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A Brief Disquisition on What Is Happening to the GOP and Why
The politics of hate and politics of protest have been around since the dawn of the Republic. You wouldn't believe the scurrilous attacks in the press on Jefferson or Jackson, or Lincoln (who was caricaturized in northern papers as a baboon). But it intensified in the late 1960s in Vietnam Era and the wake of the Civil Rights, feminist, and green movements when Nixon (advised by Roger Ailes, currently the director of Fox News) ran a first campaign based on law and order that targeted everyone from militant African American groups, to hippies, to anti-war protesters, to the so-called liberal media and won. Nixon narrowly defeated Humphrey as the election winnowed down to his winning Ohio in the wee hours of the morning. Although it had no effect on Nixon's winning, George Wallace won 47 electoral votes by getting nearly 10 million of the 62 million votes cast (13.5% of all votes), and he won Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Georgia. Wallace basically ran on a platform of "there's not a dime worth of difference between Nixon and Humphrey"; he was the vehicle of anger and protest against the establishment. He was Trump before there was a Trump.
The next major evolution in the politics of anger came in the 2000 campaign. George W. Bush, advised by Karl Rove, used incredibly dirty and false campaigning to knock off John McCain in the South Carolina primary (leaflets and phone calls termed him a brainwashed "Manchurian candidate" and claimed that he had fathered a child out of wedlock with a black New York prostitute--a lie about his adopted young daughter from Bangladesh that worked very well in such a racist state). In the general election, Rove created a new strategy that would change American politics, divide the country, and ultimately, I think, lead to the eventual demise of the Republican Party. Instead of moving to the middle to attract moderate and independent voters, the conventional wisdom for ages, Rove's strategy called for energizing the right wing base, a coalition of social conservatives, big business, religious extremists, people who hated Bill Clinton, and people who were simply pissed off. Although Gore ran as bad a campaign as I've ever seen, and may have been robbed of the election in Florida by Bush's brother Jeb, the point is that the strategy worked. At the same time, Fox News and talk radio shows were fanning the fuel of hatred and growing that angry base. A new strategy had now won an election. You didn't need the middle, the moderates, and the independents if you got a large enough percentage of your base.
But this strategy exploded in the long run. The GOP was now in debt to, and increasingly controlled by, the extreme right wing. This process accelerated when the Tea Party changed from being about economic issues to being a grab bag of social issues. Moderate Republicans were the first to be run out of the party. Then lifelong conservative Republicans were labelled RINOS and excommunicated. A new verb--"getting tea partied"--entered the lexicon to describe conservatives who lost in the Republican primaries to extremists, who then often lost a secure conservative Republican seat to a Democrat after they talked about how a child of rape is God's will and a blessing. Anything short of accepting the entire platform and principles of the extreme right abetted by 24/7 Fox shows got you the boot. If you didn't pass the new litmus tests of being ardently pro-life, anti immigration reform (which had been a Republican initiative from Reagan through even Jeb Bush), pro war, anti-education, anti-science, anti-intellectual, not just opposing but hating liberals, pro the new extreme NRA, born again fundamentalist Christian, anti-Muslim, for trickle down economics, and xenophobic--you were no longer welcome in the party. In the 2008 election, Barack Obama held out a politics of hope, with the same appeal as Reagan's "morning in America" campaign; he established a powerful ground game through the internet and volunteers; and he both energized the Democratic base and swept the independents. He easily defeated John McCain, who was crippled from the start by having to appeal to the now crazy right wing Republican base while still trying to appear as the centrist he had been before he got Bushwhacked in 2000. This culminated in his choice of Sarah Palin and sealed his fate. She did energize the base, but she scared off everyone else, even lifelong Republicans.
The election of Obama, and his reelection against a former moderate Republican Mitt Romney who was trying desperately to appeal to that same right wing base, led to 8 years in which the politics of hate exploded. Although the election of our first African American president was much heralded across the board, it also brought to the fore not only the overt racism in the country, but more important the latent racism that had always lay just under the surface. In truth, Obama was merely a moderate to liberal Democrat whose policies often infuriated the far left, but he was painted on Fox News, on those thousands of right wing radio stations, in fundamentalist pulpits, and in social media as some sort of horrifying caricature. Born in Hawaii and raised after his mother's death by his Kansas grandparents who descended from early 17th-century Puritan stock, nearly half of registered Republican voters insisted, despite all evidence, that he was a foreigner from Kenya. A devout Christian his whole life who begins every day by reading from the bible, he was considered a Muslim by them, with many believing he was some kind of jihadist plant (shades of the Bush campaign painting McCain as the Manchurian candidate in 2000). Incited by Fox and other outlets, he soon became a tyrant who was going to end democracy and set up a dictatorship, he was going to take away everyone's guns, he was setting up death panels, he was not going to let us fight another Middle East war, the reason for ISIS was that he had pulled out of Iraq (the real reason for ISIS is that Bush's war had destabilized the region and created a power vacuum that ISIS filled), he was intent on nuking Israel, he appeased Iran, he had ordered the military to invade Texas, he wouldn't declare war on Russia over the Ukraine, he didn't understand the Constitution (although he was on the Harvard Law Review and had been a professor of Constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School), his wife was a transvestite, his daughters would become pole dancers because they liked Beyonce (this one came from the ultimate hypocrite Huckabee), and he was, to sum it up, nothing less than Hitler. He might even be the antichrist.
