Focused Read in 3-4 minutes
"The historical roots of
Trump's favorite phrases
From "Mission
Accomplished," to "America First," President Trump has
a habit of revamping memorable phrases from history.
... Here are some of the
phrases Mr. Trump has used, and the history behind them.
"Mission
Accomplished"
Mr. Trump's tweet
Saturday, in which he declared the overnight strikes in Syria a
success, reminded many of Bush's use of the phrase in 2003.
In May that year, Bush
said from the USS Abraham Lincoln that major combat operations in
Iraq had ended. With a "Mission Accomplished" banner behind
him — a banner he later blamed on the Navy and not his own staff —
he declared victory in Iraq.
... The vast majority of
casualties, both civilian and military in Iraq, occurred after that
speech.
"Enemy of the
American People"
That's what Mr. Trump
called the media in a February 2017 tweet, shortly after taking
office.
And while the phrase "enemies of the people" dates
back to the Roman Empire and is probably today most associated with
the deprivations of Soviet communism, it was Norwegian playwright
Henrik Ibsen who really gave it wide currency in 1882.
Ibsen's "An Enemy of
the People" deals with a doctor...who discovers
his local town's famed baths are poisoning people.
The doctor
initially enlists the help of the local liberal paper to uncover his
findings, but due to political pressure the publisher switches sides
and proclaims the doctor "an enemy of the people."
The
doctor's life is destroyed.
... Sen. Flake raised eyebrows
by connecting Mr. Trump's words to Joseph Stalin...Other fans of variations
of "enemy of the people" include Maximilien Robespierre,
Vladimir Lenin and Chinese despot Mao Zedong, who was likely the most
murderous dictator of the 20th Century.
"America First"
Before it was Mr. Trump's
signature slogan, "America First" was the rallying cry of
the "isolationists" who endeavored to keep the U.S. out of
World War II.
... The most notable of the
America First crowd – which included members of the Kennedy family,
Henry Ford, and a number of sitting U.S. senators – was
probably Charles Lindbergh, the famed aviator who in 1927 became the
first man to fly alone across the Atlantic.
Lindbergh was one of the
most famous people in America at the time, and his reputation never
truly recovered from his involvement with the America First movement,
his praise of German air power before the war, and his open
flirtation with anti-Semitism.
... Needless to say, the cause
of America First did not age well in the eyes of historians...
"Silent Majority"
"The Silent Majority
Stands with Trump" was a common sign at Mr. Trump's raucous
rallies during the 2016 campaign.
But the "silent majority"
is most associated with Nixon, who famously used the phrase in a
November 1969 speech castigating left-wing demonstrators.
Nixon wrote
the speech himself, but it was (Pat) Buchanan, then a White House
speechwriter, who introduced him to the phrase "Silent
Majority."
... "I had come back from
the Democratic convention in Chicago, where he had sent me, and,
after witnessing the riot in Grant Park, advised Nixon on what to say
on his first foray of the fall campaign, back to that same city:
'I
would use the demonstrators, the worst of them…as a foil for RN's
argument.
I would allude…to the Silent Majority, the quiet
Americans whose cause is just.
They have a right to be heard.' Nixon
had underlined 'Silent Majority.'"
The speech was a hit with
the public, and would become one of the most famous of Nixon's
presidency. "The new majority of northern Catholics and southern
Protestants has moved away from the party of their father's, toward
Richard Nixon's Republican Party," Buchanan wrote about the
aftermath of the speech.
Political strategist Roger
Stone, who worked for both Nixon and Mr. Trump, told Business Insider
last year about how the two Republican presidents connected with the
same voters. "That they appeal to the common man, the silent
majority," Stone said. "The blue collar white Democrat that
was part of the Nixon coalition is now part of the Trump coalition."
"Law and order"
"I am the law and
order candidate,"...and once again
it's a phrase that harkens back to Nixon.
The chaos of 1968 – a
year of high crime, widespread riots, and the assassinations of
Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy – provided the backdrop
for Nixon's second presidential campaign.
