New Republic senior editor Brian Beutler has high praise for criticisms made by Donald Trump. Beutler claims Trump's criticisms are effective because they are true or at least contain a kernel of truth. Of course, Beutler feels free to lavish praise upon Trump because all of the targets he lists are Republicans. He very conveniently skips what Trump has said about Democrats.
First let us watch Beutler enjoy himself as he catalogs Trump's critiques of Republicans and only Republicans:
Part of what makes Trump's insults so sticky, though, is that they are true—or at least contain a kernel of truth, intended or otherwise.
If these insults were plainly false, Trump would look (more) ridiculous. But examine them closely, and it becomes clear that Trump grasps his opponents’ weaknesses and insecurities much better than they grasp his.
Beutler goes on to chuckle over Trump's charges of low energy in Jeb Bush and Ben Carson:
Consider the most famous Trump insult, which he leveled (repeatedly) at Bush and has since directed at Ben Carson: Both men, he says, are too “low energy” to be president. Bush and Carson responded in different ways, but with the same basic message—“I am NOT low energy!”—that you’d expect to hear from someone correctly accused of being low energy. This compounds the problem, but it’s only a problem in the first place because both Bush and Carson are actually subdued in manner, which gives the original claim real resonance.
Beutler's chuckling continues over what Trump has said about Lindsey Graham:
"What a stiff, what a stiff, Lindsey Graham,” Trump said at a July event in Graham’s home state of South Carolina. “By the way he has registered zero in the polls.”
His mirth continues over the plight of Rick Perry:
Trump’s first and most vocal critic, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, has already exited the race. He stood no chance against Trump’s rejoinder which, though unsubtle, tapped into something a lot of people already believed about Perry.
"He's doing very poorly in the polls,” Trump said. “He put on glasses so people will think he's smart. And it just doesn't work! You know people can see through the glasses.
Yes, laugh away, Brian, but will your joy continue if Trump's criticisms of Democrats are listed? Here is what Trump has said about various Democrats. Are his criticisms also effective because they are true or does that only apply to Republicans?
Look at the deal we have with Iran... Did you ever see a deal take so long? The deal has been going on forever. They had our prisoners. We never asked for our prisoners. How about that? Having a deal is good. But we should have doubled and tripled up the sanction and negotiated from strength. We should have done it so easily. Instead, we have Kerry that goes on bicycle races. He's in a bicycle race, he's 73 years old. 73 years old! And I said it the last time I spoke. I swear to you I will never enter a bicycle race if I'm president. I swear. I swear! He's in a bicycle race. He falls and breaks his leg. This is our chief negotiator. He's walking in and they're looking at him thinking what a schmuck.
Did the truth of that Trump criticism make you laugh, Brian? There's a lot more where that came from although you might not like being reminded about them.
Caroline Kennedy, I have seen "60 Minutes". She goes in, she says to the White House, oh, I would love a job. Would you like to be Ambassador to Japan? Really, wow. She's like a negotiator for us in Japan. It's ridiculous. Japan is doing a number on us with the yen. You know, they just devalued the yen yet again.
Bernie Sanders (meekly giving up the stage to protesters):
I would never give up my microphone. I thought that was disgusting. That showed such weakness.
Martin O'Malley (apologizing to BLM protesters):
I thought when O'Malley made the statement that black lives matter, then he said white lives matter, all lives matter. And then he apologized like a little baby, like a disgusting little weak pathetic baby. And that's the problem with our country... How can you apologize when you say black lives matter, which is true. White lives matter, which is true. All lives matter, which is true. What is there to apologize for?
Hillary Clinton was the worst Secretary of State in the history of the United States. There's never been a Secretary of State so bad as Hillary. The world blew up around us. We lost everything, including all relationships. There wasn't one good thing that came out of that administration or her being Secretary of State.
So Brian, were these criticisms by Trump also effective because of their truthiness or does your analysis only apply to Republicans being criticized?
