The GQP: Trumpist Death Cult

[bolverk 29397]

I know this is getting repetitious, but the fact that it's beginning to sink this is a cult in with the mainstream press and that they're finally ringing alarm bells is somewhat encouraging.

 

The Most Durable Force in American Politics: Trump’s Ties to His Voters
If Donald Trump’s rivals want to stop his rise, they’ll need to break his bond with his supporters. They didn’t come close in Iowa.

Bill Clinton once explained the nation’s two political parties by saying that Democrats want to fall in love while Republicans want to fall in line.

That adage has not withstood the Trump era. Today, it is Republicans who are besotted.

Donald J. Trump’s decisive victory in Iowa revealed a new depth to the reservoir of devotion inside his party. For eight years, he has nurtured a relationship with his supporters with little precedent in politics. He validates them, he entertains them, he speaks for them and he uses them for his political and legal advantage.

This connection — a hard-earned bond for some, a cult of personality to others — has unleashed one of the most durable forces in American politics.

Iowa Republicans, following the lead of party officials across the country, rallied behind the former president despite a list of reasons to reject him. Republicans lost control of the presidency, the Senate and the House during his four years in office. He failed to deliver the red wave of victories he promised in the 2022 midterms. He has been charged with 91 felonies in four criminal cases this past year.

And they stayed with him even as they were offered viable alternatives: Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a popular young governor who embraced Mr. Trump’s policies, and Nikki Haley, one of the Deep South’s first female governors, who credibly promised she could win back voters Mr. Trump drove away.

Yet in the first chance Americans had to cast judgment on Mr. Trump since he tried to overthrow an election, many Iowa Republicans made clear they don’t judge him. They adore him.

“Trump is not a candidate, he’s the leader of a national movement,” said Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker who has advised Mr. Trump. “No one has come to grips with what’s it like to take on the champion of a movement. That’s why even as all these legal issues pile up, it just infuriates his movement and increases their anger unbelievably.”

The risks associated with the kind of unusually strong hold Mr. Trump maintains on the party have already emerged.

He has encouraged supporters to view him as above fault or defeat, a mindset that can lead to the kind of political violence that shocked the nation during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Elevating charisma over character can open the door to the kind of authoritarianism that Mr. Trump has promised on the campaign trail this past year.

“A lot of the people that support Donald Trump really are fed up with democracy, representative democracy, they think that an authoritarian-style government would probably be preferable at this point, in order to save the nation or whatever,” said former Representative Charles Bass, a New Hampshire Republican who previously voted for Mr. Trump, but said he would not do so again. “I don’t think they feel threatened by having somebody who at least has the trappings of being more authoritarian than past presidents.”

Although Mr. Trump’s win was resounding, the Iowa results suggest the party remains deeply divided over his return to power. Roughly half of Iowa Republicans voted for one of Mr. Trump’s rivals, including about 20 percent who backed Mr. DeSantis, who finished in second, with Ms. Haley close behind.

Republicans who resisted Mr. Trump in Iowa included the party’s youngest voters and anti-abortion-rights conservatives who backed Mr. DeSantis, according to entrance polls.

Similarly, Ms. Haley won moderate voters, Republicans who believed Mr. Trump lost the 2020 election, those who support a muscular foreign policy and the segment of the party that prioritized temperament in their choice for a presidential nominee.

Party strategists and officials in other states caution against drawing sweeping conclusions from the votes of a narrow slice of Republicans in a small state. As the Republican nominating contest moves to New Hampshire next week, one poll this month showed Ms. Haley within striking distance of Mr. Trump. The state’s voters tend to be more moderate and less religious, suggesting an opening for her.

Mr. DeSantis’s ability to threaten Mr. Trump is less clear. He marketed himself to voters as a Trumpian wunderkind, able to deliver America First policies without the drama and chaos that often trail the former president.

But MAGA Nation rivals the Queen’s Guard when it comes to standing at the ready to defend their sovereign, and Mr. DeSantis was turned back as Republicans showed they are less interested in policies than they are the man.

“I know that he is picked by God for this hour,” said Patricia Lage, an Iowa caucusgoer who spoke in support of Mr. Trump on Monday night in Carlisle, outside Des Moines. “There are things that he has done in the past, but we all have pasts.”

Mr. Trump has spent years tending to his voters — taking aim at their shared enemies and anticipating their grievances. He has compulsively tried to ensure that he was never out of step.