From the start, the Republicans in the House and Senate were in a quandary. Their leaders were not insane--Boehner and McConnell were old-style conservatives who had worked across the aisle their whole lives--but by 2010 so large a portion of their fellow members were extremist Republicans of the Tea Party stripe, they had to move to the far right to keep from being ousted. Even when he did this, Boehner couldn't control his caucus, a first for a Majority Leader of the House. He was dealing with people who, if they couldn't have 100% of what they wanted, would rather take down the whole country than compromise on anything. For the first time since John Quincy Adams' presidency in 1824, an opposition Congress simply filibustered and obstructed everything, even bills that their constituents supported (like the Veterans Jobs Bill), for no other reason than to make a sitting President look bad. When the strategy led to Obama's reelection, they doubled down, and the party tilted even more to the utterly insane after the 2014 midterms, which brought us creatures like Tom Cotton and Joni Ernst.
They were fueled by the big money unleashed by Citizens United; the Koch brothers with their own pro oil and anti renewable energy agenda stepped to the fore with their offer of a billion dollars to the candidate they would back; and the hatred exploded when the conservative Supreme Court upheld same-sex marriage and the Affordable Health Care Act. That same court had also gutted the 1964 Voting Rights Act, enabling the further disenfranchisement of minority voters, and Citizens United, which changed the meaning of the 14th Amendment and made elections the whim of the billionaires. But that didn't matter to the right, because, like children, they had to get everything they wanted. The extent of their ignorance and lack of education was shown in their declaring that the Supreme Court was unconstitutional, which is literally impossible. According to the Constitution, which the far right invokes but few have ever read, let alone studied, the Supreme Court is the branch of government that decides what is and what is not constitutional. This is like declaring that water is not wet or that we don't breathe air. But even crazy Antonin Scalia had said as much, and this fed the flames of them believing that somehow, in some way, Obama had destroyed the Constitution.
Which brings us to the present. In the Democratic Party, the nomination had all but been bestowed upon Hillary Clinton, who had been carefully preparing for 2016 ever since she became Secretary of State in 2008. There was to be no process, no serous opposition, and the primaries were to be a formality on her march to the White House. It was her right, she was entitled to it, and after all, she had been unfairly knocked off from out of nowhere in 2008 by a guy whom no one knew existed until 2004. She had her war chest, she took positions only when her polls told her they would get her votes, she led from behind, and she waited patiently to receive her crown. And then Bernie Sanders entered the race, wrecking her entire script.
Over in the Republican Party, or whatever this thing is that now calls itself the Republican Party, a host of candidates emerged, but this was supposed to be decided by Nixon's old advisor, Roger Ailes of Fox News, and by the Kochs and whomever they decided to back. At first the Kochs leaned toward Scott Walker, a college dropout who had wrecked a state but would be the perfect puppet, supporting any and everything the Kochs wanted, up to and including cleaning their bathrooms and mowing their lawns. But once Jeb Bush entered the race, and moved as far right as he could with the alacrity of a person trying to escape a theater on fire, the Kochs pulled back on Walker because it was clear that Bush was electable. The crazy right wing base didn't trust him. 40% of registered Republicans said they wouldn't vote for him in a general election. But with Bush moving to the right, this could be fixed, especially once they whipped up a frenzy of hate toward Clinton, which they immediately started doing. And then Donald Trump entered the race, wrecking Fox's and the Koch's entire script.
There was now a ton of anger, frustration, and discontent throughout the country, as roughly 14 years of divisiveness and Congressional obstructionism had left people with a sense that everything was out of control and that the people no longer had any say in government. America was becoming unrecognizable and we had lost our country. The right looked at the landscape and saw the dreaded Obama--a lightning rod for everything that they felt was wrong. They saw the Muslim world destroying us, the government taking away our guns, immigrants pouring across the border, welfare queens wrecking the budget, fetuses being murdered, Christianity under attack, gays and lesbians everywhere, Planned Parenthood and the lies spread about it, the Environmental Protection Agency, unions, Israel about to be destroyed by nuclear war, concern about global warming that they didn't want to believe (and remember, these are people who do not believe in science or evidence), lawlessness, debt, and a boogeyman everywhere they looked.
