09/15/2016
Ann Coulter
America’s foremost polemicist, is most recently in the news for (1) unflinchingly enduring unbridled Leftist abuse at a Comedy Central “roast” for someone called Rob Lowe that, if it were anyone else, would have been called misogynistic [‘Roast’ Writers: Ann Coulter Hurt Our Feelings! By David Cole, Takimag, September 15, 2016]; (2) a long interview on POLITICO [transcript] that among other things cited this great quote from David Frum about her book Adios America!: "Perhaps no single writer has had such immediate impact on a presidential election since Harriet Beecher Stowe. " [Ann Coulter, doyenne of the deplorables, by Glenn Thrush, September 13, 2016].But, just two minutes ago, the Big Story was that Ann Coulter’s brilliant new book In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome! had been stepped on by her favored candidate. In the book, Coulter says "there’s nothing Trump can do that won’t be forgiven. Except change his immigration policies." But as the book was released, Trump appeared to be open to doing just that — saying he might “soften” his position on immigration and let some illegals stay if they paid “back taxes”. [Donald Trump, Wavering on Immigration, Finds Anger in All Corners, by Maggie Haberman & Michael Shear, New York Times, August 25, 2016]
Coulter quipped: "this could be the shortest book tour ever if he’s really softening his position on immigration."
In fact, however, reportedly in part because of Coulter’s warnings, Trump doubled down on his patriotic immigration reform agenda with his fantastic immigration policy speech on August 31.
This sequence of events further validates In Trump We Trust’s two primary arguments: that patriotic immigration reform fueled Trump’s rise; and that the GOP is doomed if it does not become a “New Trumpian Party” centered around this policy.
For good measure, Coulter peppers her polemic with accurate and hilarious barbs at the Main Stream Media and the consultant class who have failed to both understand and defeat Trump.
Coulter already showed that immigration was the most important issue facing the country in Adios America. Now, In Trump We Trust, she applies this insight to this election, demolishing “true conservative” purists who oppose Trump for over trivial issues while ignoring the existential threat of mass immigration.
While they don’t express it with Coulter’s precision and wit, it’s clear that Republican voters recognized this reality this election. She opens her book noting the underlying sense of dread from Republicans that “this loss is permanent.”
Only ending mass immigration and the scourge of Political Correctness can halt this slide. Trump, beginning with his announcement speech’s entirely accurate comments about Mexico sending rapists, to his convention address, to his amazing immigration policy speech, Trump has made immigration patriotism the center of his campaign.
Trump’s promise to finally reverse our disastrous immigration policies, which is what created this permanent sense of loss among conservatives, drove his support. As Coulter aptly observes, no one chants “Concealed Carry,” “Repeal Obamacare!,” “Repeal Common Core,” much less “Reform Social Security” or “Protect Ukraine’s national sovereignty!” at Trump rallies. They yell “Build the Wall.”
Coulter further notes that Ted Cruz, who with Trump collectively won 48 of the 50 state primaries and caucuses and 80% of the vote, was the “only rival smart enough to adopt nearly all of Trump’s positions on immigration.” Trump and Cruz differ in style and substance in many respects. However, their combined vote showed that Republican voters are united in wanting “a wall, deportation, and a lot less immigration, especially from Muslim countries.”
But, as Coulter observes, “instead of admitting they were depressed about the success of Trump’s immigration proposals, the media mostly tried pretending Trump hadn’t mentioned immigration at all.” Instead they focused on his attitude, personality, and vague “anger” from voters.
While Trump’s take-no-prisoners approach on Political Correctness wins some voters, Coulter notes that Trump’s success was in spite of his persona. She argues that "although the media tried to portray Trump’s popularity as a cult of personality, the one thing voters weren’t wild about was his personality." Trump’s primary victory was not "fluke" based on name celebrity or mass psychosis, but a direct result of the fact that voters "fed up with illegal immigration, fed up with refugees, fed up with legal immigrants who show their gratitude by gunning down Americans."
Recent events have proven Coulter correct. When Trump has strayed from his core message and gotten bogged down in pseudo controversies about his personality — as was the case during most of August — his numbers dropped.
But his poll numbers have surged after he reaffirmed his America first immigration policy last week.
Of course, the MSM and the consultant class still have not heard the message. Immediately after the speech, we had headlines like “Why Donald Trump’s immigration speech is very unlikely to reverse his fortunes” [By Philip Bump, Washington Post, September 1, 2016]. and "Trump’s hard-line stance on immigration may hurt the GOP for generations to come" [by Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times, September 1, 2016].
Coulter ends her book with a chronological fifteen- page appendix of political and media “geniuses” who completely discounted Trump’s prospects. It begins when he announced, with Harry Enten of FiveThirtyEight saying “Trump has a better chance of cameoing in another Home Alone movie with Macaulay Culkin — or playing in the NBA Finals than winning the Republican Nomination” and ends in April with POLITICO’s Steven Shepard writing “Republican insiders overwhelmingly believe this summer’s national convention will require multiple ballots.”
Coulter, of course, predicted Trump’s victory three days after his announcement.
But as with Cassandra, the MSM and the political Establishment still continue to mock her despite her being proven right time and time again.
They will make another great appendix to Ann Coulter’s next bestselling book.
Washington Watcher is an anonymous source Inside The Beltway.
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