Fed Up

The phenomenon of Donald Trump—his rise to the top of the polls and his persistence despite outrageous politically incorrect comments is fascinating and troubling all at once. Why hasn't his campaign sputtered? Why is the media obsessed by the man? I've addressed some of this in earlier posts, but S.E. Cupp may be on to something when he writes:

I have a different explanation for ascendant Trumpism. It isn't the result of conservatism but of liberalism. Thanks to unrelenting demands by the left for increasingly preposterous levels of political correctness over the past decade, people are simply fed up. Trump survives -- nay, thrives! -- because he is seen as the antidote, bravely and unimpeachably standing athwart political correctness.

The new era of liberal political correctness -- in which colleges designate "free speech zones," words like "American" and "mother" are considered discriminatory, and children are suspended from school for firing make-believe weapons -- has reached critical mass. If not for the loony sensitivities foisted upon us by the left, someone like Trump would be immediately dismissed as unprofessional and unserious, an incoherent blurter. Instead, he's the equally extreme response to extreme correctness -- if everything is offensive in Liberalville, then nothing will be offensive in Trumpland.

It's all absurd, of course. Trump says things that are unequivocally offensive, and regularly. But conservatives (and even comedians) have reached their limit on political correctness. And so Trump supporters will justify nearly everything he says, no matter how bizarre or unbecoming.

Remember, too, liberals taught us a valuable lesson about political correctness that many conservatives haven't forgotten: It's only offensive if you don't like the person saying it. When conservatives tried to accept the liberal rules of political correctness, pointing out Vice President Joe Biden's too-numerous-to-count slurs and gaffes, there was a collective shrug from the left.

So, if the rules are demonstrably stupid, and they only exist for the right, why play by them?

This is how Trump supporters came to be. They have taken the governor off the racecar.

It's a shame because, as lamentable as political correctness is, voters can do better than Trump. Political ignorance isn't the same as being politically incorrect. Calling journalists names isn't the same as being politically incorrect. These aren't acts of courage; they're acts of kindergarteners.

But in a world in which nearly everything could be considered a microaggression, a macroaggressor like Trump is inevitable.

So, thanks, political correctness.

I am not a Trump supporter, believing the man to be unqualified to be President of the United States. But like tens of millions of Americans, I am thoroughly fed up with political correctness—a dictatorship of acceptable words and deeds defined by the Left and used as a bludgeon again anyone who might disagree with their world view. That's why Trump sometime elicits a smile and a nod, and why his legion of followers continues to grow.