Sean Davis:
Donald J. Trump began his run for the White House by vowing to Make America Great Again. The pithiness of the slogan drove his opponents mad, but it worked. It communicated in just four words the reasons for his presidential campaign. When given the choice between Hillary’s self-centered “I’m With Her” and Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogans, voters went with Trump.
Whether Trump will succeed in enacting policies that increase the standards of living for Americans is obviously yet to be seen. But judging by the response to his election victory, we know for a fact that he’s going to make a whole bunch of stuff cool again — stuff that hasn’t been cool since 2008.
Here are ten things that were really awesome between 2001 and 2008, and then became racist and/or treasonous in 2009, that instantly became cool again on November 8, 2016.
1) Making Jokes about the President
If you love to laugh, then Donald Trump’s election should be great news for you. Why? Because it just became okay again for comedians to make fun of the president. If you think I’m joking, take a look at how the New York Times declared a complete lack of comedic potential surrounding Barack Obama:
What’s so funny about Barack Obama? Apparently not very much, at least not yet.
[…]
Why? The reason cited by most of those involved in the shows is that a fundamental factor is so far missing in Obama: There is no comedic ‘take’ on him, nothing easy to turn to for an easy laugh, like allegations of Bill Clinton’s womanizing, or President George W. Bush’s goofy bumbling or Al Gore’s robotic persona.
‘The thing is, he’s not buffoonish in any way,’ said Mike Barry, who started writing political jokes for Johnny Carson’s monologues in the waning days of the Johnson administration and has lambasted every presidential candidate since, most recently for Letterman. ‘He’s not a comical figure,’ Barry said.
I doubt comedians will be so gun shy about mocking Trump. The only question is whether their jokes will be funny, rather than just bitter and angry.
2) Gridlock and Obstruction
During Obama’s presidency, few things outraged Democrats the way “unprecedented obstruction” did. The outrage reached a fever pitch when Senate Republicans refused to confirm Obama’s pick to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.
This kind of willful obstruction of our judicial branch is unprecedented and dangerous. #DoYourJob pic.twitter.com/eTIqwvQypB
— All On The Line (@allontheline) July 13, 2016
Reid is also right that the exec branch nom obstruction is unprecedented.
— Jonathan Bernstein (@jbview) July 11, 2013
WH Counsel Ruemmler says American people deserve better than this "unprecedented partisan obstruction" of president's nominations.
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) July 30, 2012
When George W. Bush was president — stop me if you can already see where this is heading — Democrats loved obstruction. They absolutely loved it. In 2005, the New York Times wrote how essential it was to preserve the filibuster in order to safeguard democracy. Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said at the time that the Senate had zero obligation to consider any of the president’s judicial nominations. Obama changed all that. And Trump is going to change it right back again.
Good luck finding many elected Democrats in Washington who will be rushing to confirm any of Trump’s Supreme Court nominations. Good luck finding Democrats who won’t put up a fight when Republicans move to repeal Obamacare, or to undo the Iranian nuclear deal. Thanks to Trump, the filibuster’s about to be back, baby!
3) Limits on Executive Power
Under the presidency of Barack Obama, progressives came to love executive power. Congress doesn’t want to pass a law you like? No biggie: just make it happen with an executive order. Congress won’t change a law that you promised would be amazing? Easy: just tell a federal agency to promulgate a rule to “re-interpret” the law into something you prefer. Want to start a bunch of new wars without congressional authorization? Congress, shmongress. Just use a pen and a phone to order the invasion of another country.
Obama used executive power for progressive ends — and Hillary Clinton will follow his lead https://t.co/wFReWZdAQC
— Salon (@Salon) November 5, 2016
The thing about executive power, though, is that even executives you don’t like have the same power. That’s one reason why conservatives were so consistently warning progressives about executive overreach: Anything President Obama can do, President Trump can do, too.
A Trump presidency will do wonders in restoring beliefs in limits on executive power. The unitary executive is old and busted. The new hotness is bipartisan compromise across each branch of government.
4) War Protests
When George W. Bush was president, war protests were all the rage. “War is not my voice.” “Not my name.” “Regime change begins at home.” From 2003 through 2008, protesting the war in Iraq was practically a full-time job for many leftist activists. Then Obama was elected, and protesting endless wars in the Middle East was suddenly no longer fashionable.
Even when Obama launched brand new (and legally dubious) wars in Libya, and Syria, and Yemen, progressive anti-war activists stayed home. When Obama expanded the war in Iraq after basing his entire 2008 presidential campaign around a promise to end it, the activists’ protest signs and presidential effigies continued to collect dust in the closet. Suddenly, war was their voice, and those bombs most definitely were dropped in their name. Regime change begins somewhere else.
Trump, however, will change all that. Not only will he make America great again, he is definitely going to make war protests great again. Get your posterboard and markers ready, lefty activists: protesting wars is totally cool now.
5) Dissent
At one time, dissent was considered “the highest form of patriotism.” That time was when George W. Bush was president. Dissent was so patriotic that Sen. John Kerry felt compelled to fabricate a quote from Thomas Jefferson in order to highlight dissent’s importance. When Obama took office, dissent immediately was no longer vital; overnight, dissent became racist.
Opposing Obama’s pick to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court? Racist. Opposing Obama’s disastrous nuclear deal with Iran? Racist. Opposing Obamacare? You guessed it: racist.
Under a President Trump, though, dissent will go back to being rock solid evidence of one’s patriotism and commitment to racial equality. No longer will dissent make you dirty racist pining for slavery. Nearly overnight, Donald Trump made dissent cool again.