When you say almost nobody, do you mean pundits, politicians, newscasters? Because I - admittedly to a very small audience - have been preaching this for 30 plus years, ever since Newt. He basically told Republicans that only power is important; to demonize your Democratic “friends” at every opportunity; to not cooperate. Perhaps this started as far back as Goldwater but it picked up speed when Gingrich was speaker. Republicans long before Trump have been united, as McConnell said about Obama. A good idea introduced by a Democrat is automatically derided. Democrats have bent over backwards - incorrectly IMHO - to appease Republicans for their support. ACA - basically a Republican-developed plan - passed with no Republican support though hundreds of changes were made to garner Republicans support. And that’s long pre-Trump.
I agree with the idea that there’s more to extremism in the Republican Party than Donald Trump. But I’m can’t see where the idea that they represent ‘the minority of a minority’ comes from. While the Republicans are indeed a minority (as are Democrats, swing voters exist and matter!) the Trump crowd is clearly the majority of the Republican Party. The Republican primaries prove that. They are votes not of committees or selected Republican representatives but votes of people who have identified themselves officially as Republicans. And the fact is that in every state will over 51% voted for Trump. Surely the truth is that the extremists in the Republican Party are a majority of a minority and that just makes things worse for everyone (including the electoral prospects of Republicans). It also makes gives heft to a key point in the article that the Republican Party will be a clear and present danger to democracy post Trump.
I also believe that this article failed to mention a prosaic but very present reason why the Republican Party is in the thrall of extremists. Most of the Republicans in the house are in gerrymandered and very safe Republican Districts. They fear no threat of losing their seats. Their only risk is losing a primary which will be decided by a group where the activist base holds a big majority. So they are not going to risk a career ending move to the centre but will continue to support abortion bans no matter how many times they learn that it is electoral poison. Though the mechanism is not as strong it also effects Senators and wannabe Presidents because though extremism is more likely to cost them electoral defeat they risk losing nomination from the MAGA rich Republican primary voters.
Thanks for this! As courageous as the Never Trumpers are (and they deserve our respect), there needs to be a forward reminder that the racist pandering and plutocratic policies built the anger, ignorance, and antidemocratic inclination that the modern party is intensely open about.
My beige flag is that sometimes I think a cadre of conservatives is just out there just waiting for their moment to blow TFG up. Then I move on to normal thoughts.
I blame the media for most of this hubris. After conservative Paul Harvey on the radio in the 60's/early 70's came along Rush Limbaugh's radio show broadcast to every truck driver across this nation. Later, also on the radio, came satellite radio shows. This was the beginning of "nationalizing" conservative mind sets. There were probably liberal equivalents but I don't know of any, certainly none to Rush Limbaugh's shows. Then, the internet, home computers, lap computers, cell phones so that everyone (with enough money) could access these shows and others rather than just the "Nightly News" TV programs which were quite bipartisan for a while until cable 24/7 news (Ted Turner) came into being. Quickly followed by many Fox channel programs which every car dealership and service/maintenance garage had on in their waiting lounges.(Where I would change the channel or turn it off, if alone.) Around 2010 is when I became aware of "gaslighting" (not knowing what that meant until years later). I was retired by then and had the time to click, click, click. So surprised by some of the content which seemed to turn my understanding of government upside down and inside out. Then came Facebook. What fun it was...until it wasn't. Rabbit hole after rabbit hole, people got thrown into information tunnels with seemingly no way out. Many local newspapers went out of business and it became the norm to manipulate and dupe the public (for profits). And here we are today in a real mess - not to mention the foreign bad actors like the Russians and the Chinese interfering and influencing with phony accounts. You've all seen them: their posts with little icons of American flags, hearts and what nots wanting to make friends with unsuspecting followers. The media. Authoritarian strategy #1. Which KGB Putin knows is successful and Xi Jinping also knows is successful having learned lessons from Mao. And the media is the #1 strategy for Hungary's Prime Minister Orban who visited Mar-A-Largo last month probably with a team of advisors to help out Trump. Remember Hungary is where the radical right held its CPAC (conference) a couple of years ago. It's where Tucker Carlson went regularly at that time too, broadcasting a show from there. (Remember Tucker going to Russia recently and admiring it so much - great supermarkets! -as though we don't have any here.) Why on Earth was he there? Trump's unofficial US Ambassador? Did he bring some nice documents there with him? Has he signed up as a foreign agent? When was the last time a former President invited a Prime Minister to his residence? Never! How many people know any of this is happening? How many people know what is Project 2025 written by the Heritage Foundation and why it's so important? It's Trump's and his allies's Mein Kampf, really. And he's broadcasting it out loud, just as Hitler did early on in his career. That's why you'll hear so much about Hitler these days. Our WWII veterans - our grandfathers and great-grandfathers - fought against the evil of that man. I've been to Normandy and visited the cemetery there. Our country does not need its own Hitler. Not now. Not anytime. Project 2025 does not include democracy. It is all about taking control of all this country's institutions and the MAGA's have done a really good job so far destroying them - look up gerrymandering. Enough.
