The casual insults and gross smears of conservatives come so easily on CNN. On Tuesday's Newsroom, host John King discussed with Princeton Professor Julian Zelizer how President Trump and current protest movements fit into the idea that politics is like a pendulum. According to King, President Trump could be compared to the former segregationist George Wallace: "This president sometimes sounds like a Wallace or Nixon in his rhetoric."
Zelizer had been talking about Monday's Supreme Court ruling and it they showed "certain progressive impulses." That coupled with the "movement that is also pushing the issue of institutional racism to the forefront of public discussion" indicated to Zelizer that "this is not an aberration that we might be moving into a different kind of political period than we have lived through since the Reagan presidency."
King then brought up George Wallace, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan, and wondered if that those three could be considered reactions against progressivism, because according to him, "This president sometimes sounds like a Wallace or Nixon in his rhetoric." He then wondered "Is what we are seeing on the streets a reaction to him?"
King did not provide any evidence that Trump sounds like a segregationist beyond simply asserting it. Nor is it fair to tie Reagan's small government conservatism in with Wallace's racism.
For his part, Zelizer slightly disagreed, arguing that the Black Lives Matter movement started before Trump was president, "but at the same time, having President Trump in office and having the kind of politics that he stands for in Washington certainly accelerated the movement." He argued, "the pandemic exposed a lot of the flaws in American society such as the inequality that we have now lived with for a long time. All of this comes together through a video that simply of George Floyd's horrendous murder that simply exploded the moment."
Here is a transcript for the June 16 show:
CNN
CNN Newsroom
11:53 AM ET
JULIAN ZELIZER: Well, look. It's a question mark, but there are certain progressive impulses that are clearly there. The Supreme Court ruling is a result of decades of work bill the gay rights movement since the 1960s which culminates in political leaders and justices changing their opinion of what the status quo is. Now we are seeing a movement that is also pushing the issue of institutional racism to the forefront of public discussion. Neither of these are drawing small support. They have a lot of support in the population which indicates to me that this is not an aberration, that we might be moving into a different kind of political period than we have lived through since the Reagan presidency.
JOHN KING: And you have, I know you write about this, the swinging of the pendulum in history, if you will, the progressive movements and sometimes you get a backlash whether that’s Wallace, whether that’s Nixon, whether that’s Reagan. This president sometimes sounds like a Wallace or Nixon in his rhetoric. Is what we are seeing on the streets a reaction to him? Or is it a bigger moment and what -- we don't know what the reaction to it will be. Is that fair?
ZELIZER: I think it's a bigger moment. I think a lot of the issues on the streets have been brewing a long time. Certainly the Black Lives Matter movement started before Trump was president and these questions really have been on the table for decades, not just a few years. But at the same time, having President Trump in office and having the kind of politics that he stands for in Washington certainly accelerated the movement that has been forming and, at the same time, the pandemic exposed a lot of the flaws in American society such as the inequality that we have now lived with for a long time. All of this comes together through a video that simply of George Floyd's horrendous murder that simply exploded the moment.
