The GOP Establishment’s X-Rated Meltdown over Trump

Originally posted at Diana West’s blog:

The derangement over Donald Trump and his supporters is nowhere more evident than in the rank, rancorous reactions by anti-Trump journalists, pundits and political strategists on the Right. It’s one thing for the Washington Post to run pictures of Trump grimacing under the headline, “Trump Runs for the Spite House,” etc., but the intensity — the crudity — of the voices of brand-name conservatism is nowhere exceeded.

Cindy Simpson has collected a recent sample of the visceral, even pornographically-themed hostility to Trump and his supporters erupting amid the punditry on the Right. Even when some of these wordsmiths reach for the bon mot, it comes out graffiti. Simpson sees the trend as off-putting not only to Trump supporters but also to those seeking a “Big Tent” more generally. After reading through Simpson’s collection and also finding that fetidly fresh examples abound, I agree. After all, who in their right mind would want to get inside a shrinking tent with these smut-talking men?

As I find from Simpson’s piece, arguments, conversations, too often begin with name-calling — Trump supporters are, in the (maybe humorous?) tweet of a leading NR writer/author, “mouth breathing anti-Semites and white nationalists” (Jonah Goldberg). Another NR correspondent writes in a column that Trump supporters are “engaged in the political version of masturbation: sterile, fruitless self-indulgence” (Kevin Williamson). Tweeted approval from a Commentary editor ping-pongs back: “Man. This piece. @KevinNR grabs Trump supporters by the… well, you know” (Noah Rothman).

Welcome to the metaphorical gutter of anti-Trump/supporter debate and journalism, where “vomit” and “rape-lovers” also pass as terms of political repartee (Commentary editor John Podhoretz). Seriously. “Trump’s Immigration Plan Is Hardcore Porn for Nativists” is the headline of an essay today by David Harsanyi at The Federalist.

Read the rest of the story at dianawest.net.