After Paul Harvey on the radio came along Rush Limbaugh's radio show broadcast to every truck driver across this nation. Then, also on the radio came satellite radio shows. This was the beginning of "nationalizing" conservative mind sets. There were probably liberal equivalents but I don't know of any, certainly none to Rush Limbaugh's shows. Then, the internet, home computers, lap computers, cell phones so that everyone (with enough money) could access these shows and others rather than just the "Nightly News" TV programs which were quite bipartisan for a while until 24/7 news (Ted Turner) came into being. Quickly followed by many Fox channel programs which every car dealership and service/maintenance garage had on in their waiting lounges.(Where I would change the channel or turn it off, if alone.) Around 2010 is when I became aware of "gaslighting" (not knowing what that meant until years later). I was retired by then and had the time to click, click, click. So surprised by some of the content which seemed to turn my understanding of government upside down and inside out. Then came Facebook. What fun it was...until it wasn't. Rabbit hole after rabbit hole, people got thrown into information tunnels with seemingly no way out. The newspapers did the same as many local newspapers went out of business. All this media "fairness"/unbiased/tell both sides of the story became fashionable to manipulate and dupe the public. And here we are today in a real mess - not to mention the foreign bad actors like the Russians and the Chinese interfering and influencing with phony accounts. You've all seen them: their posts with little icons of American flags, hearts and what nots wanting to make friends with unsuspecting followers. The media. Authoritarian strategy #1. Which KGB Putin knows is successful and Xi Jinping also knows is successful having learned lessons from Mao. And the media is the #1 strategy for Hungary's Prime Minister Orban who visited Mar-A-Largo last month probably with a team of advisors to help out Trump. Remember Hungary is where the radical right held its CPAC (conference) a couple of years ago. It's where Tucker Carlson went regularly at that time too, broadcasting a show from there. (Remember Tucker going to Russia recently and admiring it so much - great supermarkets! -as though we don't have any here.) Why on Earth was he there? Trump's unofficial US Ambassador? Did he bring some nice documents there with him? Has he signed up as a foreign agent? When was the last time a former President invited a Prime Minister to his residence? Never! How many people know any of this is happening? How many people know what is Project 2025 written by the Heritage Foundation and why it's so important? It's Trump's and his allies's Mein Kampf, really. And he's broadcasting it out loud, just as Hitler did early on in his career. That's why you'll hear so much about Hitler these days. Our WWII veterans - our grandfathers and great-grandfathers - fought against the evil of that man. I've been to Normandy and visited the cemetery there. Our country does not need its own Hitler. Not now. Not anytime. Project 2025 does not include democracy. It is all about taking control of all this country's institutions and the MAGA's have done a really good job so far destroying them - look up gerrymandering. Enough.
Excellent piece!
November Biden or Dictatorship is the choice and we need to keep the Senate and take back the House; work on state government too. No complacency.
In order to get anything done, we’re gonna have to kick the Republicunts out of all 3. And get our own house in order.
I feel simultaneously encouraged and discouraged in reading this, because it’s so true!
Sanity has to prevail.