That preoccupation repeatedly drove his decisions in the White House, from refusing to wear a mask during the initial outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020 to his opposition to striking the names of Confederate generals from U.S. military bases.

More recently, Mr. Trump has attacked Mr. DeSantis for signing a six-week abortion ban and avoided committing to a federal ban on the procedure, betting that his voters will either agree or forgive him for deviating from a core conservative priority.

Perhaps most significantly, he has rallied their support amid unprecedented legal troubles in part by describing the prosecution of him as an attempt to silence them.

“You and I have been in this battle side-by-side, together — and we have been taking on the entire corrupt system in Washington like no one has ever done before,” Mr. Trump told Iowa supporters at a rally on Sunday, adding that the political establishment and global elites “are at war with us — we have to fight.”

Voter anger at political institutions remains sky-high — a dynamic that explains what appears, at first glance, to be nothing short of a political magic act: The billionaire son of a multimillionaire has become the voice for working-class Americans.

“His gift is that the average voter in Iowa, New Hampshire and state after state feels like he connects with them,” said David Bossie, Mr. Trump’s deputy campaign manager in 2016. “He’s a blue-collar billionaire.”

Both Mr. DeSantis and Ms. Haley have tried to weaken Mr. Trump’s ties to his supporters without issuing many direct attacks on Mr. Trump. But the race to emerge as the Trump alternative is becoming increasingly urgent, with limited time for the candidates to cement that standing.

Former Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, a Haley supporter, lamented that much of his party had become “sort of a cult” around Mr. Trump. He still considers himself a Republican, though, and views Mr. Trump as the interloper.

“I don’t think Trump’s a Republican,” Mr. Gregg said. “He’s a demagogue.”

David Kochel, a longtime Iowa Republican operative opposed to Mr. Trump, said the former president’s bond with his voters was unlikely to be replicated by other candidates. The party has become more populist and anti-establishment, but Mr. Trump’s ability to capitalize on his celebrity status while harnessing the swirling mix of anger at elites, racial grievances and mounting distrust of political, judicial and international institutions was, for now, unique.

“He’s a unicorn in our party,” Mr. Kochel said. “Republicans have become more populist and anti-establishment, but that doesn’t mean the party will nominate Majorie Taylor Greene or Jim Jordan next. There’s no going back to the old party.”

[TexasEd 8064]

6 hours ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

What is up with the flag on the interviewee's t-shirt? I see that it is a cross, but is that something the evangelicals have adopted? It isn't a historical flag although there were flags with stars in circles.

It says something like Normal is not coming back.  When you look at the person wearing it that phrase makes sense.

[jimmyjazz 45546]

That article literally points out how Republicans have a collective authoritarian boner yet somehow claims they're in love like Democrats of yore.  

[grazinhorn 472]

Well I guess this goes here.  I think this place has made the rounds before, but CNN has a new story today on the Trump Store - just 12 or so miles from me.  I'd say FML, but I know the town manager there - FHL.  At least I don't think he's Trumpy from what I know, the rest of his family definitely is not.  It's got to be tough on him. 

I do know that the last few times I've been through there the number of people there seemed much smaller than a couple years ago.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/16/politics/trump-store-fans/index.html

And of course the store owner's name is Whitey.

Quote

Walk into Trump Town USA in Boones Mill, Virginia, and you may marvel at the breadth of human creativity, as long as you’re not distracted by how the merchandise tackles some of the most controversial political issues in the most vulgar way possible. The most spectacular specimens are in the back right corner: pairs of silvery, veiny metal testicles hanging from a ring and wrapped in protective clear plastic. “That’s Trump’s balls,” the store’s owner, Whitey Taylor, explains. The smaller set costs $75, the larger, $125. They’re heavy.

 

Quote

It’s like the Cave of Wonders from the movie Aladdin, except with more references to butts, poop and pee. A bumper sticker shows a cartoon Trump urinating on “Putin.” A keychain can be squeezed to make a tiny Trump defecate. “Moonie Trump” figurines depict the former president mischievously showing his naked backside.

 

Quote

But while Taylor offers many items denigrating President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their Democratic Party, they don’t sell well. “They like the slogan. They like to read it,” Taylor said of the anti-Biden merchandise. But, “they won’t wear it.” Taylor had offered merch with a picture of Hillary Clinton in prison, “And they would say, ‘I don’t want that b*tch’s picture on my back.’ It was terrible.”

