Wednesday, February 10, 2016

What Trump and Sanders have in common

Ben Shapiro writes at the Daily Wire,
On the surface, there’s not much in common between New Hampshire GOP primary winner Donald Trump and Democratic primary winner Bernie Sanders. Trump is a billionaire businessman; Sanders is a career politician. Trump’s personal favorability is the lowest of all candidates on either side; Sanders’ is the highest. But the impulse that drove New Hampshire voters to the polls for Sanders is the same as the impulse that drove them to the polls for Trump: the desire for a powerful authority figure to fix everything using the power of government.

...They’re both anti-establishment candidates who bash Wall Street. Here’s Trump from his victory speech last night:

It’s special interests’ money, and this is on both sides. This is on the Republican side, the Democrat side, money just pouring into commercials. These are special interests, folks. These are lobbyists. These are people that don’t necessarily love our country. They don’t have the best interests of the country at heart.

Here’s Sanders from his victory speech last night:

We have sent a message that will echo from Wall Street to Washington, from Maine to California, and that is that the government of our great country belongs to all of the people and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors, and their Super PACs.

...rump and Sanders are on the same page on trade, which they see as a zero sum game at which America is losing. Sanders has described trade with China as “catastrophic” for our economy. Days ago, Trump admitted that he and Sanders mirror each other on the topic: “The one thing we very much agree on is trade. We both agree that we are getting ripped off by China, by Japan, by Mexico, everyone we do business with.”

Both Trump and Sanders want to do away with Obamacare in favor of a more universal system.

...Both Sanders and Trump vow to enshrine programs like Medicare and Social Security. Here’s Trump last year:

I'm not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and I'm not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid.

Here’s Sanders last night:

No, we will not allow huge tax breaks for billionaires, we will not allow packed — huge cuts to social security, veterans needs, Medicare, MedicAid, and education.

...And while Trump has run on the basis of a uniquely strict anti-illegal immigration policy, Sanders has historically opposed illegal immigration on the basis of driving down American wages.

...On foreign policy, too, Trump and Sanders sound alike.

...So why are Trump and Sanders soaring? Because they both represent a reaction to the corruption and entitlement culture of Washington D.C. – and both of those reactions are anti-democratic. Neither candidate ever talks about the proper role of government. They just talk about how they’ll increase its power to use it for their own purposes.

...Every four years we now pick our dictator. It’s just a question of whether that dictator does the stuff you want, or whether you’re his target.
Read more here.

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