Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/653460
GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS If you believe, as I do, that Donald Trump could defeat Hillary Clinton this fall and be- come America's first certified autocrat, you need look no further for evidence than Tues- day night's Michigan Democratic primary. Tobestunderstandwhy Hillary lost to Bernie Sanders, check out these exit poll stats: Blue-collar voters soundly re- jected her, favoring Bernie by 14 percentage points. Mean- while, 58 percent of all Demo- cratic primary voters said that free trade takes away Ameri- can jobs; those voters soundly rejected her as well, favoring Bernie by 17 percentage points. Ah yes, the trade issue. Rust Belt states like Michi- gan, Ohio, and Wisconsin went blue in both Obama elections. But Michigan's primary re- minds us that Hillary's stand- ing with blue-collar voters is dangerously soft. Manufac- turing jobs have steadily dis- appeared during the past quarter century, and strug- gling workers pin the blame on free trade. Some experts agree with the workers; oth- ers do not. But Hillary's prob- lem is that she's widely viewed as an establishment enabler of free trade — starting with her husband's championing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) — and that's a political liability. Bernie claims that NAFTA "cost us 800,000 jobs," includ- ing tens of thousands of jobs in the Midwest. His numbers may be wrong, at least accord- ing to a 2015 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Re- search Service says that NAF- TA's adverse impact has been "modest." But the point is, blue-collar Rust Belters believe in their gut that free trade is the enemy. And in the Michi- gan Democratic primary, they voted accordingly. And if they paid close at- tention to the Michigan de- bate, they may well have no- ticed Hillary's slippery expla- nation of her switcheroo on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. She praised it for years when the deal was in the works, but last fall she said she was against it. She also spoke against it during the Michigan debate — and prompted Bernie to craft a tart response: "I am very glad that Secretary Clinton discov- ered religion on this issue....I was one of the first — not one of the last — to be in opposi- tion to the TPP." With respect to blue-col- lar voters, Bernie is not her biggest problem. She remains comfortably ahead in the na- tional delegate count — she'll basically split Michigan's dele- gates with Bernie and widened her overall lead by slaughter- ing Bernie in Mississippi. Un- less she's humbled next Tues- day in Ohio and Illinois, she'll remain the heavy favorite. Which means that her biggest problem will likely be Trump. Trump strengthened his claim on the Republi- can crown with three more wins, and he predicted that he would win Rust Belt states in November. I don't dispute that possibility. Unlike Hillary, he rails against the "stupid" trade deals. Unlike Hillary, he doesn't have a track record of supporting trade deals. He's a master of staying on offense, and he can make Hillary play defense on those trade deals. If he can exploit her softness with working-class voters and win some Rust Belt states, he can redraw the Electoral Col- lege map that has lately fa- vored the Democrats. One other factor working against Hillary is cable news networks shamelessly suck up to Trump. For nearly 50 min- utes following Tuesday's Re- publican primary, they carried every worthless word that fell from Der Leader's lips. Back in the era when Fidel Castro was full of beans, he'd rail for uninterrupted hours on Cuban TV — and what we saw Tuesday night was Fidel on QVC. There he was, hawk- ing Trump steaks, Trump magazines, Trump wineries, Trump golf courses, Trump University (which doesn't ex- ist), and yet the cable net- works refused to cut away....to Hillary, for instance. She was speaking live in Ohio, preview- ing an autumn agenda. Re- gardless of whether you agree with her — on trade or any- thing else — at least she was talking policy. But, according to what passes for cable news judge- ment, narcissism trumps sub- stance. Welcome to the next eight months. DickPolmanisthenational political columnist at NewsWorks/WHYY in Philadelphia (newsworks. org/polman) and a "Writer in Residence" at the University of Philadelphia. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com. Dick Polman Hillary's autumn vulnerability Cartoonist's take Lawless mobs showed up to (by their own words) shut down a political rally by businessman Donald Trump; progressive, radi- cal leftist organi- zations have spent decades intimi- dating those with whom they dis- agree. The right of (Trump's) peo- ple "to peaceably assemble" and, broadly, "peti- tion the government for the re- dress of grievances" has been infringed upon by advocates for the expansion of government power by liberal Democrats. Their two-pronged strategy embraces turning out their vot- ers (legally or not), as well as threatening or disrupting the opposition's events. The news media swing into action by 1) focusing on supposed incite- ment to violence by Trump's rhetoric, which simply empow- ers his audience to respond to unlawful leftist disruptors, 2) downplaying the plans for, and braggadocio over, the cancel- lation of the Chicago rally, and 3) avoiding any comparisons to the many other examples of left-wing violence. It is a form of violence to shut down some- one else's rally. My caveats: I don't support Trump for the Republican nom- ination and would approve of another candidate emerg- ing from the convention. I have found little to celebrate in Trump's style, verbiage or thin conservative resume. I will vote against Hillary Clinton regard- less of the Republican nominee. His encouragement of "rough- ing up" protesters is unseemly. A Trump supporter, that cold- cocked a middle-finger-waving disruptor being escorted out of a rally, committed aggravated assault. Cruz and Rubio phrased their comments in such a way as to cast disapproval on Trump's rhetoric for political gain; that regrettably helped to shift blame away from leftist disrup- tors. The violence of the left has, most recently, shown its ugly head in both the "black lives matter" -inspired riots, as well as the quasi-violent intim- idation by "social justice