 

Quote

His first item was a white T-shirt, and on the back, it read, “Donald Trump: Finally someone with balls.” Taylor said, “I became known as ‘the Balls Man’ on the tour.” If he skipped a campaign rally, other merchants would tell him college kids had come looking for him, asking, “Where’s the Balls Man?”

 

^^^^^^

Somebody with better skills than I have needs to put some Balls (man) on his chin.

 

Edited January 16 by grazinhorn
balls, they're heavy.

[TexasEd 8064]

13 minutes ago, grazinhorn said:

Well I guess this goes here.  I think this place has made the rounds before, but CNN has a new story today on the Trump Store - just 12 or so miles from me.  I'd say FML, but I know the town manager there - FHL.  At least I don't think he's Trumpy from what I know, the rest of his family definitely is not.  It's got to be tough on him. 

I do know that the last few times I've been through there the number of people there seemed much smaller than a couple years ago.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/16/politics/trump-store-fans/index.html

And of course the store owner's name is Whitey.

 

 

 

 

Sounds like he is fond of scat porn.  Probably a poster at ShaggyBevo

Edited January 16 by TexasEd

[Neonmoon 38127]

This is a fun graph of Trump taking credit for job growth he inherited and then blaming Obama when it tanked 

[Brisketexan 104563]

54 minutes ago, Red Five said:

So much to choose from, but I think "World peace" was my favorite. 

[TwiceHorn 31265]

46 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

That article literally points out how Republicans have a collective authoritarian boner yet somehow claims they're in love like Democrats of yore.  

Yeah, they're both falling in line and falling into some sort of twisted, perverted lust

[Goredho 17345]

16 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

MAGA gonna have to cancel culture Home Depot

 

Countdown to videos of duffuses blowing up their Dewalt power tools with Tannerite in 3... 2... 1...

[YGIFS 19449]

MAGA:  "Look, we were gonna go and march on Home Depot to protest Langone's comments about our Dear Leader.  But there were too many Mexicans in the parking lot!"  

[TheStoicPaisano 9904]

Shit they're already in training. MAGAts? Mexicans? Porque no los dos?

 

[Aqua Buddha 14501]

 

[Bozo_Casanova 26277]

6 hours ago, TexasEd said:

Sounds like he is fond of scat porn.  Probably a poster at ShaggyBevo

I think we found 8BadMofo

[tx 3 putt 76322]

[tx 3 putt 76322]

 

[F250 28680]

1 hour ago, Aqua Buddha said:

 

I'm pretty sure that was uncle boobs in the background.

[Biff Tannen 45491]

We are going to have to do something with these people. If they don’t fix themselves. 

[Irwin F Fletcher 3550]

Narrator: They didn't fix themselves.

[Biff Tannen 45491]

Well then we fix the glitch. So it’ll just work itself out naturally. Might need to call in @YGIFS

[Irwin F Fletcher 3550]

I'd like to be the fly on the wall to watch @YGIFS "fix" the glitch.

[YGIFS 19449]

Wait, what are we doing again?  Or I mean, not doing?  Or what are we pretending not to be doing?  I am legit confused.  I only have a few thoughts on the final solution to the maga question.  I'm not an idea guy, I was hoping that's where y'all came in.  I mean, they're stupid, vulnerable, easily fooled, and packing heat.  There has got to be a way to get them to think that one another is out to get them so they start murdering each other but I'm just not imaginative enough to figure out how to arrange it.  

It is something with radio waves or Jason Aldean records being played backwards?  If they're so convinced that false flag operations are occurring all around them, why not let that be the precursor?  

[Biff Tannen 45491]

14 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

Wait, what are we doing again?  Or I mean, not doing?  Or what are we pretending not to be doing?  I am legit confused.  I only have a few thoughts on the final solution to the maga question.  I'm not an idea guy, I was hoping that's where y'all came in.  I mean, they're stupid, vulnerable, easily fooled, and packing heat.  There has got to be a way to get them to think that one another is out to get them so they start murdering each other but I'm just not imaginative enough to figure out how to arrange it.  

It is something with radio waves or Jason Aldean records being played backwards?  If they're so convinced that false flag operations are occurring all around them, why not let that be the precursor?  

I think we will know a lot more when/if dotard loses in November. 

