and embrace new isolationisms.<\/p>\n

Factors\u00a0like these aren’t the only driving causes, obviously, nor are all of the factors visible. But factors like these are certainly among those driving the election, and such drivers do more than merely exist. \u00a0They evolve. \u00a0Trump wishes\u00a0to change America, but without a consistent ideology, his changes are likely to consist of little more that replacing one flamboyant leader with another, and perhaps turning a limping economy into a stronger and more self-sufficient one. \u00a0 Sanders is proposing changes very much in line with Trump, but more deeply thought out, more enduring, structural.<\/em> \u00a0Like Trump, Sanders is saying the unsayable, but whereas Trump is merely saying the culturally<\/em> unsayable through boorishness, Sanders is saying the ideologically<\/em> unsayable, and making it a part of acceptable public discourse.\u00a0 He is putting socialism, the notion of an intelligently planned<\/em> economy, \u00a0on the table for the first time since the Wilson era. Capitalist-owned media of course shy away from that<\/em> story, preferring to distract the rubes with Hitler memes and transgender toiletry issues.<\/p>\n

But the important thing to notice is not that, nor even Trump’s numbers, but the fact that what Sanders has done and continues to do \u00a0is not only (as Trump would say) “huge,” but arguably an extension and completion of driving Trumpian tendencies of which\u00a0even Trump is unaware. \u00a0In the long run their strange harmony, whether cemented or not by a Vice Presidential choice, may be the emerging political trend of our time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Someone asked me the other day who I thought would be a good Vice Presidential choice for Trump. Monica Lewinsky sprang immediately to mind, but one can’t expect even this campaign to be that amusing. 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Monica Lewinsky sprang immediately to mind, but one can’t expect even this campaign to be that amusing. 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