Not quick, not clean, not overwhelming
Whether Trump goes or not, Trumpism isn’t going anywhere.
Democrats had hoped that four years of turmoil, attacks on norms and institutions and mendacity – plus a pandemic that cost 230,000 lives – would result in a quick, clean and overwhelming repudiation of the 45th president.
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But on another miserable night for pollsters, it did not turn out that way. Trump proved resilient and increased his vote in Florida, Texas and other states. He found even more white working-class voters than last time and chipped away at Democratic support among Latinos. His cult-of-personality campaign rallies were as enthusiastic and rambunctious as ever.
Weird, isn’t it? His cult of loud boring stupid self-obsessed “personality” remains popular. Why? What’s to like? I’ll never understand it. I don’t mean it’s not my taste but I can see why people like it, I mean I can’t for the life of me see what there is to like. It’s not as if he’s genuinely funny, or charismatic, or refreshing. He’s none of those things. Bugs Bunny is those things, but Trump is a noisier Elmer Fudd.
When some Americans protested “This is not who we are”, Trump voters replied: “This is exactly who we are – and we’re not going anywhere.”
“The so-called moral outrage around Trump’s presidency did not produce any substantive shift in his Republican support,” tweeted Eddie Glaude, a professor at Princeton University and author of Democracy in Black. “In fact, he expanded his base among white voters. Trump continues to flourish in the intersection of greed, selfishness and racism.”
And misogyny; never forget the misogyny.
EVERYONE forgets the misogyny. Everyone who wants to get published, anyway.
We say that racism is a problem in the USA … and it is. But what the USA really fears is a woman … either as the leader of the country or “a heartbeat away” from being the leader.
To understand it all you have to do is imagine at what age would republican behavior be appropriate. Start at 25 and go backwards. If you stay away from age diseases like dementia and Alzheimers, you have to go back to the uncivilized early childhood brain to see where the elite and unwashed supporters of the republican field meet reality. Unfortunately, they have the same power politically as the adults and there’s no accountability that makes the consequences fall on only their heads.
In fact, it appears there is no accountability that makes the consequences fall on their heads at all. Democrat presidents do not punish their opponents when they are in power. The media constantly tells us we must “understand them” and work with them, while not saying anything like that to them. WE must always be the ones to give…and give big…to build coalitions and compromises. And the only way to work with the conservatives is to acquiesce to every single thing they want…at which time, they will move the goalposts and start demanding still more. And more. And more.
iknklast, that is also an exact description of the transgender movement’s expectations of women.
AoS, yeah. Sometimes it seems like we’re caught between the two extremes – sort of the meat in an ideology sandwich.