[cactusflinthead 27594]

 

[Slacks 6791]

1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

good immigrants are good. bad immigrants are bad.

he's talking about those immigrants.

 

[bolverk 29397]

8 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

That article literally points out how Republicans have a collective authoritarian boner yet somehow claims they're in love like Democrats of yore.  

I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say here. There was a Bill Clinton quote about how Dems fall in love with candidates while Goppers fall in line.

Then, there was a clear statement that this axiom doesn't hold true anymore. In fact, it's the opposite today. Trumpers are enthralled with Trump to the point that they'd almost be happy to have him as a dictator as a key point of evidence that they've "fallen in love".

Is your comment a criticism? I really don't know what point you're making.

7 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Yeah, they're both falling in line and falling into some sort of twisted, perverted lust

Both? Is this a "both sides" statement? We have one side comparing Trump to someone chosen by God, and the other saying, "That'll do, pig. You're holding the line." Believe me, there is no "lust" for Biden from the progressives.

1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

I think what he's trying to say is that white Nordic immigration to the US is okay while brown Latin immigration is not. Admittedly, it's a garbled message that doesn't make sense unless you're a racist fuck.

[Slacks 6791]

28 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

final solution to the maga question. 

this is (at least) your 2nd time using this in a week or so.

it's unnecessary.

[bolverk 29397]

2 minutes ago, Slacks said:

good immigrants are good. bad immigrants are bad.

he's talking about those immigrants.

 

[tx 3 putt 76322]

[YGIFS 19449]

Deli guy: “Number 37, next please!”

#37: “yes, I’d like 290 pounds of the glazed head cheese there on the left.  Thank you.”  

[Biff Tannen 45491]

55 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

Deli guy: “Number 37, next please!”

#37: “yes, I’d like 290 pounds of the glazed head cheese there on the left.  Thank you.”  

I want all the ham. /Patton Oswalt

[Biff Tannen 45491]

7 hours ago, cactusflinthead said:

 

Heretically sealed?  Is that a typo or on purpose?

[YGIFS 19449]

1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said:

I want all the ham. /Patton Oswalt

Csb/ really great comics hate when you quote their material back them.  But I ran into him once and just said, “hey man, big fan. You have the best deli jokes out there.”  And he smiled, shook my hand and said, “I get a lotta love for that deli bit and it wasn’t even written by a Jew, how crazy is that?”  I thought I was gonna piss myself with the kosher deli curveball.  Nice guy, not a big fan of Trump from what I gather.  

[Pato del Muerto 52342]

1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said:

Heretically sealed?  Is that a typo or on purpose?

I gave him the benefit of the doubt on that one

[Aqua Buddha 14501]

9 hours ago, cactusflinthead said:

 

The Republicans have lost literally everything since 2016 and even 2022 against historical trends yet the media will you believe the people that have been voting against them in every election are now going to show up and vote for Trump?

 

M'kay.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13410]

Caucuses are bad to fully judge how well a candidate does, and the IA weather this year made it a doubly poor indicator but it's horrible for Trump if he only can only get 50% of the vote against DeSantis, Haley and Vivek. While he's obviously not the incumbent, Trump isn't far from it in the eyes of the GOP.

If Biden and the Dems would have held an IA caucus this week, and Biden would have only received 50%, there would be Dem calls for him to drop out. 

If Trump can't pull 70% in NH, NV, SC and MI in the next month, I see it as a sign that there are too many Never Trumpers out there. Sure some would come around to vote against Biden but not all. Trump needs Haley and DeSantis to drop out ASAP to hide this weakness. Biden needs them both to stay in.

[Pato del Muerto 52342]

Yeah it’s never cold in Iowa in January.   Those folks didn’t know how to handle it. 
 

I’d believe complacency until the general before I’d believe weather was a factor. Roads weren’t impassable. 

Edited January 17 by Pato del Muerto

[tx 3 putt 76322]

 

[Red Five 40633]

The "are you better off than you were four years ago" is REALLY not a place they want to go. On his way out the door, the economy was in the trash, we were in the middle of a pandemic, he had just been impeached again, and we were cleaning up the Capitol from his attack there. 

[WhatTheBuck 28705]

4 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Yeah it’s never cold in Iowa in January.   Those folks didn’t know how to handle it. 
 

I’d believe complacency until the general before I’d believe weather was a factor. Roads weren’t impassable. 

