Since Democrats belong to the party of government, it stands to reason that their presidential candidates actually want to be president -- including Bernie Sanders, who’s a Democrat only for the sake of convenience. Republican candidates? Not necessarily. Some of them, according to writer Sean Illing, are “half-baked celebrities allowed to hijack the process to promote their private careers.” Case in point: Donald Trump.
In a Tuesday piece for Salon, Illing argued that Democrats would benefit from “embrac[ing] the juxtaposition of Trump and Sanders.” For one thing, Trump “doesn’t have any ideas at all,” while Sanders “has real ideas.” For another, the contrast illuminates “how little respect the GOP has for the political process.”
“It says something significant about the Republican Party that there’s space for someone like Trump or Sarah Palin or even Herman Cain in it. These people aren’t credible candidates; they’re product-pushing brands,” wrote Illing. “Trump’s circus act isn’t possible in the Democratic Party…Only in the Republican Party do unserious candidates emerge as contenders…Only among conservative Republicans are hucksters like Trump embraced.”
From Illing’s article (bolding added):
The media cannot help comparing Donald Trump to Bernie Sanders…Both are challenging their party’s establishment choices. And both are drawing massive crowds while surging in national polls.
The left (understandably) cringes at such comparisons. Bernie Sanders, whatever you think of him…[has] been a public servant since 1981…
Donald Trump, on the other hand, is a clown…More important, he’s not actually running for president…Trump is campaigning because he can, because it bolsters his brand, and because people are dumb enough to listen to him talk about things he doesn’t understand...
…Democrats ought to embrace the juxtaposition of Trump and Sanders…Trump is a near-perfect distillation of the modern American right: The bravado, the bigotry, the raging idiocy, the false confidence, and the lack of ideas – it’s all there…
It’s not simply that Trump has bad ideas; it’s that he doesn’t have any ideas at all…
Bernie Sanders may well represent the “extreme” left of the Democratic Party, but he has real ideas [and] is proposing solutions. Conservatives may not like those solutions, but they at least have to be reckoned with…
To the extent that Trump and Sanders reflect the views of the right and left wings of their parties, they vividly clarify just how different the two parties are. It says something significant about the Republican Party that there’s space for someone like Trump or Sarah Palin or even Herman Cain in it. These people aren’t credible candidates; they’re product-pushing brands looking to capitalize on conservative credulity. I don’t believe the same can be said of Democratic candidates, no matter how wrong-headed you find their policy ideas…
…Trump’s circus act isn’t possible in the Democratic Party. There are no celebrity candidates on the left – and certainly none capable of polling at the level Trump does. Democrats have had their share of bad candidates over the years, but they’re bad for different (and less offensive) reasons than GOP candidates. They’re bad for reasons related to their ideas or campaign platform or something politically relevant.
Only in the Republican Party do unserious candidates emerge as contenders. Only in the Republican Party are half-baked celebrities allowed to hijack the process to promote their private careers. Only among conservative Republicans are hucksters like Trump embraced…
The Republican Party [has] cultivated the idiocy [Trump] represents…If Trump appeals to their base – and he obviously does – that tells you everything you need to know about who they are and what they stand for.
It also tells you how little respect the GOP has for the political process. There ought to be no place for Trump at this level of politics – in either party. But there is, and it’s telling that it’s permitted only in one party.
