Rich Lowry embraces Trump's unpatriotic idiocy (NFL protests)

Standing athwart idiocracy screaming Bring It On, Rich Lowry of National Review blogs "Why Donald Trump Is President" [1]:

Regarding Trump's fire-the-NFL-protesters line last night that Teddy noted, it is a classic example of Trump's, at times, gut-level political savvy. This kind of thing is why he's president. He takes a commonly held sentiment - most people don't like the NFL protests - and states it in an inflammatory way guaranteed to get everyone's attention and generate outrage among his critics. When those critics lash back at him, Trump is put in the position of getting attacked for a fairly commonsensical view. Of course, NFL owners firing players on the spot for protesting isn't necessarily common sense, but this is where “seriously, not literally” comes in. Since everyone knows that owners aren't going to do this, Trump's statement registers for his supporters merely as forceful opposition to the protests, not as a specific plan of action. His advocacy for a Mexico-funded border wall and for the Muslim ban played in a roughly similar way (although The Wall was taken more literally, hence Trump's exertions to make a colorable case that it is being built). Finally, when Trump is criticized and doesn't back down it is taken by his supporters as a sign of strength. If a political consultant came up with this strategy, he'd deserve a huge raise. But it's just Trump himself operating on instinct.

1. Comments on the post like "It took Lowry long enough, but he finally gets it" seem to indicate that this is a relatively new development.

2. However, the market for Trump's a Super Secret Genius Playing 12th Dimensional Chess seems to have already been cornered by Scott Adams and his ilk. They struggle to present every idiotic, unpatriotic, deranged thing Trump says and does as part of a secret plan that only some can understand. Now, Lowry has joined in.

3. It's probably true that most or at least many oppose the NFL protests. However, Trump - following the general rightwing entertainment model - simply glommed onto the issue for his own purposes. He has a beef with the NFL over the USFL, and he wants to play to his crowd. He didn't raise the issue because he wants to oppose Black Lives Matter or the NFL protests. To Trump it's always about Trump, and Lowry is enabling that.

4. The plans Lowry lists aren't just "serious, not literally" plans. While it's certainly welcome that Lowry admits Trump tries to deceive people, when it comes to his plans he's telling the truth. Trump's Muslim ban, the travel bans, Trump Wall, etc. etc. are all real plans Trump thought up on his own. It's not like he replaced the idiotic bans with smart implementations after the election: he just tried to implement his original idiotic ideas and couldn't do it. Rudy Giuliani's statement that Trump wanted a legal way to implement a Muslim ban are partial proof of that, as is Trump seeking $1.6 billion to build a wall. If Trump had the dictatorial powers that he and his base crave, we'd already have begun construction on a concrete wall, and there would be a religious test to enter the U.S.

5. BLM has incredibly high favorables. That's shocking, considering BLM are extremists and they've inspired several murders. However, it shouldn't be surprising since their loudest opponents are conservatives and are thus intensely incompetent and corrupt. Rather than seeking to marginalize BLM, Trump has helped marginalize the opposition to them. Trump has made opposing BLM and the NFL protests a "Trump thing". Trump lacks the patriotism to make it an American thing. He's tarnished the opposition to BLM and the protests just as he's tarnished the opposition to illegal immigration. He's made it more difficult for those outside the Bretibart News sphere to oppose BLM and those protests.

-------
[1] nationalreview · com/corner/451667/trump-nfl-protest-comments-example-why-hes-president
(Note: hyped by, naturally, Glenn Reynolds: p j m e d i a · com / instapundit / 276374