S.E. Cupp Thinks Trump’s Support Comes From GOP Moderates & the Left
S.E. Cupp has had a unique calling among her peers in conservative punditry for a number of years now. She is a public atheist who has penned a book decrying the “liberal media’s attack on Christianity” and earns her TV money on MSNBC and CNN, not Fox.
Late last week, Cupp wrote a column for Townhall (still being picked up by newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune today) which might be the most idiotic thing written about the Trump phenomenon yet.
Understanding the Trump voter is tricky, mostly because Trump is a relatively new phenomenon in presidential politics, and without a political record it’s difficult to measure where his support is coming from.
But I’m pretty sure I know where it’s not coming from: the conservative base.
Even in an opinion piece, qualifying a thesis with “pretty sure” seems dodgy.
Today’s prototypical conservative base voters are infamously principled.
Yes, a quick look at the comments section at Fox Nation, Red State or any number of other sites where conservative base voters hang out would indeed demonstrate some infamous types of principles: racism, misogyny and scurrilousness to name but a few. That sure sounds like Trump to me!
Their views are hardened, their heels dug in. They are armed with all kinds of litmus tests and purity tests to make sure the “fake” conservatives are weeded out from the good ones, often to the chagrin of the party.
The idea that in 2016 these voters would simply turn off their hardwired orthodoxy and support a guy who has voted for Democrats, said “the economy does better under the Democrats,” refused to pledge to support the Republican nominee if it’s not him, openly defended Planned Parenthood, approved of exceptions to abortion bans, supported a single-payer healthcare system, backed an assault weapons ban and advocated a one-time 14.25 percent mega-tax on the wealthy to erase the national debt is, to put it in Trumpian language, really, really stupid.
Could it be that the conservative base places a lot more value on unvarnished Mexican bashing than the history of the man who fed them this red meat? Could it also be that hyper-partisans are unnaturally attracted to assholes? See the rise of Newt Gingrich four years ago, and the entire career of Glenn Greenwald as examples.
So who is the Trump supporter, if not the conservative base? I’d argue it’s mostly disaffected moderates who no longer strictly identify with either party. They think the political system is rigged. They think politicians are corrupt. They want a total collapse of the ruling political class.
This theorem seems at odds with the fact that Trump leads polls that are done among self-described Republicans. Last week’s PPP poll that had Trump atop the field in Iowa is based of surveys of “619 usual Republican primary voters”.
While Trump probably gets more support from the right, running as a Republican, he attracts from the left as well.
Probably? Probably?!? Ok, well now we are in store for some real evidence of all of the leftist love for Trump:
Two of his most ardent supporters, a pair of African-American sisters from North Carolina named Lynette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson are leading a “Stump for Trump” movement and appeared on CNN to talk him up. According to their website, they are Democrats.
Um…ok. I think this is what is known as anecdotal evidence. SURELY there is more where that came from, right?
A popular Reddit thread that’s generated nearly 13,000 comments so far asked Trump supporters to explain why they liked him. A surprising number of Democrats weighed in.
In summary, S.E. Cupp supports her theory that Trump has significant support on the left with two sisters on CNN and a Reddit thread, and the Chicago Tribune published it!
One could almost feel sorry for the GOP’s army of talking heads when it comes to their task of talking Trump. I say almost because many of these same talking heads, absolutely including Cupp, played a role in fomenting the type of insanity on the right that has lead to the ascent of The Donald.
Who Are Trump’s Supporters? Not Who You Think - townhall.com