Must-Read: Paul Glastris: Apocalyptic Rhetoric

Must-Read: Paul Glastris: Apocalyptic Rhetoric): “First… [would] an otherwise sane and capable candidate might make crazy, reckless decisions…

…Richard Nixon’s own staff worried about him… especially when he drank. Ted Cruz put himself in this category when he bucked his own party’s leadership and forced a government shutdown over Obamacare in 2013…. Second… [does] a candidate play… [to] voters… [who] want to be told, things that are plainly false and politically toxic. Donald Trump’s questioning of the legitimacy of Barack Obama’s birth certificate in 2011…. This behavior is not limited to outsiders and mavericks…. On issue after issue, plenty of “sane” candidates and elected officials routinely feed The Crazy with over-the-top rhetoric…. Apocalyptic rhetoric encourages an apocalyptic politics in which it becomes acceptable to believe that desperate measures must be taken. It’s not crazy to worry about that.

August 3, 2015

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