THE COMEBACK KID.

As I noticed some months back, Jonah Goldberg has been off his feed lately -- shoved off it, I assumed, by the goons and musclemen of Trump Inc. who took over his beautiful conservative Playland. But today he's showing some of the old stuff. His topic is Trump's transparent and offensive pretense of a play for black and Hispanic voters.  (Relevant quote: "You'll be able to walk down the street without getting shot. Right now, you walk down the street, you get shot. Look at the statistics.")

For a second, Goldberg actually seems to see what the rest of us see:

The conventional wisdom is that Trump isn’t trying to reach out to African-American voters. Rather, he’s trying to signal to moderate and suburban whites, particularly women, that he’s not the racist some have painted him to be.

But then:

I think the conventional wisdom is right, though it wouldn’t surprise me if Trump himself thinks his pitch his sincere.

What? What makes you think --

I would also note that I think the strategy is very Kellyanne Conway, but the words sound more like Roger Stone and Steve Bannon.

?? So... he's sincere about mouthing the script of his latest campaign advisors?

Shouting at blacks that they all live in poverty is not exactly a nuanced or persuasive way to go. It’s more like a guy losing his temper in a bar argument.

Oh, so that's why you think it's sincere. But then why did you --

But at the general level, some people seem to think it is a terribly cynical thing for Trump to reach out to whites by making an overture to blacks. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but that doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to do. Just because one has cynical motives doesn’t mean one’s actions are objectively bad. Lots of people cynically give to charity to make themselves look good to the public, that doesn’t mean charities should refuse money from anyone not of pure heart.

Keep in mind that Goldberg is comparing "shouting at blacks that they all live in poverty" to charitable donations. One may seem worse than the other, but you gotta look to motive! Similarly, when the guys from The United Way shakes their canister at Goldberg, he tells them, "HEY WHATTAYA CALL A PUERTO RICAN TEST TUBE BABY! JANITOR IN A DRUM!" and offers, as they withdraw in disgust, to explain why this was an appropriate response.

...George W. Bush campaigned with Colin Powell in 2000, not because he was under any illusions that he would pick up a big swath of the black vote, but to reassure those very same moderates and independents that Trump is after. The differences between Bush and Trump on minorities, immigration etc. are deep and wide, but the tactic was similar.

Bush only got 9% of the black vote in 2000, but he won 35% of the Hispanic vote, and in 2004 he won 44% of it. Trump will be lucky if they don't deduct votes from his totals on behalf of those communities.  You only have a couple lines left, Jonah -- play us home!

He's still got it!

UPDATE. I should add that putting quotes from rightwing columnists into Frinkiac is something I learned from @ralphdouthat.