Who gained from the anti-Trump protests?
Who gains from the anti-Trump protests?The protestors may feel better gathering in these like-minded hives. But residents don’t like the traffic jams and the messes left behind. Overall, probably Republicans gain from anti-Trump protests.Just ask Wisconsin residents about the huge and often disruptive labor union supported protests against Republican Governor Scott Walker. It helped him.In every protest there are a small group of agitators that incite violence, destroy property and behave outrageously badly. The videos are replayed over and over again of some overwrought emotional protester tantruming like an out of control child.The large majority of Americans are not consumed by politics and go about their daily lives. They wonder why these protestors don’t do the same.Donald Trump rally protests backfire as anti-American images push undecided voters his wayFox News Poll: A majority says 'move on' from protesting Trump
What are the similarities and differences between the Tea Party in 2009 and the anti-Trump protests right now?
I will attempt to give a non-partisan, non-hate-fuelled answer. I am also going to use present term to refer to past activities of the Tea Party on occasion, just because “they are” is easier than “they are/were”SimilaritiesBoth movements come from a place of frustration with the current regime. Both feel betrayed by not only their leaders, but also the alternatives to their leaders on their own side and the general populace whose voting habits created the situation.Both are tired of the political process. They feel as if “business as usual” politics has failed to do what it says on the tin (to use a British-ism).They both feel they are not being heard. Tea Party protesters felt that they made up a substantial part of their party and country and that they were being ignored. Anti-Trump protesters similarly feel that the majority of voters are being ignored.Both movements are emotionally charged.DifferencesThe actual politics are clearly different. The Tea Party was very right wing, while Anti-Trumpists are left leaning.The targets are very different. While based on similar levels of frustration and dissatisfaction, the two movements have taken aim at very different aspects of the system. Anti-Trumpists clearly target President Trump, but they also target many of the people who voted for him (both input- and output-based). The Tea Party tended to avoid both the figurehead leader and the voters and focused on the middle, the political system and politicians (more process-based).The levels of back-up are very different. The Tea Party did not gain a huge amount of international support, while Anti-Trump rallies have been well attended in a number of countries. Another factor here is that the Tea Party often ran on intuition when it came to their own base. They felt that they represented a “silent majority” in the US, but that could never be proven one way or the other. In contrast, Anti-Trumpists have hard voter numbers that show more people voted against Trump than for him. This solidifies them in their beliefs.Growing versus slowing. Tea Party movements started very grassroots, with the ability to gain momentum over time. Anti-Trump protests were immediately well attended, making it almost certain that numbers will go down over time rather than increase.
Are the Republican town hall protests a serious concern for the Republican majority?
No they are not a serious concern for the Republican Majority.There is well organized and well thought out opposition at the national level, that has planned, down to the last detail how to disrupt and create chaos at Republican town halls and events.An Obama tied group has put out a training manual that details exactly how to disrupt Republican events and Town Halls. If you go to the actual manual you will see it suggests confrontational behavior and how to make it appear that there are more people who agree with the protester. Here is a link to the manual and the chapter that discusses confrontational behavior in particular. Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda (web version) Here is a link showing the manual is tied to Obama, Obama-linked activists have a ‘training manual’ for protesting TrumpThere is also a well organized group Call to Action, on facebook that gives dates, times and locations of Republican events to protest and gives tips on how to disrupt, and how to upset Republicans at these events. Town Hall Project | FacebookSo to answer your question directly, NO, Republicans can clearly see that the protests are so well organized and so well planned and people are trained in how to behave in confrontational ways to attempt to provoke Republicans that we are not concerned that the protests are “real”.
How come West Bengal is the 4th largest state economy in India when there has been absolutely no industrial development in the State for the last few decades?
Well, as the data says, West Bengal actually has the 6th largest GDP by state in India. It's true that West Bengal has been on the downward slope over the past few decades.One of the main reasons for this would be the presence of several worker unions. Most of them need just one excuse to stop working and start protests, which, more often than not, turn violent, causing further losses to the State in trying to quell them, and at the same time ensuring that no revenue is generated by the factory in question for the duration of the strike.None of us need any introduction to the “bandh” culture here. If any one political party declares a bandh, it's tantamount to a national holiday for us, and we relax at home for the day. More loss in revenue!However, West Bengal still has a high GDP owing to a number of factors. The first would be it's population, which is one of the highest in India by state. A large portion of the people are involved in the agricultural sector, which generates a lot of revenue. Labour here is also cheap, and therefore the various companies here are able to earn a lot of revenue (on those days when there's no bandh or strike)!The second would be the sheer number of industries set up by Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy during his tenure as the CM, such as the Durgapur Steel Plant. He also developed the cities of Kalyani, Durgapur and Bidhan Nagar as primarily industrial centres, which would contribute greatly to the GDP of the State. This was probably augmented by the fact that Bengal was, for the British, one of the most important provinces, and so they invested a large portion of their finances into this one single state. As such, pre-independence, Bengal was already more developed than most other states, and we can see the effects of that headstart to this day.Therefore, one can say that West Bengal has a large GDP today primarily because of its past glory, but I sometimes wonder for how much longer this will remain true!