It’s become a cliche to say that Donald Trump represents something like the equal and opposite reaction to President Obama and his administration. As Jimmy Carter was to Watergate, so is Trump to the Age of Obama. As Ronald Reagan was to Jimmy Carter, so is Trump to Obama. So far anyway. The story is far from over.
Yesterday Frank Luntz convened a focus group of Trump supporters. NR’s Elaina Plott takes us inside in “Focus group of Trump supporters is undeterred and fiercely loyal.” Plott observers: “[A]s Luntz probed the group about Trump’s preparedness for the presidency and raised questions about the appropriateness of some of his most outrageous remarks, the convictions of Trump’s supporters seemed only to deepen. After three hours of discussion and provocation from Luntz — the group also viewed a handful of Trump attack ads — only two participants said they had a lesser opinion of him. In fact, most praised him more effusively, suggesting that the collective pile-on from Democrats and Republicans alike may be at the heart of his support.”
And then there is this:
The one issue for which the group, on the whole, condemned Trump was his mockery last month of a New York Times reporter with a physical disability. “There is no question he made fun of that reporter,” said one woman. Most of the group nodded in agreement. “I thought it was the worst moment of his campaign.”
There were some who defended even that. “It depends on who’s hearing it,” said one woman. “It’s cringe-worthy, yes, but stuff happens.” She had a prosthetic right hand.
Whole thing here.
Related: Victor Davis Hanson, “If Donald Trump didn’t exist, the public would have to invent him,” and Glenn Reynolds, “Liberals have chosen the Donald as their ‘Destructor.'”
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