Maybe the fact that the outcome was predetermined had something to do with the low turnout. Those that did show up probably made for a sample size large enough to accurately represent the electorate overall. 

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

From The Ledge I toss out the comment that while the media over-reacts with respect to Iowa, I rather wish they'd pipe down a bit. Lotta months left and the GOP with their backs against the wall four years ago did some pretty nasty shit, some of which investigators never figured out the identities of the culprits involved or they managed to skate on technicalities.  Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Elon, Stephen Miller, and all the $$ names that have managed to fly under the radar are not completely ignorant as to what the numbers show. The question is, to what lengths are they willing to go and I am not sure I want to know the answer to that.

Aside from participating (in the real world) I'm sitting on The Ledge for the duration. The warnings that were deemed as 'crying wolf' ended up splashing across our screens in that January and we're still in the woods as far as I'm concerned. Voters can defeat the autocratic wannabes, but it's going to take courage, conviction, some brains, and a great deal of love.

Edited January 17 by Mrs Whiggins

[C-Man 27042]

[Francisco 2.0 32318]

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/01/trump-wants-revengeand-so-does-his-base/677147/

 

Quote

Last night’s Iowa caucus results confirm that Donald Trump is almost certainly headed for the GOP presidential nomination. So much for the hopes of establishment Republicans (the handful who remain, anyway) and other conservatives that voters would refuse to join Trump’s personal crusade for vengeance against the American system of government.

Such hopes were always the thinnest of reeds: The Republican base actively embraces Trump’s grievances; it emulates his pettiness; it supports his childlike inability to accept responsibility. These voters are not sighing in resignation and voting for the lesser of two or three or four evils. They are getting what they want—because they, too, are set on revenge.

 

Quote

These voters are not settling a political score. Rather, they want to get even with other Americans, their own neighbors, for a simmering (and likely unexpected) humiliation that many of them seem to have felt ever since swearing loyalty to Trump.

A lot of people, especially in the media, have a hard time accepting this simple truth. Millions of Americans, stung by the electoral rebukes of their fellow citizens, have become so resentful and detached from reality that they have plunged into a moral void, a vortex that disintegrates questions of politics or policies and replaces them with heroic fantasies of redeeming a supposedly fallen nation.

 

Quote

Poll numbers on this issue are dispiriting. A third of Republicans—and four in 10 voters who have a favorable view of Trump—agree with the statement that “true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” But violence against whom? We are not under foreign occupation. When people talk about “resorting to violence” they are, by default, talking about violence against their fellow citizens, some of whom have already been threatened merely for working in their communities as election volunteers.

 

 

Spoiler

But perhaps such views are merely overheated samplings from super-red MAGA pockets, and the heartland voters are more sensible. No such luck. In Iowa, 19 percent of 502 likely GOP caucus attendees said Trump’s statement that he might have “no choice” but to lock up his political opponents made them more inclined to vote for him. One out of five might not seem like a lot, but another 43 percent said they didn’t care one way or another. Trump’s ranting about “terminating” parts of the Constitution made only 14 percent more likely to vote for him, but again, 36 percent didn’t care. What a triumph: Only one in eight Iowa GOP caucus voters supports trashing the Constitution.

The words of actual Trump supporters are even more unnerving than looking at raw poll numbers. My friend, the writer David French, lives deep in MAGA country. “You can go to social gatherings here in the South,” he wrotelast week, and hear people whisper to friends, “Don’t talk about politics in front of Dad. He’s out of control.” David is also a lawyer, and he notes:

I know that rage and conspiracies aren’t unique to the right. During my litigation career, I frequently faced off against the worst excesses of the radical left. But never before have I seen extremism penetrate a vast American community so deeply, so completely and so comprehensively.

Meanwhile, much farther north, my colleague McKay Coppins attended a Trump rally in Iowa earlier this month, where he spoke with a nice lady named Kris, “a 71-year-old retired nurse in orthopedic sneakers” who watches Trump rallies on Rumble or FrankSpeech (a platform launched by the MyPillow founder, Mike Lindell) and believes that the 2020 election was “most definitely” stolen.

“You think Trump should still be president?” I asked.

“By all means,” she said. “And I think behind the scenes he maybe is doing a little more than what we know about.”

“What do you mean?”

