Trump is just riding this nag
Dan Pfeiffer calls out the press for its horse-race political coverage. Except, for its focus on the jockey instead of the horse. The preponderance of primary coverage is about what the primaries mean for Donald Trump’s expected run for president in 2024 and what his endorsements say about his grip on the Republican Party. The press is getting the story backwards:
Trump didn’t turn the Republicans into a party of ethno-nationalist, conspiracy theory-believing authoritarians. He just figured out the Republicans were a party of ethno-nationalist, conspiracy theory-believing authoritarians before anyone else. Trump’s political strategy is the modern version of the famous (likely apocryphal) adage from French politician Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin:
There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them.
Trump did not lead the Republican base to MAGA-Land. He followed them there. He did to the Republican Party what he has done to countless buildings and brands — slapped his name on an existing structure and then pretended he built it.
It’s the Trumpism, stupid
That feels exactly right. One of Trump’s few real talents besides for self-promotion and self-preservation is reading the marks and knowing what they’ll buy. The English and History majors that dominate political coverage tend to buy “the outdated ‘Great Man Theory’ of history,” Pfeiffer writes. That suits the narcissist of Mar-a-Lago just fine. But it means there is less coverage of why Republicans became the party of White nationalism.
James Hohmann writes in the Washington Post:
Trumpism is now outrunning Donald Trump. The former president has unleashed forces that are spawning Republican candidates who are more radical than he is, less committed to democratic values and capable of taking the GOP down roads Trump hasn’t imagined.
“MAGA does not belong to President Trump,” Pennsylvania Republican Kathy Barnette said during a U.S. Senate candidate debate. “Our values never, never shifted to President Trump’s values. It was President Trump who shifted and aligned with our values.” Barnette has figured out what the press is barely covering.
Pfeiffer continues:
The Republican Party was headed in this direction long before Trump showed up. Republican candidates across the country are acting like MAGA sock puppets not because they are afraid of Trump or want his endorsement. They are doing it because it’s what the voters want. Yes, Trump’s candidate won in Ohio, but no matter who won that primary — the nominee would have been an enthusiastic unbridled MAGA extremist. Maybe Trump’s candidate will win in Pennsylvania. Maybe he won’t. But Trumpism already won regardless.
Whether Trump runs for President or is in prison, the 2024 Republican nominee will be a full-throated extremist spouting a MAGA message. When we obsess over Trump’s role in the Party, we are in danger of deluding ourselves into thinking that the threat of Trumpism will go away when he does.
The fight for the soul of our nation is bigger than one very bad man. This is a long fight and we must be ready for it.
We are not. Nor is the press.
Ethno-nationalist, conspiracy theory-believing authoritarians see demographic shifts that will make them a permanent minority in this country as an existential threat. They too are getting the story backwards. Their Trumpism is the existential threat.
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Request a copy of For The Win, 4th Edition, my free, countywide get-out-the-vote planning guide for county committees at ForTheWin.us. If in a position to Play to win in 2022 (see post first), contact tpostsully at gmail dot com.