Politics
Donald Trump, Black Lives Matter, and the Power of Disruption
Mara Jacqueline Willaford, left, holds her fist overhead as Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., waves to greet the crowd before speaking at a rally Saturday, Aug. 8, 2015, in downtown Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Robert Kuttner, THE HUFFINGTON POST
(Huffington Post) — It was a good week for disruptive innovation. Three protestors affiliated with Black Lives Matter shut down Bernie Sanders yet again, this time at a Seattle rally Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump escalated his disruptive impact on the Republican presidential field, with a post-debate remark implying that Fox reporter Megyn Kelly was menstruating when she asked him provocative questions, fittingly, about his coarse put-downs of women.
The two forms of disruption invite comparison.
BLM is disrupting the most progressive candidate in the Democratic field. Why? Because in the year since the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, the issue of systemic violence against blacks has still not broken through to become a first-tier issue, even among liberals.
Why Sanders? Because he is a soft target, with little if any security at his rallies and not inclined to call the cops on protestors. So he suffers disproportionately for the sins of the larger system. Is this fair? Not exactly. On the other hand it seems to be working.
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