Getting rid of the Romneys

"Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys. . . ."
          Went to Number One in 1978 when covered by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson

Do GOP voters want their sons to grow up to be just like Donald Trump?

The GOP has changed out from under its voters. In a rally last week in South Carolina, Donald Trump said that MAGA "represents 96% and maybe 100% of Republicans." He said,  "We’re getting rid of the Romneys of the world. We want to get Romneys and those out."

Mitt Romney used to represent the GOP. He is a "square." 

I think the term "square" still exists, but the Urban Dictionary calls it an "old fashioned" term, popular in the 1980s and 1990s. It had meaning in the 1950s, when it was the opposite of "cool" and in the 1960s, when it was the opposite of "hip." Squares are "Boy Scouts," both literally and figuratively. Real squares become become Eagle Scouts, and parents are proud of them. Squares go to church. Squares are good sports. Squares aren't rebellious against respected figures of authority -- their parents when they are children, their principal and teachers at any age, law enforcement when they are adults. Squares don't cheat on their taxes -- or they feel guilty about it when they do. If squares cheat on their spouses, they feel guilty about that, too, and hide it. 

In politics squares like Romney want a balanced federal budget because they have a sense of obligation about paying for what they get. Squares have a strong sense of self-reliant rectitude, so they tend to support policies that come down hard on people who are poor or in trouble. Squares blame them for having made bad choices. That contrasts somewhat with Democrats and non-squares, who are more likely to blame "society" or "systemic" things for bad outcomes. Republican squares point to the individual and put responsibility on him. Republican squares think character matters. 

That is a big deal for squares: Character. 

I have had long, good relationships with people who generally vote for Republicans. As a county commissioner and in a 30-year career as a financial advisor, I worked with Republicans all the time. The kind of people who acquire wealth by accumulating it slowly over decades tend to be "squares," and about half of them were and are Republicans. They did their homework in school. They entered careers. They were prudent. They saved. And in America in the late 20th century such people often -- I would say usually -- acquired some wealth. After all, they played by the rules of middle and upper-middle class "squareness," and it worked out. I helped them accumulate and manage that money.

I like "squares." 

My great wonderment is how GOP voters, and especially GOP leaders in the community, in political offices, in religious institutions, and in businesses, have so thoroughly accepted Donald Trump as the leader of their party. 

Trump, center. At age 13 Donald Trump was sent to a military school -- a reform school -- by his father

Trump is the opposite of square. He represents and carries out every element of bad character that a square dislikes. Squares work hard to teach their children not to be like Trump. "Soccer moms" and "soccer dads" watch their children flail away at kicking a soccer ball on Saturday mornings so that the children learn the rules of fair play. Teams line up to say "good game" to the other team. Kids who act out or taunt opponents are called out on the spot by the coach and forced to apologize. Kids learn to respect the line calls, the yellow cards, the red cards. 

Parents teach their sons to be respectful of girls. They teach them to be prudent with allowances. They teach their children that ambition is good but cheating is bad. They teach their children that selfishness is not just morally wrong but that other people notice it and it backfires. They teach children not to lie. They teach their children to respect our democracy. They teach their children to be ashamed of themselves when they misbehave.

An infection -- a communicable virus -- has swept over Republican voters. It is a thought disease. Yet Republican squares -- people who work hard to teach their children good character -- accept and defend Trump. It is an odd kind of mind control. Down is up. Bad is good. Bearing false witness is OK. Adultery doesn't count. Stealing and hanging on to documents doesn't count. Lying about an election and trying to overthrow it is OK. Fortunately, the infection seems personal to Trump and it may not survive him. When he goes, the infection may disappear. Trump's mimics and cheerleaders don't appear to have the same power to capture the minds of GOP voters. A commenter here called it a disease, Metastatic Trump Disease, and it has changed the GOP for a while. 

Maybe it is less a disease than it is the power of fame in our current culture of celebrity. Republican eyes are blinded by a bright light. Trump is a star, the most visible human in America now. "When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”

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