The numbers don’t lie
You’re entitled to your own opinion, but you’re not entitled to your own facts
Another thing that’s getting tired and old is this whole dead horse we keep flogging about the evils of Trumpism. Some people define it as the slavish way that GOP members who should know better let Trump lead them around by the nose. Others mean the brain dead, Q-Anon delusions that make his base so loyal. They’re two completely different things, but at their base, they’re identical.
Because at it’s core Trumpism isn’t a political movement, it isn’t a national agenda, and it isn’t a religion. What it is, exactly like David Koresh and his Branch Davidians, Jim Jones and his numbskulled flock, and Charlie Manson and his family, it’s a cult. Just like Scientology isn’t a religion, it’s a cult created by sci-fi author L Ron Hubbard.
Which means it’s tailored to appeal to a specific group, at a specific time, and for a specific purpose. And for Trump in 2016, the reasons were threefold. First, ego satisfaction with his huge rally crowds. Second, a branding exercise to prop up his loser properties. Remember Trump had just gotten the boot from NBC for The Apprentice, his sole steady stream of income. And third, fleecing the suckers with campaign donation scams. After all, why pay for taking Trump Force 1 on the road when the campaign donations can do it? And you can say that it worked, but Trump lost the popular vote by 3 million votes, and many people, me included thought that Putin stole the election.
And here’s how you know that Trumpism is a cult. Trump’s 2016 campaign was nothing more than a patchwork of virulent racism, homophobia, sexism, and self aggrandizement. And it worked. But here’s the McGuffin. Most Presidents, after being elected, grow up and appoint a cabinet and administration in order to govern. But not Trump. Instead he appointed a cabinet and administration with the sole purpose of taking his street hustle worldwide. For his own benefit.
Here’s how you know. Because look at Trump’s campaign, which was launched the day after inauguration day, for reelection. He didn’t change a single, goddamned word. The racism was still the same, the homophobia was still the same, the sexism was still the same, and the nonstop bombardment of donation pleas was unchanged. Trump didn’t pivot to the middle, his rallies were like a greatest hits reunion tour for an 80’s rock band. It was not meant for reelection, it was meant for feeding red meat to the base to keep all that long, lovely green flowing in. Trump never believed he could lose.
But here’s the problem for Trump in particular, and for Trumpism as a whole. The numbers don’t match up with an actual political movement, and they never have, from day one. And before I break it down in detail, let me point out that George W Bush also lost the popular vote. But that was when the GOP was still the GOP, with a platform and agenda. Trump has never had any such thing. And as a result;
- In 2016 Trump lost the popular vote by 3 million votes. And here’s where the very concept of Trumpism falls apart at the seams. because a political movement would have ridden momentum. Instead;
- In 2018, almost every single GOP candidate, whether an incumbent or candidate, tried to run as being Trumpier than Trump. And the Democrats flipped 40 seats in the House, and fought off what should have been sizeable losses in the Senate. What happened to the invincible Trump movement?
- In 2020 Trump was back on the ticket again. But as if that wasn’t enough, he hand picked a roster of Trombie candidates for both the House and the Senate to give him what he thought would be a permanent ruling majority, once he finished dismantling democracy once and for all. The result? The Democrats won the White House, maintained the House, and took over control of the Senate. And Trump compounded his humiliation by losing to Biden by some 7 million votes, twice what he lost to Clinton by
- In 2022, almost every GOP candidate on the ballot was religiously married to Stop The Steal! Trump was a washed up loser, facing criminal indictments, but it didn’t matter. End result? The Democrats gained a seat in the Senate, and the GOP barely flipped the House, with an ungovernable majority hamstrung by the Freedom Caucus, the ultimate Trump flamethrowers
The GOP is no longer a viable political party, and they know it. They’re wandering around in the wilderness like the Fuqawi tribe of Johnny Carson fame, and can’t even do simple math. The Trump GOP has lost every election since he first ran, and each time lost by a larger national margin than the cycle before.
Trumpism was created for a very specific purpose, and that purpose was the grift. Look at the numbers. The army that Trump rode to a palsied victory was the largest he would ever control. Because a grift is not a sustainable way to build a political organization, other than the brainless twits who backed you in the first place. But the simple fact that his base keeps shrinking shows that he doesn’t even have a sustainable cult.
There are pundits out there that are starting to whine that convicting and actually imprisoning Trump would make him a martyr to his followers. You know what I say? bring it on! The last time I checked, there’s no such thing as a living martyr. If trump becomes a martyr, it means he’s dead. In this case politically. But since Trumpism could never even get an electoral majority when Trump was around, what does it say for their prospects when he’s wearing an orange jumpsuit? They’ll sputter on interesting to nobody but themselves, especially after Trump’s base crawls back under their rocks once he’s out of the picture.
I will close with this to hammer home my point. In the late summer of 1969, Charlie Manson and his Family committed multiple atrocities on innocent citizens of LA. Manson’s family peaked at somewhere between 60-75 members. in researching an update to his landmark book Helter Skelter, LA prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, who put Manson away found that as late as 2002, the Manson family was still alive in LA. It consisted of right around 10 pathetic losers, eight of whom were women. Such is the ultimate end of a cult.