war- riors" and "cry-bullies" on col- lege campuses. What if Donald Trump had never entered the race for pres- ident? These thugs, hooligans and graduates of IMF riots, en- vironmentalist lawlessness, Oc- cupy Wall Street and race-griev- ance "community organizing" would simply aim their "brown shirt" tactics at whoever was leading the conservative/liber- tarian electorate. I don't hon- estly know if Trump was strat- egizing a) that a cancelled rally would only stoke the fire of his supporters, b) out of a genu- ine concern for safety, given that the police were ill-suited to maintaining the peace inside the venue, or c) that he'd best rethink and re-plan to avoid the leftist mobs. The last two give this writer concern that a message has been sent that what gets re- warded—what works, in other words—gets repeated. In an otherwise anti-Trump article on Bloomberg.com ("Republicans Despair…"), I found an insight- ful observation from Ben Car- son. He suggested that more vi- olence is possible if protesters continue to antagonize the bil- lionaire's supporters: "I think certainly if the pro- testers continue with their Alin- sky-ite tactics there is a real possibility of escalation be- cause those who are the victims of them have two choices. They can submit to them and meekly just do whatever those protest- ers want them to do or they can fight back and if they decide to fight back there could be an es- calation." Following are items col- lected over the weekend: "Hey, it's 1968 with Internet." "… anti-Trumpers need to learn the difference between pro- testing and eradicating speech (aka the "heckler's veto") in the public square," Glen Reynolds. Paul Mirengoff at Powerline- blog.com wrote, "With no sense of irony, the protesters, having successfully shut Trump down, chanted 'this is what democ- racy looks like.' Many of them also chanted 'Bernie,' suggest- ing that they really mean 'this is what Democratic Socialism looks like.' They probably aren't wrong." AP reported (Sat. Daily News, "Trump calls off rally due to security concerns"), "Chicago community activist Quo Va- dis said hundreds of protest- ers had positioned themselves in groups around the arena, and that they intend to demon- strate right after Trump takes the stage. Their goal, he said, is 'for Donald to take the stage and to completely interrupt him. The plan is to shut Donald Trump all the way down.'" Nick Gillespie: "The Main Casualty of Canceled Trump Rally is the 'Idea' of Free Speech." They are proud of their vi- olent cancellation of Trump's free speech. Yes, it's their vio- lence when the choices are ei- ther physically throw them out or cancel the rally. Ja'Mal Green, a prominent black ac- tivist and Bernie Sanders sup- porter in Chicago, posted on Facebook: "Everyone, get your tickets to this. We're all go- ing in!!!! #SHUTITDOWN" Ilya Sheyman, executive director of (George Soros-funded) MoveOn. org Political Action, "has taken credit for the violence (at the cancelled rally) and promised similar violence and disrup- tion will occur at future Trump events." (Infowars.com) "Remember the #Trum- pRally wasn't just luck. It took organizers from dozens of organizations and thou- sands of people to pull off. Great work. We are the dan- ger" tweeted People for Ber- nie, a large unofficial pro- Sanders organization founded by veterans of the Occupy movement and other lefty ac- tivists" (via pjmedia.com/In- stapundit). "Ber-nie" was re- peatedly chanted by the mobs. Admitted terrorist Bill Ayers cheers on anti-Trump protesters, "We shut Trump down!" "MoveOn, BLM, So- cialists, remnants of Occupy Wall Street, Bill Ayers…Get- ting the band back together for 2016" (tweet, M. Crowley). Buzzfeed reporter Tracy Clayton: "wow this (protesters clash with Trump supporters) is beautiful". Former Comcast- NBC mouthpiece Melissa Har- ris-Perry: "Chicago. Raise up. Stand up." WaPo's Ruth Marcus, MSNBC, Chris Matthews and his guests all thought Trump had it (violent demonstra- tions) coming. Eye on Politics: "So whose bright idea was it to have a Trump rally in the mid- dle of uber-liberal Chicago?" In- stapundit's Glenn Reynolds re- plied: "Somebody who thought this was still America. Still doubt my take? Some black pro- testers/disruptors wore t-shirts with hand-written "Vote for Trump. You get jumped." Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@ yahoo.com. The way I see it Free speech for them, not you One other factor working against Hillary is cable news networks shamelessly suck up to Trump. For nearly 50 minutes following Tuesday's Republican primary, they carried every worthless word that fell from Der Leader's lips. Don Polson President Barack Obama: The White House 1600Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, D.C. 20500 Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456- 1414 Fax: 202-456-2461 president@whitehouse.gov U.S. Senate Dianne Feinstein: Hart Senate Office Building Room 331 Washington, D.C. 20510 Phone: 202-224-3841 Fax: 202-228-3954 One Post St., Suite 2450 San Francisco, CA 94104 415-393-0707 Fax: 415-393-0710 Website: feinstein.senate. gov Barbara Boxer: Hart Senate Office Building Room 112 Washington, D.C. 20510 Phone: 202-224-3553 Fax: 202-228-3865 501I St., Suite 7-600 Sacramento, CA 95814 916-448-2787 Website: boxer.senate.gov U.S. Representative Jared Huffman: 1630Longworth House Office Building Washington D.C. 20515 Phone: 202-225-5161 Fax: 202-225-5163 3173rd St., Suite 1 Eureka, CA 95501 Eureka phone: 707-407- 3585 Fax: 707-407-3559 Website: huffman.house.gov Governor Jerry Brown: State Capitol Building, Suite 1173 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: 916-445-2841 Fax: 916-558-3160 State Senate Mike McGuire: 130310th Street Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: 916-651-4002 Fax: 916-651-4902 710E Street Suite #150 Eureka, CA 95501 Eureka phone: 707-445- 6508 Eureka fax: 707-445-6511 To email, visit http://sd02. senate.ca.gov/contact/ email State Assembly Jim Wood: P.O. Box 942849 Sacramento, CA 94249- 0002 Phone: 916-319-2002 Fax: 916-319-2102 Eureka phone: 707-445- 7014 Fax: 707-445-6607 To email, visit http://asmdc. org/members/a02/ Let them know How to contact local and national public officials. OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, March 15, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6