Max Boot is deflated by the election results:
That Trump did so well in the election after doing so badly as president is mind-boggling and disturbing. So too is the fact that Republicans seem to have paid little price for allowing him to ride roughshod over the Constitution, lock kids in cages and spread the poison of nativism and racism. Embattled Republican senators such as Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), Joni Ernst (Iowa), John Cornyn (Tex.) and Steve Daines (Mont.) seem to have been rewarded rather than punished for their sickening sycophancy toward Trump. After having spent the past four years as Trump’s enforcer and enabler, Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) will remain in office and probably remain majority leader, with the ability to frustrate any agenda that a President Biden would try to enact.
The conclusion is simple if disheartening: Demagoguery and dishonesty work. Trump ran what may be the sleaziest presidential campaign ever — denying the reality of covid-19 while spreading it with his rallies; lying about Biden’s agenda, acuity and ethics; spewing personal abuse and vitriol — and yet he produced a better result than most pollsters and pundits had expected. His dishonesty increased as the election drew near — yet just as in 2016, he won late-deciding voters. [WaPo]
Boot may largely be correct, but I have to wonder how many of those voters are Trumpists, and how many of those voters were, perhaps reluctantly, obeying the GOP dictate: thou shall vote for the Party nominees, no matter how terrible.
Regular readers know that I loathe and despise team politics, as a rule, as destructive to the fabric of the Republic. That rule permits more corrupt and incompetent nominees into the ranks of the elect than just about any other rule of politics of which I can think. A little adherence to the Party religious tenets (anti-abortion, absolutist gun rights, anti-regulation, anti-taxes), a little tap dance, and who gives a shit about the would-be candidate’s character, experience, or competency? For the faithful, adherence to the quasi-religious-tenets immunizes the candidate from incompetency and corruption.
We’ve now experienced the results of that rule, so beneficial for the would-be autocrat.
I’m not really disputing Boot’s right to despondency; the moral failures of those who voted for Trump deserve to be treated with deep concern, especially given the pack of grifters who have personally supported and benefited from Trump for the last four years. But I am saying that the operational nature of the GOP deserves a great deal more inspection than it currently gets, particularly by those who’ll eventually seek to replace the GOP with a responsible conservative party.
