YANKEE DOODLE DONALD

YANKEE DOODLE DONALD

IN PURSUIT OF THE TRUTH - HTTP://WWW.CINOPSBEGONEBLOSPOT.COM -WED. JULY 10/19

WALL STREET JOURNAL, WED. JULY 10, 2019, OPINION PAGE, YANKEE DOODLE DONALD, MAIN STREET, BY WILLIAM McGURN

Preface:

    It is a breadth of fresh air to read daily if possible the Wall Street Journal. It is one of the few papers in the U.S.A. where honest journalism is not dead. Write on journalist William McGurn.

     "In the classic 1942 film "Yankee Doodle Dandy," an autograph seeker asks song-and-dance man George M. Cohen the secret of his success. "Oh," he responds, "I'm an ordinary guy who knows what ordinary guys like to see."

 

     You could say the same for Donald Trump. Whether it's a parade featuring tanks and military aircraft, bright red "Make America Great Again" hats or fast food at the White House to celebrate college football champs, the President has a knack appealing to ordinary guys. His unembarrassed, over-the-top patriotic displays gives him something in common with Cohan, whose statue still stands over Broadway.

      With this difference: When Trump gives the ordinary guy what he likes, his critics come unglued. Though the president himself offers some prime targets, rather than limit their attacks to these, so often his political foes end up attacking things ordinary people like simply because Mr. Trump likes them too.

    
This dynamic was on display at Washington' July 4 parade as much as the B-2 stealth bomber that soared above. Maybe you have to be a Harvard Law professor to see U.S. Army tanks in the nation's capitol as a "chilling" reminder of Tiananmen Square, as Laurence Tribe tweeted. Or a New York Times editor to believe that the week of July 4 is the perfect time to drop a video op-ed under the title, "Please Stop Telling Me America Is Great."

     It's no surprise when celebrities like Bette Midler and Rob Reiner issue silly statements. But it's it's amazing to see the same from Democratic presidential candidates, whose success come November 2020 will depend on winning back some of those who voted twice for Barack Obama but went for Mr. Trump in 2016.

  
  Now Democrats have even made Betsy Ross an issue. Right before the Fourth, Nike pulled a new line of sneakers featuring the Ross flag after former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, a Nike brand ambassador, told the company he thought it offensive and connected to an era of slavery. In reaction, presidential aspirant Julian Castro said he was "glad" Nike pulled the sneaker, and went on to liken the original stars and stripes to the confederate battle flag....

     One wonders how may Democrats will be grateful for the conversation if, during the debate, a moderator asks for a show of hands for all those who finds Betsy Ross's flag offensive. Meanwhile, other Democrats accused the president of politicizing the parade and making it all about himself - when they were the ones who made the parade all about Mr. Trump and politics.

    
Even Joe Biden who prides himself on his ordinary guy credentials, used his own July 4 speech in Iowa to denounce the Washington parade as "an event designed more to stroke [President Trump's] ego than celebrate American ideals. Imagine how much stronger Mr. Biden would be today if he had opted for a grace not. Something along the line of, "July 4 isn't a day for politics. I wish everyone in Washington a wonderful Independence Day parade, and God bless our men and women in uniform."         This is the Achilles' heel of today's American Liberalism - the barely disguised sense of superiority not only toward the President but toward any who support him. Hillary Clinton gave voice to this disdain when she dismissed half of Mr. Trump's supporters as not only "deplorable" but "irredeemable" as well.

  
  It is the same sentiment that presumed a group of high school boys from Covington, Ky., racist simply because they were wearing MAGA hats. And because the American people are benefiting from a booming economy, for some it also means rooting for a recession even if it hurts people, as comedian Bill Maher has said.

    Since those first Democratic debates June 26-27, much of the focus has been on policy proposals such as eliminating private insurance or extending Medicare to all those who are in the U.S. Illegally. Some wisely question whether this agenda will excite voters in the battleground states Democrats need if the party is to retake the White House....       George H. Kubeck