In reading comments left on various social media forums, one often sees Republican politicians described as “stupid”, “clownish”, “ignorant”, “spineless”, “cowards”, “gutless” and the like. We see them ridiculed for believing in conspiracy theories and for believing Trump’s breathtaking lies.
To this I say: get real.
Yes, a great many Republican officials do deserve the descriptions above. Louie Gohmert in particular is one of the most wretchedly idiotic adults of whom I have ever heard. But let’s cut through all of the idiocy and nonsense he and other Republicans spout.
They KNOW they’re lying. They know Trump is lying.
They do NOT believe the idiotic conspiracy nonsense they babble about.
They are FULLY AWARE of what they are doing.
They simply don’t care. Whatever it takes for them to win, they will do. They will gleefully feed the hatreds, fears, and irrational beliefs of the Republican base. They will feed the base non-stop bullshit 24/7, if that’s what it takes to get these people to vote against their own interests, even against their own children’s futures.
They are enthusiastically FOR Trump and the horrible Republican programs that are so destructive and harmful to the American people. They may not like Trump as a person, and may in fact despise him. But they love Trump’s racism, his hatred of “uppity” women, the way Trump shovels money into the pockets of the rich, the wildly unqualified right-wing nutjobs Trump is putting on the Federal bench, and the way Trump grinds the faces of the poor and sick into the ground. They get off on it, as a matter of fact.
They are not stupid. They are not “spineless” in bending to Trump’s will. They share that will.
These people want unlimited, unfettered, unrestrained, unaccountable power. They want this power to enrich themselves, enrich their friends, maintain their social status, and forcibly impose their so-called “values” on everyone else. These people do not—DO NOT—believe in the principles on which a democratic republic rests. In fact, they emphatically reject them as “mob rule”. Being “conservatives” (a word the meaning of which has been utterly distorted), they advocate the same things American conservatism has always advocated: rule by a small group of wealthy white men. Because there’s a phrase in the Declaration of Independence they hate with the heat of a thousand suns:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
American conservatism has waged unrelenting, bloody, savage war on this idea for 243 years (even though the idea’s author, Thomas Jefferson, didn’t really believe it himself). Resisting the inclusion of entire categories of Americans from the protection of the law is the zen essence of conservatism. And in Donald Trump they see a chance to win the final victory in this war.
They will use ANY tactic. They will threaten us with “Second Amendment solutions”. They will encourage hatred and egg on violence. They will keep the guns flowing to obtain NRA money and reward gun manufacturers for contributions, consequences be damned. They will lie.
And lie.
And lie.
And lie more.
They have helped build and eagerly exploit a right-wing propaganda machine of frightening pervasiveness and influence. They have dragged the level of public discourse in America down into the gutter. They have normalized a level of corruption that I scarcely thought possible. They now side with one of this nation’s mortal enemies as a way of maintaining their own power.
Treason? They’re cool with it.
So do me a favor. Look at someone like Moscow Mitch McConnell or an outright criminal like William Barr and tell me they’re not smart or that they’re weak. They’re neither.
They’re evil. And so are the rest of these bastards.
This is what we’re up against. The evil, corrupt, anti-American Republican Party.
OK?
GOTV. GOTV. Get out the g-d damned vote.