The left, which was never enamored of Hillary Clinton to begin with, saw a neo-con returning to the White House, a war on women, a war on African Americans, a war on Latino/Latina Americans, the continued destruction of the environment and the coming of a mass extinction, disenfranchisement of minority voters, a party that couldn't wait for their next war in the Middle East, the destruction of the middle class by trickle down economics, income disparities that hadn't existed since the 1890s, the destruction of higher education by Republican governors, a generation of students wiped out by unpayable loans caused by ridiculous tuitions, the scaling back of Pell Grants, mass shootings, religious intolerance, and the revival of racist political appeals. Some issues cut across ideological lines. Both sides were appalled by the militarized police state, and both sides were alarmed by the role of big money taking over government. No one liked Wall Street, which had nearly sent us into a second Great Depression and then took trillions of dollars and pocketed it. But each side blamed the other for that.
Enter upon the scene our two unconventional candidates. They had three things in common. First, both tapped into the discontent and neither cared about corporate campaign contributions. Sanders was a populist who wouldn't take them and Trump was a multi-billionaire and didn't need them. This scared the hell out of corporate America and made them see these candidates as the real threat to their oligarchy. Second, both said what they thought and didn't take a poll first to see what they should say to attract votes. They spoke their minds and Americans found this incredibly refreshing. Third, neither one could be controlled by anyone or anything. They were both ready to take any position on anything purely on their beliefs, and neither could be co-opted or pressured. Bernie Sanders was a throwback to Franklin D. Roosevelt. He tapped into the anger over the destruction of the middle class, endless wars and the shabby treatment of our veterans, income inequality, big money controlling politics, and the war on the average American citizen.
Donald Trump was a purely protest candidate. His supporters didn't really care about his past positions on pro choice or gun control, his campaign contributions to liberal candidates, his friendship with Bill Clinton (hell, he's also friends with Sarah Palin, so he's just a friendly guy), his irreligiousness, his foul mouth, his bluster, or his three trophy wives. Nor did they care when he shot off his mouth and said extreme or distasteful things. Illegal Mexican immigrants were mostly murderers and rapists although it's possible that some of them are regular people? Sure, why not. He'd build a gigantic wall along the border with a door? Great idea. He has a secret plan to fix everything, from the economy to the Middle East, and don't worry about the details, just trust him (reminiscent of Nixon's secret plan to end the Vietnam War in 1968). Hey, we don't need the details, you're a businessman and we trust you. He said I'm smart and they're stupid. I'm successful and they're losers. McCain's not a war hero, so kiss my ass. He was the Frankenstein monster that the extreme right had paved the way for, and he was proving formidable. Going into the debate, he was beating Bush and everyone else the polls, and he wasn't going away.
The mainstream media and Fox each tried to stop them. The mainstream news first spread the word that Bernie Sanders had no chance. He was merely an amusing Don Quixote on a horse tilting at windmills. Didn't work. Then they simply ignored Sanders' existence. He drew unexpected enthusiastic record crowds everywhere he went, and had to keep finding larger venues to accommodate all the people who wanted to hear him? Never happened. He kept rising in the polls and is now 8% behind Clinton in New Hampshire? What's New Hampshire? Never heard of it. He started getting endorsements from major labor groups? Gosh, what's a labor group? He keeps introducing bills in the Senate--Veterans Jobs Bill, campaign finance reform, cuts in military spending and money going instead to veterans and wounded warriors, reforming Wall Street and banking laws. Shit, we forgot he's still a Senator and keeps showing up to work and doing his job while campaigning. The sonofabitch is everywhere. But forget him, because we just found a piece of the missing Malaysian airliner we need to cover; Anderson Cooper's on his way over there. And don't forget our big story on Kaitlyn Jenner. Let's just pretend that there is no Bernie Sanders, and maybe he'll disappear. But he won't go away, and now Hillary Clinton and the mainstream media are crapping in their pants.
