Trump is like Meth for Republicans
Yesterday I trotted out my theory that Donald Trump is a symptom of where America is as a country, not a cause.
Reader E.P. wrote in to take the other side of that: I go back and forth as to how much Trump is a symptom vs. a cause. You're certainly right that a healthy republic wouldn't let him get anywhere near the presidency. On the other hand, I'm reminded of a quote whose origin I can't seem to find: "A man may drink because he is wretched, but he becomes even more wretched because he drinks." Trump has taken a sick culture and made it even worse. I see Trump as a symptom so powerful that it becomes its own cause, kind of like a political hard drug. Let's pretend that Trump is political meth. (Heroin is a more timely analogy, but meth is perhaps more closely associated with rural whites and—like Trump—it makes you want to fight people.) Despite their electoral successes, Republicans in 2015-16 were feeling more and more isolated and culturally marginalized, so in a moment of weakness, they took a hit of meth. It made them feel invincible, so they took more. It even appeared to have helped them succeed when they won the 2016 election. Three years in, though, the Republican party looks like . . . someone who has been doing tons of meth for three years. It's not pretty. If you're deep into meth addiction, you've probably lost your job, friends, family, and self-respect. All you have is the meth. This makes you cling even tighter to the very thing that has ruined your life, because despite its terrible long-term effects, every hit (tweet) gives you another burst of that sweet, sweet power that first drew you to the drug. The meth doesn't fix your old problems. Whatever problems you had before you got hooked on it, they get bigger. But the meth also creates new problems in entirely different categories, too. Again: The analogy with the Republican party here seems pretty on point. Was the GOP's metaphorical descent into meth addiction inevitable? I don't think so. What if Chris Christie hadn't suicide-bombed Rubio in that debate? What if the Access Hollywood tape had come out during the primaries? What if Hillary had made one more trip through the Midwest? A lot of things could have changed. Maybe the party would have ended up with a less destructive addiction, like political caffeine pills. Or maybe it would have gone straight to Fentanyl and been dead by now. From The Bulwark So maybe the truth is that Trump is both symptom and aggravating factor. |
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There are some truths to this, skipping the meth part. Because that "skipping the meth part" is just to make sure that the Anti-Trumpers and the left can feel better about themselves by placing yet another label on the people that they look down on. Ya know, deplorable and all.
Some simply want someone that fights, and are holding their nose. Some are very concerned where this country is going, the leftward push against, Law, Justice, and Enforcement and against individual liberties. The leftward push to consume resources to then redistribute among everyone. Many people remember how the left, initially with Top Cover from Media, then full and open collaboration, has called every R since Regan; Hitler, Racist, Murderer, War Monger, et all. John McCain. Terribly maligned by Trump before and after McCain's death. Absolute pure meanness by DJT. Called by the Left Pols and Media a hero, maverick, master politician, the last of the "let's get both sides to work together". Just 8 years earlier y'all were calling him Hitler, Racist, Murderer, War Monger, et all. Mitt Romney, not the best man for the left or right, but a rather honorable guy (for a politician) that could govern in the center, was exorcised for having a list of qualified women to have in his government. He was laughed at for calling Russia the USA's current most dangerous Geo-Political foe. Most everyone in NatSec circles knew this to be true, including Obama. Y'all laughed at Horses and Bayonets. Then y'all ran Romney out of town. Now the current crop of Pols are tripping over themselves to move politically left - it is like a drunken Frat sackrace to the left with pols falling, tripping, pushing each other left. Free healthcare for all, we'll tax the rich and the MiddleClass, Open Borders and Open Citizenship for all, RAISE YOUR HANDS!!! We'll just raise taxes on everything to get it done. And it will be GREAT! With Glitter, and Unicorn Farts, Democratic Socialism, Tofu, and Quinoa Dust!! We'll trample the Constitution (where it doesn't serve us) as we retire that old document! We'll make everything before Woodrow Wilson Racist and every white male after racist! The Patriarchy! You didn't build that! Abolish ICE! No More Police! (Insert Howard Dean screaming here) And you think it is because Trump is the conservative Meth? And he has addicted the right? Nahh. Some love him in the same way of the Bernie Bros loved Sanders. Many others simply hold their nose because the alternative presented by the Left. I didn't vote for him last time but I'm really thinking about it this time. |
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He fights the Media (disastrously and poorly) and he fights the increasingly left Dem Political Machine - both no longer checks on liberty. Do you think people like him because the mediocre TV sheeit? |
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msnbc? i’m not saying i like what he does, because i don’t, but much of it works. Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device |
“You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘Nigger, nigger, nigger.’ By 1968 you can’t say ‘nigger’—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites. . . . ‘We want to cut this,’ is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than ‘Nigger, nigger.’”
Lee Atwater 1981 Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device |
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???? So I want to be absolutely EFFING clear here. Are you implying that if someone does not follow your tune, that they are racist? Answer Pete, and be crystal clear, leave no room for doubt. |
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John That’s all the Liberals have got. They’ve got nothing to stand on. It’s the Obama playbook. Everyone that disagrees with them is a Racist, bigot, homophobe, and what ever else phobe they can come up with. Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device |
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I don't need the surgically precise yet subtly nuanced explanations of Ronnie and Chris ; ) - I need Pete's clarification.
No, I want to hear what Pete says. A chance to walk the statement back, or double down. |
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Did you? I took a bit more than three seconds. And Found that Pete's quote, by selective editing, implies the exact opposite of what Atwater was saying. Typical leftist, lying trick. https://www.powerlineblog.com/archiv...really-say.php |
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What I think is the current Republican Party is playing the same identity politics card game they have accused the left of for years. Just the suit they picked is Aces not Spades. Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device |
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over like a dog and denies it. cutting taxes is racist? are there different rates based on skin color? nothing more loathsome or cowardly then calling someone a racist and then denying it. grow a pair and own it. liberals want to abort blacks out of existence, and those that get through the abortion gauntlet, are crippled by making them addicted to welfare. but that’s not racist. that’s why all the liberal, urban cities are thriving. because liberals are looking out for those folks. i look at cities like bridgeport, and i say these people are americans and deserve better. liberals say they deserve more of the same. and i’m the racist. gotcha. Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device |
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Reading his full remarks it's pretty clear what he was saying, you don't have to make race a front line issue when the dog whistles are already there regardless if it's intentional or not. |
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Dogs are man's best friend by the way. Same goes for women. |
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proposes that today is a loathsome racist. Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device |
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your neck and enjoyed hot toddies on yale campus, most of the rest of the city is disgusting. you’re saying abortions are due to a lack of birth control. who are these millions of women who can’t get condoms? they all live in the alaskan bush? weak, weak argument. Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device |
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What Pete implied was that The Republican Party is backhandedly subjugating Black people, ergo Racists. And if you support the Republican party you are actively and/or passively Racist. Because Atwater (in many, many ways a Jerk) said that since the N word is verboten, the Rs will just need to economically shackle Black people. Like Joe Biden said, "Those Republicans wanna Putchya Back in Chains". This is great, by this logic, we need to raise the Debt Limit and keep borrowing and spending so that EVERYONE will be an economic slave. Parity At Last. I will need to remember that when I am at the polls and picking between Ds and Rs (I do both BTW) and remember when I pick "R" that Pete is calling me a racist. |
Interesting that you would choose who to vote for because of something someone said 30 plus years ago
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