When you say almost nobody, do you mean pundits, politicians, newscasters? Because I - admittedly to a very small audience - have been preaching this for 30 plus years, ever since Newt. He basically told Republicans that only power is important; to demonize your Democratic “friends” at every opportunity; to not cooperate. Perhaps this started as far back as Goldwater but it picked up speed when Gingrich was speaker. Republicans long before Trump have been united, as McConnell said about Obama. A good idea introduced by a Democrat is automatically derided. Democrats have bent over backwards - incorrectly IMHO - to appease Republicans for their support. ACA - basically a Republican-developed plan - passed with no Republican support though hundreds of changes were made to garner Republicans support. And that’s long pre-Trump.
I agree with the idea that there’s more to extremism in the Republican Party than Donald Trump. But I’m can’t see where the idea that they represent ‘the minority of a minority’ comes from. While the Republicans are indeed a minority (as are Democrats, swing voters exist and matter!) the Trump crowd is clearly the majority of the Republican Party. The Republican primaries prove that. They are votes not of committees or selected Republican representatives but votes of people who have identified themselves officially as Republicans. And the fact is that in every state will over 51% voted for Trump. Surely the truth is that the extremists in the Republican Party are a majority of a minority and that just makes things worse for everyone (including the electoral prospects of Republicans). It also makes gives heft to a key point in the article that the Republican Party will be a clear and present danger to democracy post Trump.
I also believe that this article failed to mention a prosaic but very present reason why the Republican Party is in the thrall of extremists. Most of the Republicans in the house are in gerrymandered and very safe Republican Districts. They fear no threat of losing their seats. Their only risk is losing a primary which will be decided by a group where the activist base holds a big majority. So they are not going to risk a career ending move to the centre but will continue to support abortion bans no matter how many times they learn that it is electoral poison. Though the mechanism is not as strong it also effects Senators and wannabe Presidents because though extremism is more likely to cost them electoral defeat they risk losing nomination from the MAGA rich Republican primary voters.
Thanks for this! As courageous as the Never Trumpers are (and they deserve our respect), there needs to be a forward reminder that the racist pandering and plutocratic policies built the anger, ignorance, and antidemocratic inclination that the modern party is intensely open about.
My beige flag is that sometimes I think a cadre of conservatives is just out there just waiting for their moment to blow TFG up. Then I move on to normal thoughts.
Yes, Trump didn’t create the modern Republican Party. He’s the culmination of decades of what the Republicans have been consistently moving toward.
“Southern Strategy” to recruit racists.
“Welfare Queens” to further demonize social programs (and minorities).
“Trickle down economics” to make tax cuts for the rich the main (if not only) GOP policy.
“Contract with America” to show blatant hypocrisy works to bring in the rubes.
It’s been going on, moving in a single more racist, more corrupt, more destructive of democracy for at least 60 years.
I blame the media for most of this hubris. After conservative Paul Harvey on the radio in the 60's/early 70's came along Rush Limbaugh's radio show broadcast to every truck driver across this nation. Later, also on the radio, came satellite radio shows. This was the beginning of "nationalizing" conservative mind sets. There were probably liberal equivalents but I don't know of any, certainly none to Rush Limbaugh's shows. Then, the internet, home computers, lap computers, cell phones so that everyone (with enough money) could access these shows and others rather than just the "Nightly News" TV programs which were quite bipartisan for a while until cable 24/7 news (Ted Turner) came into being. Quickly followed by many Fox channel programs which every car dealership and service/maintenance garage had on in their waiting lounges.