It's the R word, stupid.

"It’s all over but the crying, which will also be fun to watch, but even after all these many months of Donald Trump vanquishing foe after foe, the media still doesn’t get it. They still bang on about this anger at “the establishment,” and as a result, they are giving Hillary Clinton bad advice already. During CNN’s coverage of the Indiana primary Tuesday night, liberal commentator and Bernie Sanders supporter Van Jones became just the latest pundit to misdiagnose the Trump phenomenon, and connect it to Bernie Sanders. There is a similarity, but not the one Jones identifies:

The same rebellion is happening in the country in both parties. The reason Hillary is still fighting is the reason that Trump won. There is a big, big discontent in this country and tonight for Bernie Sanders and we can say the same thing about Bernie, he shouldn’t be here either. I just don’t think that people get it yet. You got people sitting on a white hot stove in their houses right now and they are mad… I do think (Hillary) has got to, tonight, show that she’s got the message from both parties, the message from the Republicans, they’re mad and hurting, the message from the Democrats, they’re mad and hurting.

Jones is so close to being right, he even calls the anger “white hot,” but he just misses the absolutely crucial key to Hillary Clinton’s eventual defeat of Trump.

Since this race began, I have been predicting Trump’s victory. Just hours after he delivered his Mexican Rapists announcement speech, I predicted he would rocket to the top of the polls and stay there, and in my very first Mediaite column in over a year, predicted Trump’s victory in the 17-candidate field to a tee. I say this not just to brag (although I am doing that), but to try and get my media colleagues to understand that they need to listen to why Trump is winning, they need to stop ignoring it.

But first, allow me to rebut their ongoing theory of the case which is that this is all just a rebellion against “establishment politics” and “anger at Washington.” That argument held some water against dynastic sleepwalker Jeb Bush or Gang of Eight-er Marco Rubio, but most of the other candidates were not part of the establishment. But the greatest proof against this theory was demonstrated Tuesday night:

 

Ted Cruz, whatever else you think of him, is the most anti-establishment figure there is, and he was standing onstage with a high-powered, wealthy CEO who has never held public office, yet Trump managed to beat them all.

The reason is crystal clear, and always has been: it’s the racism, stupid. More broadly, though, it’s the racism’s kissin’ cousin, white male resentment, which isn’t just for white males. Trump has been forgiven every possible deviation from conservative orthodoxy and simple human decency because he has remained rock-steady about fighting the dirty Mexicans, the evil Muslims, and the uppity criminal blacks and their liberal allies. In his desperation, Ted Cruz actually managed to pick the only kind of hate that doesn’t sell so well anymore.

Van is onto something about Bernie Sanders, though it isn’t some general anger at Washington, either. Sanders’ largely white liberal support comes from a different strain of white resentment, a more patronizing one. While they all pay lip service to having the “right” positions on black issues, their overarching theory is that what’s good for everyone is especially good for black people, and if they’d only listen, they would get that. This is essentially what Bernie said at the beginning of his campaign, and what his campaign is still saying now. Yes, he was pressured into rolling out a racial justice platform, but even in that document, pivoted to his broader economic policies. Ask him today what needs to be done first, and his answer will be to overturn Citizens United and end economic inequality. "[Read more]

This author nails my sentiments about the current political season.

Pundits and those in the chattering class like to dance around the real reason for the rise of Donald, but no matter how they try they can't escape the reality. Just look at the majority of his supporters and listen to what they are saying.

And look, I get it. Angry working class whites who feel that they are entitled to god jobs and a Ozzie &  Harriet existence in America, cannot understand why they are losing everything, and Donald trump, with his Make America White Great Again brand, could not have come at a better time.

  

When your college tour turns ugly.

  Imagine, if you will, you are a hardworking high school senior, and you are looking forward to your college tour and possibly being admitted to the school of your dreams in the fall.

Imagine going to said school only to have the following happen to you:

"Texas A&M University officials are expressing the requisite shock and disappointment after a group of white students reportedly yelled racial slurs at a group of black high school students visiting from Dallas’ Uplift Hampton Preparatory. A woman wearing Confederate flag earrings also reportedly approached two high school girls on the tour to ask if they liked them.

 

About 60 Uplift students were touring A&M’s College Station campus, which in 2014 was 62 percent white among undergrads. One of the Uplift students, 16-year-old Terquarie Wilson, told CBS DFW the incident began with a stupid sports rivalry and escalated hideously: an A&M student spotted one of Wilson’s friends carrying a University of Texas-branded bag. They yelled “Go back where you came from!” The Uplift student responded something to the effect of, “You do realize we’re all black, right?” and walked away; faculty supervisors say they heard the A&M students use a racial slur as the group walked away. The woman with the Confederate flag earrings approached a few minutes later." [Source]

One of the scary things about this whole incident is that when it was reported to the proper authorities on campus, the students were told that the A&M kids were just exercising their First Amendment rights. 

I wonder if Kevin Sumlin, A&M's high profile African American football coach, will address this issue or speak openly about it.

It would be nice, but I won't hold my breath.

Finally, just when you thought that the GOP candidates for president couldn't be more bizarre, comes the following story.

"During a radio interview, Mrs. Cruz went all in when she promised that the Cruz campaign will show America “the face of God.”

Talking with South Carolina radio host Vince Coakley Wednesday, Cruz noted that even if she weren’t married to the man, his political and faith-based credentials would be reason enough for her to work for his campaign anyway:

“We are at a cultural crossroads in our country, and if we can be in this race to show this country the face of the God that we serve — this Christian God that we serve is the foundation of our country, our country was built on Judeo-Christian values, we are a nation of freedom of religion, but the God of Christianity is the God of freedom, of individual liberty, of choice and of consequence.” [Source]

Heaven help us! If Ted Cruz is actually "the face of god", the reservations for hell just went way up. 

Anyway, I bet you all thought that I was referring to that crazy debate Saturday night , the one where Donald trump became totally unhinged and blew his cover with republicans by telling them how he really feels about them. (My man was right about W and 9/11.) And where the two Hispanics in the race continued with their attacks on each other. At one point they even went at each other in Spanish. (Oh the irony.) Can you imagine Mr. and Mrs. Bubba watching the debate from their double- wide in Georgia?  "Honey, did dem two Heeespanic candidates just talk in Spanish? What da hell? This is America. Speak English, damn it! They just lost my vote."   

I hope that we can all get through this election cycle with our sanity intact. Lord knows it won't be easy. The candidates seem to have already lost their minds.