Post-Game Show

• Zandar Versus The Stupid on prognostication failure on the part of paid pundits.

  You see, what all these super-smart white guys missed, or more likely refused to see, is the seething racism that has driven the GOP in the Age of Obama. What Trump offered was, simply, vengeance against those people who elected Obama in 2008.
  
  Deport the Muslims, deport the Mexicans, get the jobs back, stick it to China, build the wall, all this was done to make white guys feel like they should be back on top again, where they belong. It's not "nationalism", Trump absolutely wants America to be the top dog again in the military world, and has time and again talked about using force all the way up to nuclear weapons to deal with ISIS. Likewise, it's not "populism" either as he all but ignored the hot button Republican social wedge issues like gay marriage, abortion, and transphobia.

• Southern Beale's mea culpa.
• Steven Rosenfeld at AlterNet discusses what and whom Mr. Trump appeals to.

  But it’s not just dread. Trump supporters have an anger and a desire to assign blame and to get even, noted Tufecki, who has been tracking their views and sentiments by studying their social media posts and attending their campaign rallies. She wrote about this in a March column for the New York Times, where she described a self-reinforcing bubble. “Many of the Trump supporters whom I’ve been following say that they no longer trust any big institutions, whether political parties or media outlets,” she said. “Instead, they share personal stories that support their common narrative, which mixes falsehoods and facts—often ignored by these powerful institutions they now loathe—with the politics of racial resentment.”

   
• Lance Mannion partially corroborates.
• Susan of Texas (The Hunting of the Snark) works over a Megan McCardle article on regulations and businesses.

  We can plainly see McArdle doesn't believe the government has the right to regulate businesses. How dare they take charge of ensuring businesses give lunch breaks to their employees? That right should only belong to the man who promised to "improve... expense levels." Employees are one of, if not the, largest expenses of a company and we are well accustomed to seeing minimum wage employees forced to work at will and whim, work overtime without additional pay, and work at lunch time and break time. Like Ross Douthat, if something doesn't fit McArdle's worldview she ignores it.

• Mark Evanier on a possible Republican cunning plan.
• Terrance (Republic of T) rounds up Republican dismay.

Pent-up disgruntlement.  Who'd'a thunk?