Democrats are humming a tune while they watch MSNBC:
"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to,
Cry if I want to,
Cry if I want to.
You would cry too if it happened to you."
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| Click: "It's my party" |
A spirit of giddy triumphalism has spread among Democrats. They expected a beating in the midterms and instead got off with a stern warning. The liberal commentariat universe thinks it understands the situation. They write that the support system that made Trump possible is over. Fox is fed up with Trump. Billionaire donors are peeling off. Republicans in purple districts try to wash off the MAGA. Besides, Trump is old and tiresome.
Leslie Gore's 1963 hit is deliciously perfect for Democrats who listen to pundits. Trump must be crying. Drink liberal tears? No! Drink Trump tears. Trump had declared he owned the Grand Old Party, and now he doesn't. The double meaning of party is perfect. Now Trump sobs that:
"My Johnny has gone
But Judy left the same time.
Why was he holding her hand
When he was supposed to be mine?"
The analogy works so nicely. Ron DeSantis is Judy, the new
one, the younger one. It is the oldest story in the world. First wives know it all too well. Then sometimes second wives learn it. Trump's wives did. Who better than Trump to get replaced by a younger model of politician. Model! How perfect the metaphor.
This post is a caution. Literature warns us. Beware of hubris. Every romance story has an impediment. Every horror movie warns not to be too quick to assume the monster is dead, really dead. Leslie Gore herself warns us. She followed It's my Party with another hit:
"It's Judy's turn to cry
Judy's turn to cry
Judy's turn to cry
'Cause Johnny's come back to me."
Trump has a weapon. He has devoted supporters who love Trump more than they love the GOP. They may not be a majority, but they are enough. People with "Trump won!" bumper strips on their cars are in it for the long haul. The GOP infrastructure of politicians and influencers need Trump's supporters. They are an essential part of any GOP path to victory. Leslie Gore explains:
"One night I saw them kissing at a party
So I kissed some other guy.
Johnny jumped up and he hit him
'Cause he still loves me, that's why."
Trump doesn't need Republicans. Republicans need Trump. Trump can kiss "some other guy" in the form of his own party and drive Johnny crazy with jealousy and fear. Trump knows his power. Trump doesn't care about the GOP. He can leave and take his supporters with him in the manner of Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose party. He would be a powerhouse, not a Nader or a Jill Stein or even a Ross Perot. Trump has a message, and he hinted at it when he announced. The world is a mess and both parties are at fault. Both parties are corrupt and led by elitists who run America for their own benefit. Not yours. Not you, the people. Only he can save us. He would lead a "people's party." A Trump party. He would be a star. He might not win the election, but he would win the game he is playing. He would be what he wants to be, undaunted hero, the great man of destiny.
It may not be necessary. GOP politicians need his voters. They cannot risk his defection. Trump is fully willing to kiss someone other than the GOP. In the song, Johnny comes running back.
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8 comments:
Lesley Gore also recorded, "You Don't Own Me," in 1963 when she was only 17 years old.
"Johnny got up and hit him..." Now Johnny's in juvie.
But I digress...
I get it. It's a possibility that Trump's popularity is still holding and Republicans will be run over again. But is it likely? While the election was frustratingly close it still sent a clear message: Stop the anti-democratic BS. If election denial has been repudiated Trump will need a new drum to bang, and I don't see that he has one.
My guess would be it will be even more overt racism, as that's the actually underlying motivation of the party.
But the biggest factor, which wasn't mentioned, is that Trump is head faking. He will raise a quarter of a billion and that, my friend, is the prime directive. It's not 2015 anymore, and Republican ambition is unrequited.
He's shown others how it's done.
Those who think Trumplicans no longer pose a threat to our republic aren’t paying attention. The GOP now has control of the House and is committed to diverting us from doing what needs to be done about things that matter, such as climate change. To that end, they’ve already announced their plans to indulge in spurious “investigations” and impeachment attempts.
Without their white nationalist base, the Republican Party would no longer be viable. You can be sure that whether it’s Trump or someone equally execrable, such as DeSantis, they’ll find a champion to carry out their war on ‘woke’ rather than address the havoc being wreaked by our fossil fuel addiction. They’re Big Oil’s weapon of mass distraction and they have no intention of changing their ways.
In 2016, Trump promised, “We will win so much, you’ll get tired of winning.“
Most of the candidates that Trump backed lost in 2022. And this followed his own loss in 2020
Promise broken. Trump’s supporters thought they were backing a winner; they may not be so excited about backing a loser.
Not objecting to the wider illustrative as offered, but I always felt bad for that Some Other Guy. Leslie blithely uses the poor sod in her ultimate victory over Judy. But then I imagined it's a pyrrhic victory, as football letterman Johnny soon becomes a drunken, abusive and barely employed paunchboy while Some Other Guy moves to the city and becomes a renaissance man and tech millionaire.
Trump's ongoing centrality depends at least as much on the Democratic party and the mainstream media (to the extent those diverge) as it does on Republicans. He remains easily the most important American as far as CNN, MSNBC and this blog are concerned. The fascination of the abomination means money and ratings for the infotainment biz, or rather it has in the past. Season seven of The Apprentice, anyone?
Those who blame the mainstream media for the attention Trump is getting are 'killing the messenger.' The mainstream media pays attention to him because he remains the leader of the Republican Party and remains quite popular among Republicans - probably because of, rather than in spite of, his obvious madness.
It reminds me of when old-school Republicans tried to blame Democrats of Trump getting elected, claiming the Dems created the conditions that made it possible. Sorry folks, but the people who voted for him are the ones responsible for Trump being elected. Out of all the candidates in the 2016 primary, Republicans chose him. They get all the credit. As for the ongoing coverage, the damage he and his party have done is historic.
I wish the Republican congress would announce that they will be responsible for fixing the problems we in the US face instead of behaving like a bunch of pompous asses and spoiled brats. That dear readers would be novel and refreshing.
Your comment "The world is a mess and both parties are at fault. Both parties are corrupt and led by elitists who run America for their own benefit" caught my attention.
I'm sure this isn't an original idea, but I wonder if the sustained appeal of Trump is that he's a deconstructionist at a time when institutions (of all kinds) have the lowest level of public trust. Why else would you put your hopes in a 76 year old whose entire brand is selfish ambition?
Stories are more powerful than facts - which is why every good closing argument in a court case is a story. Trump is a master story-teller and he's telling the story his base wants to hear. I think Leonard Cohen's song 'Everybody Knows' is what many people felt when they held their nose and voted for Trump the first time.
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
'Everybody knows' the system isn't working, lets pick the "drain the swamp" guy and see what happens. It turns out he just brought in different swamp monsters.
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