“Military-wise,” she said. “The military is supposed to be for the people, against tyrannical governments,” she went on to explain. “I hope he’s guiding the military to be able to step in and do what they need to do. Because right now, I’d say government’s very tyrannical.” If the Democrats try to steal the election again in 2024, she told me, the Trump-sympathetic elements of the military might need to seize control.

What can turn an ordinary person—a father, the pleasant older lady who lives down the street—into the family powder keg, or even a deluded seditionist who hopes the U.S. military will seize control of the country?

The usual answer, when Trump ran the first time, was that these were “forgotten” voters, people “left behind” by globalization and a leftist political culture, who were hurling out a giant primal yawp of opposition. These were never empirically sustainable explanations, but empathetic reporters and deeply concerned politicians went on listening tours to diners and gas stations anyway. When ordinary Americans would say shocking, indecent, and un-American things, their flummoxed interlocutors remained steadfast in the belief that more listening and more empathetic nodding would put things right in a few years.

And yet, nothing worked. Trump and his right-wing media courtiers—who tend to the anger of the older, white middle class the way florists lovingly raise orchids—fed the GOP base a continual stream of rage, especially as Trump started to pile up electoral defeats. These voters now want to get even with their fellow citizens not for what’s been done to Trump but for what they feel has been done to them.They were certain that 2016 would finally bring them the recognition and respect they craved. Instead, Trump set them up for a steady diet of ego-bruising rebukes from other voters.

Much like Trump himself, these voters are unable to accept what’s happened over the past several years. Trump, in so many ways, quickly made fools of them; his various inanities, failures, and possible crimes sent them scrambling for ever more bizarre rationalizations, defenses of the indefensible that separated them from family and friends. If in 2016 they suspected, rightly or wrongly, that many Americans looked down on them for any number of reasons, they now know with certainty that millions of people look down on them—not for who they are but for what they’ve supported so vocally.

Strings of losses, including the 2018 Democratic-wave election, Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, and the “red wave” that never happened in 2022, forced MAGA voters to construct an alternate reality in which the patriotic, hardworking majority has been repeatedly thwarted by schemes so complicated that SPECTRE would have struggled to execute them. Worse, a culture (especially in the media) that for a time was desperate to understand their views now either ignores them or treats them as dangerous curiosities.

The only good thing that came out of Iowa last night is that we are now spared further public performances from Vivek Ramaswamy. And it is a hopeful sign that nearly half of the caucus-goers chose someone besides Trump. But we are fooling ourselves if we think that the coming year will be just another peaceful competition between two political parties. Trump wants payback; so do millions of voters who have no one to blame for their sense of humiliation but themselves.

 

[Chad Fuck 17561]

The "are you better off than you were four years ago" is REALLY not a place they want to go. On his way out the door, the economy was in the trash, we were in the middle of a pandemic, he had just been impeached again, and we were cleaning up the Capitol from his attack there. 

Ahem, the truth doesn’t matter anymore. Antifa out front shoulda toldja.

[Brisketexan 104563]

7 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/01/trump-wants-revengeand-so-does-his-base/677147/

 

 

 

 

 

  Hide contents

But perhaps such views are merely overheated samplings from super-red MAGA pockets, and the heartland voters are more sensible. No such luck. In Iowa, 19 percent of 502 likely GOP caucus attendees said Trump’s statement that he might have “no choice” but to lock up his political opponents made them more inclined to vote for him. One out of five might not seem like a lot, but another 43 percent said they didn’t care one way or another. Trump’s ranting about “terminating” parts of the Constitution made only 14 percent more likely to vote for him, but again, 36 percent didn’t care. What a triumph: Only one in eight Iowa GOP caucus voters supports trashing the Constitution.

The words of actual Trump supporters are even more unnerving than looking at raw poll numbers. My friend, the writer David French, lives deep in MAGA country. “You can go to social gatherings here in the South,” he wrotelast week, and hear people whisper to friends, “Don’t talk about politics in front of Dad. He’s out of control.” David is also a lawyer, and he notes:

I know that rage and conspiracies aren’t unique to the right. During my litigation career, I frequently faced off against the worst excesses of the radical left. But never before have I seen extremism penetrate a vast American community so deeply, so completely and so comprehensively.

