During a March 1 appearance on HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher," journalist Batya Ungar-Sargon — opinion editor at Newsweek and author of the 2021 book "Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy" — argued that likely 2024 GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is a "liberal" who has a lot in common with Bill Clinton-era Democrats.
Ungar-Sargon told host Maher, "To you and to most Democrats, Trump is an extremist. But to Trump's supporters, he is a liberal. And they like that about him…. The liberal media is misunderstanding how he comes off to his supporters."
Never Trump libertarian/conservative journalist Cathy Young analyzes Ungar-Sargon's argument in an article published by The Bulwark on March 11 — and emphasizes that painting Trump as the continuation of Clinton-era Democrats is a flawed premise.
READ MORE:'The fascist nightmare looms': Columnist says Trump’s election may end democracy worldwide
"Back in the 1990s, Bill Clinton famously tacked to the political center on certain issues," Young explains. "And we all know that since the 1990s, Democratic voters have moved substantially to the left on several issues, including immigration and abortion. In 1994, nearly two-thirds of Democrats agreed with the statement that 'immigrants are a burden on our country because they take jobs, housing and health care'; by 2019, only 11 percent of Democrats agreed with it."
Young continues, "Meanwhile, the percentage of Democrats who described themselves as pro-life dropped from a high of about 42 percent in 1998 to just 15 percent in 2023. Still, no matter how you slice the data, there is simply no framework in which Trump's views on immigration or abortion match those of 1990s Democrats."
Young notes that Trump "touts the undoing of Roe v. Wade as one of his signature achievements," while Clinton-era Democrats were "committed to the preservation of Roe."
"The 1990s saw conflicted attitudes on immigration in the Democratic Party," Young recalls, "but it was among Republicans that you could see the rise of a punitive mindset that presaged Trumpism and its embrace of deliberate cruelty toward illegal migrants…. One could claim that Trump is Bill Clinton redux and that it's some weird liberal quirk to see him as an extremist. Saying that with a straight face, though, must take a lot of effort."
READ MORE: 'Handmaid’s Tale': Biden campaign blasts Trump Christian nationalism plans
Cathy Young's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link.
Related Articles:
- Trump staff creating 'pre-vetted pro-Trump army' of 54,000 loyalists to staff federal government
- Revealed: Right-wing group’s secret donors include 2 longtime supporters of liberal causes
- The right-wing 'authoritarian' 2025 project aiming to destroy democracy: column
- Revealed: Trump’s Project 2025 agenda aims for 'total control' of the federal government
- 'Essence of authoritarianism': Expert warns 'Project 2025' would create a Trump 'autocracy'
- 'Authoritarian agenda': Trump allies lay out 'blueprint' to 'Christianize' the federal government
- Far-right wants 'Department of Life' in second Trump term to further curtail women’s rights