Even Out of Office Dictator Trump is To Blame, So Says Sabato
I am a lifelong Virginian and being involved in politics here in the Old Dominion, I have listened to University of Virginia professor, and political pundit, Larry Sabato for about 30 years now, and I have always believed that Larry Sabato is a good bellwether to the thinking of the left.
I have never met him, but I did see him once in person. He came to a shad planking several years ago; he showed up with his, or at least appeared to me, jet-black toupee neatly stapled to his head and spoke to us for about 20 minutes. His talk simply confirmed my impression of him, it was the usual conventional wisdom, banal thoughts, and views you’d expect to hear on any news network cable show or political science class.
But his talk helped me come to a powerful, indeed profound conclusion, that is Larry has a value, that is I could listen to what he says, and know what the left-wing kooks think. It’s quite efficient, listen to him and I don’t need to listen to CNN or MSNBC.
So, yesterday I was scrolling through my twitter feed, and I read Larry’s latest tweet. For those of you that don’t know Larry is a sufferer of Trump derangement syndrome. It is very well advanced; I’d say stage 4, or as Biden might describe the progression as being in the 4th trimester. Most of his tweets take aim at Trump. Sure, Larry hates all Republicans, but he saves most of his irrational vitriol for the big bad orange man.
What bad thing did Trump do now? Well, apparently the left is mad that former President Trump (now a private citizen) failed to use his dictatorial power to force House Republicans to pass the Democrat senate border security bill.
According to Professor Larry Sabato:
“Trump ordered Congress Rs to kill the border bill. They did as they were told. They are sheep… So who gets the blame?”
It’s quite breathtaking. There is nothing true or accurate in this tweet. It is full of false assumptions, and it is designed to spread a false narrative.
Larry is trying to promote several falsehoods in one fell swoop, everything from Trump is a dictator, even as a private citizen, Republicans are sheep that will just go along, to Biden had a plan to fix the border. The most bizarre assumption in his tweet is that Republicans really supported the Senate bill but opposed it because Trump told them to.
He concludes that since Republicans killed it, they deserve the lion’s share of the blame for the continuation of an open border. It was a poll showing the public mostly blamed Biden for the bill’s failure that prompted the tweet.
No doubt Larry wants people to believe that Biden is trying to solve the crisis at the border, and of course had no hand in creating the crisis. And now in his 4th year in office (and in an election year) he and Senate Democrats come up with the solution and Donald Trump, orders House Republicans to oppose the bill. They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The unpatriotic nerve!
The tweet also implies that Trump has some sort of duty to support the Senate Democrats bill. Or at least a duty to keep quiet and not stop it. I have no idea why Sabato and the left thinks Trump had a duty to lobby Republicans to pass the bill. Or that Trump committed an unpatriotic act by speaking out against it. Was it a good bill or a bad bill? I have noticed that the left never says, they simply point out that it was “Bipartisan.” I take that to mean it wasn’t a good bill but that it could give Biden some political cover.
Ah, if only Trump would use his dictatorial powers for good. That brings us to another assumption, namely that Trump has the power to force House Republicans to do something.
No Trump has very little power there. As I remember, Trump Backed Kevin McCarthy for speaker. House Republicans removed McCarthy. Trumps dictatorial powers were unable to save Kevin McCarthy. Actually, putting aside his alleged dictatorial power, his influence wasn’t enough to save McCarthy. Did Trump then pick a successor to McCarthy? No, because not only can he not dictate to House Republicans he knows he has little influence on the Hill.
There were also a number of House Republicans who did not back Trump for the nomination. Such as Freedom caucus members Chip Roy and Bob Good, both of whom backed Florida Governor DeSantis. Trump didn’t have the power to force House Republicans to endorse him for President – some dictator!
So why does Larry and the Democrats think that Trump could force them to vote for a bill Senate Democrats and Joe Biden wanted? They don’t. They just want to blame Trump and they wish to chalk up Republican opposition to the bill to political opportunism. Their opposition proves that they are sheep.
I don’t deny that Trump may have some influence with Congressional Republicans, but he certainly doesn’t have the power to force them to vote for a bill that allows 5 thousand migrants a day to come into the country.
If Trump did what lefties like Sabato wanted and told Republicans to back the Senate bill his base would turn on him. And House Republicans weren’t going to vote for the bill, so Trump would be a big loser.
This brings up the other false assumption that Sabato operates under, namely that Trump has a cult of personality. His followers and Republicans in Congress are under his spell. He takes a position and others fall in line. There is no evidence of such a power.
Trump’s power comes from the fact that he knows and follows his base. His base likes and follows him because they saw what he did for four years as President. Unlike the left Republicans support candidates based on issues, not personalities or identity politics.
Trump has loyal supporters because, he is viewed as a fighter and a strong leader. They view him as the first President since Reagan who fights for America’s interests. They believe Trump will continue to fight the deep state of DC bureaucrats, he will fight to stop the invasion of our country. Personality has nothing to do with it. And as long as Trump is under attack by the Biden administration’s DOJ and the mainstream media conservatives will rally behind him.
Sabato, knows Biden is in trouble on the border issue, so he tries to blame Trump for the defeat of the bill. A bill that would not have stopped the invasion or even comes close. Sabato wanted to drive the narrative that Republicans are sheep simply following along with Trump’s wishes, as if there is no invasion taking place. As if there is no groundswell of anger throughout the land, as if their constituents are asking them to back the Senate bill, as if their constituents are ok with allowing 5 thousand migrants to come in every day.
Sabato’s tweets may be propagandistic nonsense and reading them may be annoying, but they are usually short, 3 sentences at most. And look on the bright side, you don’t have to take his class.
David Shephard is the author of ‘‘Elections Have Consequences; A Cautionary Tale.”
3 comments
These are fine comments above.
I’ve been tracking Sabato for the duration as his career starting when I was a student there.
He’s basically a political hack. For years he stayed neutral publicly, But he’s not neutral. He’s a political tool used by UVA to push a far left agenda.
It’s ironic that the school that was founded by the man who was instrumental in creating a free country however the same school now disrespects the Constitution and its President is anti-freedom.
Sabato is evidence of what a douchebag place UVa is. Remember when it was rich frat boys? Now it is woke liberal crap eaters… It was always a shit place..full of morons.
Larry Sabato’s 15 minutes of fame ended in 2016. His vaunted Crystal Ball report had accurately called elections for decades. But a combination of hubris, elitism, and the intellectual isolation of Thomas Jefferson’s Academical Village caught up with Sabato in 2016.
As he wrote just after the 2016 election, “We heard for months from many of you, saying that we were underestimating the size of a potential hidden Trump vote and his ability to win. We didn’t believe it, and we were wrong. The Crystal Ball is shattered. We’ll pick up the pieces starting next week as we try to unpack what happened in this election, where there was so much dramatic change from just four years ago. We have a lot to learn, and we must make sure the Crystal Ball never has another year like this. This team expects more of itself, and we apologize to our readers for our errors.”
Like many wealthy elitists (Sabato made a $1M contribution to UVa), Sabato has no idea whatsoever how the average American in “flyover country” thinks or feels. He, like Hillary, remains stunned that the wretched deplorables would dare vote for a candidate like Trump with no time at all for the white wine and quiche academics and pseudo-intellectuals who inhabit the hallowed grounds of UVa.
Sabato had a good run. But he’s now 71. It’s time that he walks off into the sunset of retirement – preferably with Joe Biden under one arm and Mitch McConnell under the other.