Meanwhile, much farther north, my colleague McKay Coppins attended a Trump rally in Iowa earlier this month, where he spoke with a nice lady named Kris, “a 71-year-old retired nurse in orthopedic sneakers” who watches Trump rallies on Rumble or FrankSpeech (a platform launched by the MyPillow founder, Mike Lindell) and believes that the 2020 election was “most definitely” stolen.

“You think Trump should still be president?” I asked.

“By all means,” she said. “And I think behind the scenes he maybe is doing a little more than what we know about.”

“What do you mean?”

“Military-wise,” she said. “The military is supposed to be for the people, against tyrannical governments,” she went on to explain. “I hope he’s guiding the military to be able to step in and do what they need to do. Because right now, I’d say government’s very tyrannical.” If the Democrats try to steal the election again in 2024, she told me, the Trump-sympathetic elements of the military might need to seize control.

What can turn an ordinary person—a father, the pleasant older lady who lives down the street—into the family powder keg, or even a deluded seditionist who hopes the U.S. military will seize control of the country?

The usual answer, when Trump ran the first time, was that these were “forgotten” voters, people “left behind” by globalization and a leftist political culture, who were hurling out a giant primal yawp of opposition. These were never empirically sustainable explanations, but empathetic reporters and deeply concerned politicians went on listening tours to diners and gas stations anyway. When ordinary Americans would say shocking, indecent, and un-American things, their flummoxed interlocutors remained steadfast in the belief that more listening and more empathetic nodding would put things right in a few years.

And yet, nothing worked. Trump and his right-wing media courtiers—who tend to the anger of the older, white middle class the way florists lovingly raise orchids—fed the GOP base a continual stream of rage, especially as Trump started to pile up electoral defeats. These voters now want to get even with their fellow citizens not for what’s been done to Trump but for what they feel has been done to them.They were certain that 2016 would finally bring them the recognition and respect they craved. Instead, Trump set them up for a steady diet of ego-bruising rebukes from other voters.

Much like Trump himself, these voters are unable to accept what’s happened over the past several years. Trump, in so many ways, quickly made fools of them; his various inanities, failures, and possible crimes sent them scrambling for ever more bizarre rationalizations, defenses of the indefensible that separated them from family and friends. If in 2016 they suspected, rightly or wrongly, that many Americans looked down on them for any number of reasons, they now know with certainty that millions of people look down on them—not for who they are but for what they’ve supported so vocally.

Strings of losses, including the 2018 Democratic-wave election, Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, and the “red wave” that never happened in 2022, forced MAGA voters to construct an alternate reality in which the patriotic, hardworking majority has been repeatedly thwarted by schemes so complicated that SPECTRE would have struggled to execute them. Worse, a culture (especially in the media) that for a time was desperate to understand their views now either ignores them or treats them as dangerous curiosities.

The only good thing that came out of Iowa last night is that we are now spared further public performances from Vivek Ramaswamy. And it is a hopeful sign that nearly half of the caucus-goers chose someone besides Trump. But we are fooling ourselves if we think that the coming year will be just another peaceful competition between two political parties. Trump wants payback; so do millions of voters who have no one to blame for their sense of humiliation but themselves.

 

And y'all know the answer.

They will resort to violence.  And we will have to shoot them.  That's what happens when traitors engage in a violent insurrection against the Republic.  We shot them in 1861-65.  We can, and must, do so again if they take up arms against the Republic.  Fuck around?  Then find out.

I'm sorry that they're stupid, deluded, and/or insane.  Tough shit.  Attack my country, you should fucking die.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13410]

1 hour ago, Red Five said:

The "are you better off than you were four years ago" is REALLY not a place they want to go. On his way out the door, the economy was in the trash, we were in the middle of a pandemic, he had just been impeached again, and we were cleaning up the Capitol from his attack there. 

If you're a 40+ homeowner who makes more than the average income, it's almost impossible that you're not better off today than you were in 2020 (pandemic) or even 2019 (pre-pandemic.)

Or if you're worse off today, you've either had bad luck or made some bad decisions. 

I bet Ted Cruz is worth several million more today than he was in 2019. If not much more. 

 

 

[Francisco 2.0 32318]

 

 

 

 

[Red Five 40633]

[tx 3 putt 76322]

 

[YGIFS 19449]

Is she holding a fucking cowbell?

[jimmyjazz 45546]

1 minute ago, YGIFS said:

Is she holding a fucking cowbell?

That would be awesome, but it appears that she's resting her hand on the back of a 1965 era auditorium chair.