GOP strategist @MattMackowiak just projectile posted a stunning 53-post tweet storm tracing the evolution of Trump as their candidate. What’s missing is about 300 years of deliberate, strategic history, but that isn’t the point of this. I’m good with someone starting at Wendell Willkie, as long as one ends up where Mackowiak finally ended up.
I will keep this brief because it is a must-read deep dive into and assignment of Republican responsibility for Trump. As in, it includes a series of tweets that begin with “I blame” and includes himself and Republican voters. Among the many. And it looks at the history of the strategy that created this yam-colored monster and unleashed him on us villagers (thankfully, we have our battle-tested “H”-emblazoned pitchforks).
Sadly (for me, to be honest), I had this exact conversation (as in, many of Matt’s tweets were leaping from my Democratic lips) with a Republican friend a few years back, when he insisted that there was not a “messaging problem” in his party and that they could successfully run a Black candidate since “Black people voted for Obama because he was Black.” Talking to a living Obama supporter who was Black did not dent that thickheaded belief. And he ended all contact after that crazy discussion (I stayed calm; he turned physically red with anger).
Even some of the Republican tweets replying to Matt are thoughtful and even introspective. I think I am examining my own incredulity and distrust the most right now; I really no longer believe they are able to see and speak honestly and clearly, much less own their singular responsibility for the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic mess that is their party, as well as a dwindling but energetic subset of our citizenry.
Just some snippets to entice you to click and read:
@MattMackowiak telling the truth and shaming the Donald devil:
5/ The birther conspiracy that Trump launched in 2011 was a crucial moment for the conservative movement. We knew Obama wasn't born in Kenya
7/ The reality is Trump is clearly a racist. And this was the first sign. Obama being born in Kenya would have required a massive coverup.
@MattMackowiak naming names:
47/ I blame: > The conservative media whores who put ratings ahead of principle (Hannity, Ingraham, O'Reilly). Even Rush.
48/ I blame: > The immigration hardliners that let one issue override EVERYTHING ELSE (Sessions, Numbers USA, Schlafly, Coulter)
53/ I blame: > Our voters, at least 43% of them in the primary, for choosing someone manifestly unqualified and unbalanced.
[there are many more]
A Republican doing his best to keep up (better than my former friend did) in an exchange with an equally stunned Democrat replying to Matt:
@KevinWGlass:
@nataliereed84 My response as someone who played into it: me & "GOP elites" did not buy the explanation that racial animus drove much.
@nataliereed84 that yes, the GOP had a bunch of racists, but whatever racial undertones of prominent rhetoric were overimagined by the Left.
@nataliereed84 Trump has proven us wrong! Left critics of the Right were correct. We were wrong.
@nataliereed84 That doesn't mean that, like, at the time, we all knew what was going on but were trying to hide it.
@nataliereed84 (well, there was some of that, too.)
Matt’s analysis isn’t all about race. The storm also conjures up the failed alliances, the lost opportunity at the convention, etc. It is comprehensive, it is direct, it is analytical, it is simple and it is surprising.
Here’s to the day that logical, researched, reflective, responsible analysis by a Republican strategist is the norm and not a work-dropping, diary-posting must.
Still not sure I trust it. But had to SHARE IT.