Taking a page from 1964
Republican nominee Barry Goldwater, Nixon focused squarely on
law-and-order issues, and in the process developed a playbook that
would be used by Republican candidates for decades.
Critics said appeals to
"law and order" were thinly veiled appeals to the racial
anxieties of white voters
... The opening night
theme of the GOP's 2016 convention was "Make America Safe
Again."
" ... When Trump
finally ran for President…he adopted more of Nixon's tropes than
Reagan's. Nixon built his Presidential campaign around the slogan of
law and order, and so did Trump."
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Curated by Gail Mountain, with occasional personal commentary, Network For #StrongerTogether ! is not affiliated with The Democratic Party in any capacity. This is an independent blog and the hope is you will, at a glance, learn more about the Party and you will, with a click or two, also take action on its behalf as it is provided!
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Thank you for Focusing!
g., aka Focused Democrat
✊ Resisting "Fake News"
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.
→ Direct sources for Democrats:
* ( Personal favored and most informative follows are shared here with the understanding that readers will always apply their own critical thinking to any information provided anywhere by anyone. #StrongerTogether does not share sources of information lightly but -- no one is perfect! -- so always #DistrustAndVerify I am using a star rating that is strictly based on my situational experience with the work of the media personality specifically in relation to issues of interest to me. )
The Democratic Party Website
Also
C-SPAN (a good place for speeches & hearings direct source (s))
→ Fact checking organizations courtesy of the Society of Professional Journalists
in alphabetical order...
→ Some of my favorite, most informative
follows on Twitter include:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ US Intelligence | Author | Navy Senior Chief | NBC/MSNBC
⭐⭐⭐ Federal Government Operations | Vanity Fair | Newsweek | MSNBC Contributor | Author
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Voting Rights/Voter Suppression | Author | Mother Jones
→ Some of the most credible media -- at the moment:
📰📰📰 Mother Jones
→ Some of the most credible Talking Heads -- at the moment -- and their Twitter handles:
( 📎 Interesting to note: Wallace, a former Republican (or an inactive Republican I believe she calls herself) is new to the job but for right now she has clearly put country over party and her work on Trump GOP has been credible, IMO... )
...for Networking for Democrats today!
g. (Unapologetic Democrat)
g. (Unapologetic Democrat)
📎 Note: I rarely get involved in primary races -- outside of those in my own area. And, unless there is a glaring reason that can not be ignored, I support Democratic Party nominees winning in general elections.
.
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(Linked) "...is our 2016 platform...a declaration of how we plan to move America forward. Democrats believe that cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better than division, empowerment is better than resentment, and bridges are better than walls.
It’s a simple but powerful idea: We are stronger together."
Eleanor Roosevelt with female reporters
at her first White House press conference
on March 6, 1933.
“ … At first Eleanor Roosevelt adhered to her own...political topics. She told about her daily schedules, discussed the prints on the White House Walls, and shared low-cost menus for Depression-era households. But reporters pressed the First Lady for more news on public policy, and the press conference sessions soon broadened their scope. As early as April 1933 Eleanor Roosevelt provided a political scoop; she announced that beer would be served in the White House once Prohibition ended. By the end of 1933, according to UP reporter Ruby Black, the First Lady had defended low cost housing, the subsistence homestead program, equal pay for equal work, old age pensions, and the minimum wage. “Tea Pouring Items Give Way to Big News,” Black declared. “No newspaperwoman could have asked for better luck,” reporter Bess Furman recalled. The First Lady, she wrote, “conducts classes on scores of subjects, always seeing beyond her immediate hearers to ‘the women of the country.’” … “ ( You can read more here )
( #its2018now )
*
Curated by Gail Mountain, with occasional personal commentary, Network For #StrongerTogether ! is not affiliated with The Democratic Party in any capacity. This is an independent blog and the hope is you will, at a glance, learn more about the Party and you will, with a click or two, also take action on its behalf as it is provided!
*
See the League of Women Voters website:
Vote411 here
*
Thank you for Focusing!
g., aka Focused Democrat
✊ Resisting "Fake News"
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