Waterloo?
The apocalypse? The Titanic? These are just some
of the terms that observers are employing as
they describe the current state of the
Republican Party. Indeed, for many, there is a
deep-seated sentiment that the party of Abraham
Lincoln is coming apart at the seams and is
imploding at Armageddon-like speed.
The
fact is that talk of political parties facing
impending doom is nothing new. Similar rhetoric
was levied toward the Democratic Party in the
mid-1980s after the party had endured multiple
consecutive losses at the presidential level,
including a massive 49-state rout in 1984. Such
a misguided prediction failed to reach fruition
as the Democrats recaptured the White House
several years later in 1992 under the leadership
of Bill Clinton and managed to occupy a sizable
number of congressional seats for much of the
decade.
That
being said, it does appear that at this moment
that the Republican Party does seem to be
engaging in a level of infighting and
dysfunction that has even the most cynical
observers stepping back and taking notice.
What
is even more striking - or amusing, depending on
your point of view - is the fact that, rather
than looking inward to find the root of such
problems, many members of the party
establishment seem to be looking for scapegoats.
President Biden, radical leftists, Darth Vader,
Frankenstein, the Grinch that stole Christmas,
you name it. In their eyes, the rapid unraveling
of the party is the fault of everyone else but
the GOP itself.
Of
all the supposed suspects, Trump is the
nauseating symptom that arouses the ire of many
loyal GOP establishment voters. To this largely
Reaganite segment of voters, the former
president has managed to arrogantly and
deviously, manipulate, infiltrate and
regressively transform the party, thus
creating unprecedented havoc within its
ranks.
While
Trump has served as a sort of ruthless, callous
villain causing the traditional, establishment
segment of the Republican Party to either cry
out in blood curling pain or curl up in the
fetal position out of fear and despair, the
cold, hard reality is that the current dilemma
that Republicans are facing is that the problem
lies within the party itself. Period.
Republican
lawmakers have significantly contributed to the
less than stellar public image of the party.
Recent elections occurred at a moment when House
Republicans have behaved in a manner that has
caused considerable apprehension among much of
the larger public in the party’s ability to
effectively govern. Such Hemingway levels of
drama have affected perceptions of Republicans
in the House and put their already minute
majority at risk.
By
now, several years after his ascendancy to the
presidency, it comes as no surprise many of whom
harbor very conservative, indeed, reactionary
views on many social and cultural issues, find
the vehemently racist, sexist, and xenophobic
rhetoric routinely hurling from the habitually
wayward mouth of Donald Trump very appealing.
Neo
liberalism, unchecked globalization,
outsourcing, stagnant wages and limited economic
mobility have had a dramatic effect on the
livelihood of these men and women. However, the
fact is that such undeniable factors have
affected many of the same groups of people they
blame for their current predicament. Rather than
being cognizant of this fact, it appears to be
easier to revert to an “it’s their fault, not
mine” mentality.
This
is due to the fact that Trump is speaking their
language. He generously throws out the fresh red
meat and employs the not-so-subtle dog whistles
(some would argue bullhorns) to a disaffected
base of voters who harbor anger, resentment and
frustration due to the fact that they largely
feel politically, socially and culturally
threatened and marginalized. It is a sad
commentary, but it is the truth.
The
misguided commonality that these voters share
with the larger GOP base is the belief that they
are under the illusion or rather delusion that
their problems have been caused by non-Whites,
feminists, immigrants, gays and lesbians, in
some cases, Jews, Muslims and all others who
don’t fall within a White, Christian
conservative category of what they believe to be
“real Americans.”
In
their minds, such groups are the supposed
“others” who are the cause of America’s decline.
They are seen as problematic and must be taken
care of in one manner or another. This is the
demographic of men and women who continue to
embrace Trump as their savior as he consistently
promises to “get them to the promised land.” As
the old saying goes, “old habits can be hard to
break.”
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