Saturday, September 17, 2016

Change the Subject



Vincent J. Curtis

17 Sept 2016


Donald Trump held a boffo campaign rally in Miami yesterday afternoon.  He played on Hillary’s contempt for Trump supporters at the beginning of the rally, and savaged her position on gun control in the middle of it.  The first part was in the news until the media received the new narrative from Hillary’s campaign.

Trump entered the stage to the theme song of the hit Broadway play, “Les Miserables,” and he used a photoshopped backdrop of the play’s artwork.  In a scene depicting the French Revolution, one French tricolor flag was replaced with a Trump flag, another with a massive Stars and Stripes, and a large flying eagle was added to the sky.  The depiction was wildly appreciated by the crowd who quickly understood it was a play on Hillary Clinton’s “Deplorables” remarks.  Many in the crowd were wearing campaign swag or carrying signs that also ridiculed Hillary’s remarks.  One sign read, “Deplorable- but not Deportable!  Born here, build the wall”

Trump told the crowd “My opponent slanders you as ‘deplorable’ and ‘irredeemable’ – boy that second word it tough.  You don’t hear that much.  It means you can never come back….I call you hard-working American patriots who love your family, and really, really, really love your country.”

One of Trump’s campaign themes is his support for the Second Amendment, and is often a point that he brings up to separate himself from Hillary.  Hillary Clinton’s position on the Second Amendment and gun control is most charitably described by her strongest supporters in the media as mixed or muddled.  Gun owners are not fooled by Clinton’s statements on the subject.

Hillary Clinton’s maneuver on gun control is patently obvious to gun owners.  Hillary will not openly call for a repeal of the Second Amendment outright, but instead will appoint justices to the Supreme Court that will overturn the Heller decision and encourage the passing of one “sensible” gun control measure after another in futile attempts to bring “gun violence” under control, and eventually to eliminate gun ownership entirely.  For the sake of the children, you understand.

Hillary has often spoken of implementing various gun control measures which would act as restrictions on legal gun ownership, but none of them would actually have prevented the act of ‘gun violence’ the measures were called for in response to.  Part of the reason for calling for ineffective gun control measures is to keep the issue of gun violence alive even as more and more restrictions in legal ownership are put in place.  Eventually, an entire regime of gun control will be in place and will be found ineffective, leading to the final step of gun confiscation, Second Amendment or not.  Heller , if not reversed by then, would be effectively reversed by a succession of liberal judges who were selected for their compliance with the progressive anti-gun agenda.

An argument frequently made to point out the hypocrisy of those who call for gun control is to have their case made against them.  When a celebrity like Oprah Winfrey calls for gun control, it is pointed out that Oprah travels with a retinue of armed bodyguards.  If Oprah really hated guns as much as she let on, then perhaps she ought to require her guards to be unarmed.  This very case has been made about Barack Obama and his secret service protection.  Not everyone in America is wealthy enough to afford an armed security detail to protect them 24/7/365, as the limousine liberals are, and have to be able to defend themselves.

Trump used this very argument against Hillary Clinton yesterday in his speech in Miami.  The media, overwhelmed with Trump’s reception in Florida, featured that favorable aspect in their coverage.  Then, the Clinton campaign issued their instructions and the media changed their subject to Trump’s threatening Hillary with death and violence - again.

For example, this piece was included in a report from the U.K.’s Daily Mail,

“The Presidential candidate then went on to revive an old campaign controversy by implying violence against his opponent.  He sarcastically called for Clinton's Secret Service agents to drop their weapons, "and let's see what happens to her."  'I think that her bodyguards should drop all weapons. They should disarm, right?' Trump said. "Take their guns away, she doesn't want guns. Take their — and let's see what happens to her. Take their guns away. OK, it would be very dangerous.'  Trump has previously come under fire for such comments with many saying it was tantamount to advocating violence against his White House foe.”


This is what happened.  Hillary campaign Spokesliar Robby Mook released a statement Friday night saying Trump "has a pattern of inciting people to violence. Whether this is done to provoke protesters at a rally or casually or even as a joke, it is an unacceptable quality in anyone seeking the job of Commander in Chief….This kind of talk should be out of bounds for a presidential candidate.”
“A spokeswoman for the Secret Service declined to comment,” reported Fox News helpfully.  “The riff recalled a remark Trump made last month that many Democrats condemned as a call for Clinton's assassination. Speaking at a rally in North Carolina, the Republican nominee said his opponent wants to "abolish, essentially, the Second Amendment."”
The media got Hillary’s change the subject message, and now the media narrative is that Trump called for violence against Hillary - again.  And won’t he ever learn?

However, I doubt that tiresome stupidity is going to get as much traction the second time around.  This time Trump employed an often-used argument, and this is the second time people have been exposed to the threatening-violence canard.

Trump made fools of the media earlier in the day in Washington, and the media trying to play an old canard a second time will look lame, and make themselves look dense.  Having heard the “wolf!” cry once before, the public is less likely to be moved by it.

But this is another example of the media changing the subject and the narrative in response to instructions from the Hillary campaign.
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