I'm referencing, of course, delphine's astute and prominent diary here which understandably objects to Cox's off-target comparison between supporters' perceptions of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.
My first response in the comments section of The Daily Beast was more face-value:
An activist, long-time mayor, long-time Representative, long-time Senator with one of the most successful public service track records today, who says things so level-headed that 80% of both Democrats AND Republicans seldom fail to agree with him is somehow on the same page as a supercilious, phony, hypocritical, bad-mouthing, vacant panderer like Trump. Utterly ridiculous tripe.
Upon "further review", many commentators in delphine's diary made a good point, however - that AMC's larger point was trying to say that voters today are in search of something different. Ok, point taken, but I still maintain that Cox is equally off the mark here as well - hence my followup commentary:
I'll concede you've got a deeper point - that Democrats and Republicans alike are seeking out non-traditional candidates because they're tired of the usual beltway rhetoric from the usual beltway podium denizens. Well, I guess I'm not done yet, because I'm prepared to submit that you've missed the mark on that one too.
Trump's extremist base is infatuated with him not because he's somehow different from any of the others who are riding the 20-something GOP bus with aspirations to Pennsylvania Avenue, but because he currently represents the current height of the exact same unified and scripted mindset which every one of the Republican candidates have embraced and always have embraced. It could just as well be Perry or Santorum, Huckabee or Carson who might have won the title "Most Likely to be Over the Top" to the accolades of their base, and if any one of them spoke as rashly, ridiculously and brusquely as Trump, they would indeed be The Donald instead. But for more carefully crafted rhetoric, they're all exactly the same GOP elephant-shaped diecut gingerbread cookies, who are also the exact same ones we experience in the past three presidential elections.
Sanders supporters see something in Bernie that only a tiny handful of pols have possessed in many decades - a rock solid, unwavering lifelong viewpoint - not to mention a viewpoint that's pragmatic, populist and principled too. Sanders indeed separates himself in this regard certainly from every last Republican both in the House and Senate today, but also from all but a tiny handful of Democrats seated in hallowed halls in many years as well.
Sanders is the real outlier here, while Trump is simply more of the same - just with significantly more Jolt Cola splashed on his Chinese tie. To say that Democratic supporters can't tell the difference between the two is doing them a disservice. Can you?
Both sides do it, Ana Marie? I'm calling BS on that.