Over on the other side of the world, they had their own problem. Fox hosted a debate, and the word came down from Roger Ailes for his three moderators to take down Trump. Get him the hell out of the way so we can have a Bush-Walker ticket financed by the Kochs that will beat Clinton. The first question was asked of everyone but aimed at Trump. Anyone up there who will not commit to supporting the eventual nominee of the party? Trump looked around, smiled, and raised his hand. Whoops, our first bullet just failed. He caught it in his teeth and spit it back at us. So Bret Baier tried to hammer it home. Just to be clear, Mr. Trump, you are saying that etc. and Trump interrupted him twice replying, I understand your question and you just got my answer. But I pledge to support the candidate if I'm the candidate. That I can do for you. In his high-pitched voice, Rand Paul tried to jump on the monster's back, screaming "he's not a Republican," and Trump just swatted him away like a fly. Then came a question from Megyn Kelly about misogynistic things he's called women over the years. Surely this would kill the monster. Trump made a joke about Rosie O'Donnell and got the biggest laugh of the night. Then they tried to use Jeb Bush to take down Trump, mentioning things he'd said about Trump. Jeb wanted no part of this. He's as scared of Trump as anyone else. So he denied having said anything bad, and replied that he was merely concerned about Trump's tone. This gave The Donald another opening. He thanked Bush for denying the comments that Bush had indeed made, and launched into a diatribe about political correctness and tone. The crowd went wild, and Fox viewers fell hopelessly in love with the man who had just said what they'd been saying for years.
The three Fox soldiers saved their best shot for last, one final missile to fire and kill the monster. How could he explain giving contributions to Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign and to the Clinton Foundation? He knocked off the second part by attacking the Clinton Foundation as corrupt and that he hadn't known that. Score some points with the Hillary haters. And then he checkmated them. He said that until two months ago, he was a businessman and not a politician, and like all businessmen he gave contributions to both sides of campaigns because that's the way it's done if you want to own a politician and get something from them. And he added, that's a broken system, but like my four bankruptcies, as a businessman it's my job to succeed using the laws on the books. And he turned and said, "I've given money to most of the people on this stage," to which only Marco Rubio could reply, "not to me." The others were embarrassingly silent. Chris Wallace made one last feeble attempt to win on this one, asking what he got out of Clinton. And Wallace and Fox got Trumped--"I got her and Bill to come to my wedding. When I said come, they came." Somewhere in his dark lair, Roger Ailes must have thrown a golf club through his tv set. Not only had Trump kicked the shit out of his carefully scripted moderators, but he had just told a truth that everyone already knew about but that no politician had ever had the guts to say. Even I, a lifelong liberal Democrat and a longtime Trump hater, felt myself wanting to hug him for that. In his own blustering way, he turned out to be the only honest person in the room. After an incredible question asking the candidates if God talks to them (if they hear voices in their heads, like Charles Manson, Son of Sam, or Michele Bachmann), Fox crawled home with its tail between its legs.
But The Donald wasn't done. The only politician in history who blurts out his every thought and feeling on Twitter, he launched a series of angry tweets about how he had been treated unfairly at the debate. And as he twitted, he got madder and madder. He even went far over the line attacking Megyn Kelly, saying she had blood coming out of her eyes and suggesting that it was also coming out of a more intimate orifice. Fox and the other candidates replied in a frenzy to kill the Donald. This time, it looked like he had finally fallen. As always, he wouldn't back down, he doubled down, and he kept moving forward. The scheduled keynote speaker at a major conservative gathering in Atlanta, he was called by the organizer of the annual event and asked to apologize for his statement about Kelly, he basically told the guy to go fuck himself. And then he tweeted that out too. Everyone eagerly awaited the first post-debate poll, wondering if the monster that everyone from Rove through Fox had created, the embodiment of all the anger and hate they had inspired, would finally fall, and through his own doing.
The poll came out and like some mythological beast he had only grown stronger. His lead had increased to 23%. The next closest candidate, Ted Cruz, was at 13%. The Fox and Koch candidates, Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, had dropped to a tie for fifth, going down by 3 points, and coming in at a pathetic 7% each. 54% percent of Trump supporters said they would vote for him for president, even if he didn't win the GOP nomination, and 37% said that if he didn't run, they wouldn't vote, even against Clinton. So there you have it. The more they attack him the stronger he gets. Why? Because he sucked up all the hate that Fox and the right wing had spewed toward Obama for years, all the anger that they had created and nurtured, and he became the voice for all of those people. The people who support him have been screaming "fuck you" for over a decade now. Last Thursday, Donald Trump stood in the middle of a stage in the Fox's den, surrounded by his enemies, set up for his execution by Roger Ailes, watched by 24 million voters, and he held up his middle finger to the people who had created him, and bellowed out, "Fuck You!"
I conclude with some relevant Scripture:
"For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up."--Hosea 8:7
"Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood?"--Isaiah 57:4
"Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same."--Job 4:8
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap."--Galatians 6:7
"Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience."--Ephesians 5:6
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness."--Romans 1:18
Here endeth the lesson.