Rush Limbaugh admitted Thursday that support for Trump hinges on the perception that, as Trump said himself, he alone can fix what’s wrong with the country. Presumably, on the “it takes a crook to catch one” principle.
“How many of you Trump supporters support Trump because he is a paragon of moral virtue and financial rectitude? How many of you support Trump because he is the crème de la crème when it comes to character, decency, mor…. That’s not why Donald Trump is supported.”
Like Trump, Limbaugh thinks he’s a pretty smart guy. Yet, he portrays support for the acting president as some sort of patriotic altruism. (For which Trump’s evangelical base is willing to debase itself.) Moral virtue? Financial rectitude? Character, decency, morality?
No. It is not to save the country except for themselves. It is because they think they are losing their country and Trump is the only Republican who can save it for them, Limbaugh explained.
But it is also because Trump’s wanton bigotry, dishonesty and viciousness liberate them to wallow in their own. Like a medieval pope, he is selling a plenary indulgence. Go, and sin some more, says Trump in red letters held upside down and backwards. All it cost them is the surrender of whatever withered moral authority the movement had remaining.
Obviously, Trump as license to sin is not an original thought. The day after tweeting that in response to the Limbaugh clip, I came across this meme:
This gentleman below stepped up to perform his worst self for the camera. As you can see, he is loving it.
Reflected in the paint of Red Man’s truck door is “BLACK LIVES MATTER” written on the passenger door of the truck doing the filming. (It may have been written in more places.) Maybe it was just “BLACK LIVES MATTER” that set off Red Man. But if you look closely in the side mirror of the filming truck, there is a flag of some sort flying in the bed. So, maybe it was both. (If you can make out what the flag is, drop me a line at the address at Meet the bloggers.)
In his papal role Friday evening, Trump granted an indulgence to his buddy Roger Stone, due to spend some quality time in prison on conviction of a jury of his peers for seven felonies. Trump’s commutation of Stone’s sentence, like an indulgence, was granted for performance of some good work. In this case, for Stone not giving evidence against Trump, his benefactor.
Hallelujah.
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For The Win, 3rd Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free countywide GOTV mechanics guide at ForTheWin.us. This is what winning looks like.
Note: The pandemic will upend standard field tactics in 2020. If enough promising “improvisations” come my way, perhaps I can issue a COVID-19 supplement.