by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
Today has been unusual in the annals of Trump Era Republican messaging. It’s all been tactical. I’ve not seen any kind of cogent, strategic response to what Trump is accused of doing.
A lot of quibbling about this or that thing to suggest that either “everybody does it” or “it’s a sinister Deep State plot,” but no cohesive vision as to why Trump should stay in office other than he’s Der Fuhrer and that’s that. With the news that the Trump regime is now abusing power in a spectacular and brazen way by looking to of all things Hillary Clinton’s emails and we know this is, in fact, the existential battle royale I’ve said it is.
Because of the gimme of the Mueller Investigation being not only long but a bust, Trump’s been given the time needed to figure out how to use — and abuse — the levers of power. If Trump’s messaging plan is literally use “but her emails” as a reason why he should in power, he and his corrupt cronies are in serious, serious, serious trouble.
In a sense, all of Trump’s insane attacks on the press have been a lead up to this moment. He believes he’s so discredited the press in the eyes of the MAGA base, if no one else, that they “won’t know who to believe” when push comes to shove. But as of this moment, things aren’t going according to the usual plan.
It’s becoming more and apparent which members of the power structure have a vested interest in absolute devotion to sucking the MAGA teet and who don’t. Some people are simply embarrassing themselves to such an extent that it doesn’t matter what happens next — they’re career as nothing more than a partisan hack is assured. If Trump survives, they become a spokesperson for a corrupt authoritarian regime, if he loses, then their career is destroyed. Brit Hume, specifically, is playing with fire. A very big career-ending bonfire, in fact.
At this point, Trump has leverage over the situation because he’s president and he has no shame. He knows the MAGA base doesn’t believe in liberal democracy, so lulz. The only problem for him is things are moving so fast and he got caught red handed in an easy to understand fashion. Trump is a moron, so he thinks as long as he keeps the base he can survive in the Senate. He thinks Republicans Senators would rather vote to acquit and in the hopes of surviving their primary then brace for the general than vote to convict and lose to a MAGA primary challenger. But if every other political polling group grows to hate Trump with a historical white hot rage, a few Republican Senators might realize that their hopes in the general might not be all that great. They have no shame, so they’re likely to stick with Trump. But as it obvious, Trump’s kind of deranged already as it is, so things are likely to get worse going forward.
This is on the face of it pretty basic modern American politics. Especially if you have to accept that Trump has shown a propensity to meddle in elections when he feels he can, so lulz. Trump is pretty much willing to destroy everything around him simply so he doesn’t get his fee-fees hurt. The Republican Cult will survive if Trump is convicted, but there’s a chance they will be seen by independents for what they are — a dangerous anti-democratic organization that should be voted against at all costs.
What’s more, we haven’t even gotten to the biggest problem facing Republicans going forward — Trump himself. They have no shame, crave power for power’s sake and they have absolute devotion to Trump. So should Trump’s cognitive decline accelerate as the pressure of impeachment gets to him, they have only themselves to blame for what happens. They are going to ride the Trump Train down to the bottom of the raven. What happens then is anyone’s guess.
The macro social, economic and political that produced Trump will linger for decades to come. They’re not going anywhere, even if we somehow miraculously get the Senate to convict him. If it’s not Trump, it’s Kris Kobach. If it’s not Kris Kobach, it’s Tom Cotton. If it’s not Tom Cotton, it’s Tucker Carlson. There’s a never ending supply of people with the exact same base and exact same goals as Trump. The only reason we MIGHT get spared this time is Trump is criminally incompetent at his job. He has always been a Right wing Twitter troll. That’s it. That’s all he is and that’s all he will ever be.
The Aristocrats!