(Where I would change the channel or turn it off, if alone.) Around 2010 is when I became aware of "gaslighting" (not knowing what that meant until years later). I was retired by then and had the time to click, click, click. So surprised by some of the content which seemed to turn my understanding of government upside down and inside out. Then came Facebook. What fun it was...until it wasn't. Rabbit hole after rabbit hole, people got thrown into information tunnels with seemingly no way out. Many local newspapers went out of business and it became the norm to manipulate and dupe the public (for profits). And here we are today in a real mess - not to mention the foreign bad actors like the Russians and the Chinese interfering and influencing with phony accounts. You've all seen them: their posts with little icons of American flags, hearts and what nots wanting to make friends with unsuspecting followers. The media. Authoritarian strategy #1. Which KGB Putin knows is successful and Xi Jinping also knows is successful having learned lessons from Mao. And the media is the #1 strategy for Hungary's Prime Minister Orban who visited Mar-A-Largo last month probably with a team of advisors to help out Trump. Remember Hungary is where the radical right held its CPAC (conference) a couple of years ago. It's where Tucker Carlson went regularly at that time too, broadcasting a show from there. (Remember Tucker going to Russia recently and admiring it so much - great supermarkets! -as though we don't have any here.) Why on Earth was he there? Trump's unofficial US Ambassador? Did he bring some nice documents there with him? Has he signed up as a foreign agent? When was the last time a former President invited a Prime Minister to his residence? Never! How many people know any of this is happening? How many people know what is Project 2025 written by the Heritage Foundation and why it's so important? It's Trump's and his allies's Mein Kampf, really. And he's broadcasting it out loud, just as Hitler did early on in his career. That's why you'll hear so much about Hitler these days. Our WWII veterans - our grandfathers and great-grandfathers - fought against the evil of that man. I've been to Normandy and visited the cemetery there. Our country does not need its own Hitler. Not now. Not anytime. Project 2025 does not include democracy. It is all about taking control of all this country's institutions and the MAGA's have done a really good job so far destroying them - look up gerrymandering. Enough.
After Paul Harvey on the radio came along Rush Limbaugh's radio show broadcast to every truck driver across this nation. Then, also on the radio came satellite radio shows. This was the beginning of "nationalizing" conservative mind sets. There were probably liberal equivalents but I don't know of any, certainly none to Rush Limbaugh's shows. Then, the internet, home computers, lap computers, cell phones so that everyone (with enough money) could access these shows and others rather than just the "Nightly News" TV programs which were quite bipartisan for a while until 24/7 news (Ted Turner) came into being. Quickly followed by many Fox channel programs which every car dealership and service/maintenance garage had on in their waiting lounges.(Where I would change the channel or turn it off, if alone.) Around 2010 is when I became aware of "gaslighting" (not knowing what that meant until years later). I was retired by then and had the time to click, click, click. So surprised by some of the content which seemed to turn my understanding of government upside down and inside out. Then came Facebook. What fun it was...until it wasn't. Rabbit hole after rabbit hole, people got thrown into information tunnels with seemingly no way out. The newspapers did the same as many local newspapers went out of business. All this media "fairness"/unbiased/tell both sides of the story became fashionable to manipulate and dupe the public. And here we are today in a real mess - not to mention the foreign bad actors like the Russians and the Chinese interfering and influencing with phony accounts. You've all seen them: their posts with little icons of American flags, hearts and what nots wanting to make friends with unsuspecting followers. The media. Authoritarian strategy #1. Which KGB Putin knows is successful and Xi Jinping also knows is successful having learned lessons from Mao. And the media is the #1 strategy for Hungary's Prime Minister Orban who visited Mar-A-Largo last month probably with a team of advisors to help out Trump. Remember Hungary is where the radical right held its CPAC (conference) a couple of years ago. It's where Tucker Carlson went regularly at that time too, broadcasting a show from there. (Remember Tucker going to Russia recently and admiring it so much - great supermarkets! -as though we don't have any here.) Why on Earth was he there? Trump's unofficial US Ambassador? Did he bring some nice documents there with him? Has he signed up as a foreign agent? When was the last time a former President invited a Prime Minister to his residence? Never! How many people know any of this is happening? How many people know what is Project 2025 written by the Heritage Foundation and why it's so important? It's Trump's and his allies's Mein Kampf, really. And he's broadcasting it out loud, just as Hitler did early on in his career. That's why you'll hear so much about Hitler these days. Our WWII veterans - our grandfathers and great-grandfathers - fought against the evil of that man. I've been to Normandy and visited the cemetery there. Our country does not need its own Hitler. Not now. Not anytime. Project 2025 does not include democracy. It is all about taking control of all this country's institutions and the MAGA's have done a really good job so far destroying them - look up gerrymandering. Enough.