"You traitor! You traitor! You traitor! You're a traitor. Lindsay Graham, you are a traitor to the country!"
Donald Trump may be doing a performance. For his base, it is real, very real.
They bought the Trump story.
Remember, Donald Trump came to the presidency as the star and executive producer of a "reality TV" show. This means it was not reality. The shows are planned, semi-scripted, filmed, and edited to look like a real contest in real time, but they are not. Trump was a performer, and still is.
One way to make sense of Trump's presidency since the election is that Trump is continuing a performance and setting up the next chapter of his life. Trump is narcissistic and he is acting unusually manic, but he is not stupid. He may know full well he lost the election for the simple reason that Biden got a lot more votes. That has to hurt, especially since Trump's personality demands he be on top at all times, and a foundation of his business brand is that he wins and the people who buy his products, live in his buildings, golf in his resorts are winners.
He survived defeats in the past by making lemonade out of lemons, and the brand-consistent way to do that is to be--and present himself to be--an indefatigable fighter. He is being in character as the Trump character, displaying his fury at the incredible injustice of having the election stolen from him.
Does Trump really believe he won in a landslide, even as he is doing a performance of a person who believes he won in a landslide? Very probably. It is method acting. Every salesman knows the experience of having internalized a sales script. An angry, hurt, petulant, narcissistic Trump is playing the role of an angry, hurt, petulant, narcissistic Trump.
Of course he is disappointed at losing, but all is not lost. Trump's post-presidency show can be a comeback story, a media-mogul story, or maybe a Trump-sets-up-his-kids story. The least interesting thing he could have done was to have been a good loser, with scenes of handshakes with Biden. That puts Biden into the middle of the act--not Trump's style.
Trump is maintaining his brand and essential character. He is the heroic Rocky getting pummeled, or the falsely accused guy in The Fugitive getting a raw deal. In Trump's favorite movies, the Godfather series, he would be Don Corleone, setting up his sons Sonny and then Michael. Don Junior would be Sonny, the first born and the hothead; Ivanka would be Michael, cool and professional. That works.
More important for America's future, Trump's fans believe in the reality of the Trump performance. In real life, people sometimes rush from the audience and try to stop the professional wrestler who appears to be beating up the good guy. In real life, people get angry with the ventriloquist's dummy, for saying all those mean things.
Reality TV shows need to stay in character and preserve the illusion of reality. People on the inside know that the nice young couple choosing between three houses and expressing apparent spontaneous joy as they walk into the big open kitchen are doing so for the fifth time, as ten people hold cameras, lights, reflectors, and microphones. Trump sold his shtick. He connects with his base. He says what they want to hear. They believe him.
Trump was so persuasive that other politicians in the orbit of Republican politics go along with the Trump story. They have no choice. Their voters are Trump voters and Trump voters bought the Trump story line: He was robbed.
Democrats show some impatience--this blog included--that so many Republican incumbents have enabled Trump's improbable and disproven story of massive fraud. By agreeing with Trump, those officeholders gave credence to Trump. It wasn't just Trump's story line.
At this late moment, Lindsay Graham, who had been critical of Trump prior to his election, then had been a sycophant during his presidency out of necessity, finally, in the aftermath of the Capitol insurrection, made another switch. He criticized Trump. Graham is a political pro on the inside. He knows full well the reality behind the Trump performance. The attack on the Capitol was over the line for Graham, and he couldn't bear to stick with Trump's story.
Graham left the cast, but the audience did not leave the theater. The audience bought Trump's performance. It resonates with them. Trump is an embattled hero. The embedded clip is one minute. Watch it. It helps explain why so many Republican officeholders enable Trump. They must. The fans believe.
For people unable to click the link, here is the audio, verbatim:
You traitor! You traitor! You traitor! You're a traitor! Lindsay Graham, you are a traitor to the country. You know it was rigged! You know it was rigged! You know it was rigged! You garbage human being! It will be like this forever, wherever you go! Audit the vote, audit the vote, audit the vote, audit the vote! You piece of shit, audit the vote! Audit the vote, audit the vote, audit our vote, audit our vote, audit our vote, audit our vote! You son of a bitch. You better join [unintelligible]. You fucking asshole. You piece of shit! You don't represent us anymore!
5 comments:
Don't kid yourself.
Republicans are feigning contrition. I just watched Toomey (he no longer deserves the title "Senator") twisting himself into a pretzel trying to absolve himself for the last four years of enablement.
"No one could see this coming"
Right...
Every single Republican, save one, voted against impeachment, a cynical political calculation that effectively voided the Constitution. The result was an emboldenment worthy of a third world banana republic.
This situation ceased to be innocent "political theater" long ago. The Republican party has aligned themselves with anti-democratic, authoritarian, religious extremist and white nationalist elements in order to gain power. Graham and the others will line up behind the next demagogue that shows up.
That's who they are. Don't be fooled.
The thing that strikes me when listening to this and short interviews with participants of the mob, or reading social feeds is the overwhelming sense of fear, panic and anger. And very scary chatter by dangerous-sounding people.
Back in September 2016 I wrote a guest post here about how Trump was successfully creating the schism "It's not his ideas or even ideals because those shift so often we can't keep up. It's something more powerful. The only consistent narrative is about "us" and "them".
He's been very successful at eliminating the ability for rational dialog. These people are fearful and they don't know why, except they've been told do. Remember at first it was to fear and have contempt for the Muslims and those job-stealers from shithole countries? Now it's those "Liberal socialists" who want to take what's yours. They are the devil and it looks like Trump's former enablers are in league with the dark side. Who will be their champion now? where will they place their hope?
I am not happy that they are afraid. Fearful people do desperate and dangerous things.
The white working class has been watching globalism destroy their jobs and local economies for decades now. They have a valid grievance. No politician before Trump deigned to address that grievance.
"Learn to code" is not an answer.
Let something fester long enough, and there will be a flood of support for the first politician who at least talks like he recognizes the problem. If even a dysfunctional charlatan like Trump can ride this grievance into office, I'm hoping someone much more competent and sensible will address that grievance in a productive way, and ride it into office in 2024.
Or maybe (hopefully), Biden will address the valid grievances of the white working class. I hope he does it. I hope the woke wing of the party will let it happen.
Oh, the poor White Working Class. Do you mean the ones who have always had the advantage? And always will? Are you afraid of people of color taking your jobs? The Browns, the Blacks, the Yellows, the Reds (okay, forget the Reds. They will always be screwed.) It's usually the best and the brightest that rise to the top, unless you're of color, then you're held down by those poor Whites. White people will always have the advantage. Men will always have an advantage over women. Now we're to feel sorry for white men? Really? Ask anyone of color, if they could change, what color would they prefer? I think you know the answer.
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