Yup, it’s a cult. The cult of the grift. Nothing more, Nothing less. Period. Headed by the ‘grifter in in grift’ – a failed, failing, and continuing to spectacularly fail, flake of a dipstick leader.
It’s not that they haven’t learned the lesson, it’s that they refuse to heed it. Whether because they see opportunity for their own money/power grift “drafting” behind the leader, or out of fear (Scientology has proven really good at intimidating & silencing critics for decades) or just having to actually do the work politicians actually used to do (and for all the cool “goodies” there was some actual grind it out work that went on, negotiating policies & shaping legislation in committees) clear eyed GOPers travel along in the wake left by Trump and his MAGAs, trying to stay safely in the middle of it. Get near the edges and they might wind up hitting a rough, irregular spot and wind up on the outside.
The GOP as it once was is gone. Dead as a doornail. That’s the problem. It CAN be rebuilt but it means ceding at least one Presidential cycle to Democrats and maybe even two. More likely one for sure and perhaps as many as three House cycles and two Senate ones, not to mention losses at the state level. They got SO close to a dream they hoped for but deep inside never really thought could happen they can’t let go. Their dream was that permanent majority you wrote about here and in previous articles. It’s been so close they could taste it! Or rather smell the awesome feast on the grill or emanating from the kitchen.
Think of it this way. Our beloved Cubbies. I don’t know about you but by the time I was fifty I’d gone through the grief process of accepting that like generations before me the Cubs would never appear in the World Series. Some years it looked possible and we both got our hopes up only to have them dashed. But we remained loyal and hoped. For those like me, who gave up on the dream even then we remained fans, if only to keep the dream possible for some future generation. But then that magical year came along where they not only made it to the Series – and won! Don’t get me wrong, the Cubs had the better team and SHOULD have beaten Cleveland but the Joe Maddon who’d so brilliantly guided the Cubs during the season went into brain-lock or something. He did everything a manager shouldn’t do and MIS-managed the hell out of them and almost into a loss. If not for that rain delay late in game 7 when a few of the veterans gathered the team and refused to allow Maddon in the room and got everyone’s head screwed back on correctly you and I would be lamenting the loss still.
My point though is that Maddon created just the right mood in the team to get them to the Series and then f**ked things up. And though not immediately apparent he f**ked up the whole team/organization, one that was built for many years of competing for NL and World Series titles. For years the Cubs management refused to accept that they were going to have to start over and rebuild the whole thing. It’s been a painful process. Many of the decisions have been unpopular with fans. Even this year there have been WTF are they doing? questions from fans and baseball pundits. But it looks like they will at least get a Wild Card slot. More importantly, they seem to have rebuilt an organization like they had in 2015/16, a solid one that could compete at the top level for years and years.
It came at a price. And THAT my friend is the problem with the GOP. The sane ones know they got too greedy too fast, and abandoned the decades long work they’d put in to get where they wanted. Trump was the “free agent” flamethrower dominating pitcher that could carry a team in a playoff run but nothing more. Gone the next year, or overused in that playoff run and damaged the arm enough to never be as effective as before. He’s an A-Rod who actually brought at least one championship (unlike the real A-Rod) but stuck with a huge, HUGE contract the team/GOP is screwed. And unwilling to write off the loss.
IF Trump makes it through to the nomination (and I believe that’s an actual “if”) even the electoral bloodbath that will ensue won’t convince the GOP to do what they have to do – create a new Party under a new name and pull in all the people who behind the scenes have talked about not wanting Trump or his minions – and lose for a while. But grudgingly a good chunk of MAGAs will finally accept Trump and Trumpism is over and come back and give whatever new Party emerges a fighting chance in elections. I keep pointing out that in the wake of Watergate and then Ford’s pardon of Nixon it was assumed the GOP was dead. But the 1970s were and would have been volital even without Watergate and they were. To the point where we got the “Reagan Revolution” in 1980! THAT is the lesson the GOP should be looking at. Hard. They thought they’d be in the political wilderness for ten years, but just a few short years after Nixon’s pardon and the fury it generated events took place they could exploit and they were right back in the ball game. The country and world is just as crazy now as it was then. That’s why I say at best conservatives, the cold, hard sane ones would only be ceding a single Presidential cycle (2024) if they politically stabbed Trump/MAGA in the heart and started over. Yes, it means giving up, at least for a very, very long time (a generation probably before they can get anywhere near close again) that dream of a permanent majority they were oh so close to getting but it’s what they can and should do.
But they won’t.
The Guard OUR Profits party has been a corrupt and arguably EVIL institution since the racist southern democrats morphed into new branding. The list of crimes against humanity since Eisenhower is appalling. Since evil isn’t easily swept away, I suspect they will create a new branding lie with shiny new people, to continue promoting the corporate interests,(greed), while destroying the planet and exploiting the poor and working class. That you CAN count on.
Nothing in this article is true. Obviously journalism escapes you. You should be ashamed of spouting so many lies. It’s false information like this that hugely contributes to further dividing our country. I’ll pray for your soul. You need all the help you can get. 🙏🙏