I just want to make one thing clear. There is one group of Americans responsible for Trump remaining in office despite the path of destruction he is leaving in his wake:
Republican Voters.
Listen. We all know about what formed them. Centuries of racism and toxic patriarchy. The recent decades of propaganda. The noise machine and the organizations run by the Kochs and others. The fraudulent religious leaders. And we all know about the bottomless corruption of GOP leadership. We know about the Turtle and Lindsay and the House flame throwers. People without an ounce of moral courage. We know that one of the most evil cabals in the history of democratic politics refuses to stand up to the man they initially despised in ‘16.
But then that’s the point. The GOP political machine is what it is and will never jeopardize its grip on power and wealth. But never forget that these people despise Donald Trump! They wanted no part of him in ’16. Many who are licking his boots right now publicly denounced him, knowing what a disaster he would be.
Today, these pols are appalled by what he has done to agendas in Syria and Ukraine long cherished by the GOP. They are sick to death of his incompetence, of having to defend outrageous bullshit. In the shadows, they complain about being in political hell.
They would drop Trump in a second if they could. They yearn for a COMPETENT autocrat who could help them achieve their agenda far more completely than Trump does. Except for a few extremist ideologues, They DO NOT WANT TO SUPPORT TRUMP!
But they do. Because, as we have said a 1,000 times, they lack moral courage. But why would they need moral courage to oppose him?
Because the base won’t wake up. The polls simply refuse to drop. If Trump dropped to 32% support, the GOP would get religion and start rebuilding its brand. But these people will … not … budge.
And this is the horror of our situation. As horrific as the GOP leadership is, despite the fact that it repudiates realities like the threat to our freaking globe, it is at least realistic enough to see that Donald Trump is a freaking lunatic. And in seeing this, they actually put to shame the GOP voters who steadfastly and proudly refuse to see the reality of the horrors exploding all around them.
Our entire political system and most likely the fate of the earth itself is being dismantled by the 38% or so of our electorate who have committed themselves to absolute loyalty to madness. And of that percentage, only a significantly smaller number has any influence—the ones located in red states and districts. I don’t know enough to calculate that percentage. Maybe 25% (?) of the electorate is keeping the throttle full open in the train speeding toward destruction.
Some of these people are horrific, nasty, overt racist and sexist predators. But you and I both know GOP loyalists who are not really that. Relatively kind, sometimes generous people who mean to do well. I can easily call to mind individuals I know who absolutely bewilder me. How can these generally intelligent, moral, kindly people maintain the polls that keep this destructive lunatic in office?
I have no answers here. Only a lament rooted in an awareness that human life itself may well be endangered by the most destructive movement in human history.
By the waters of Babylon, I have sat down and wept.