A few days ago, I wrote that cracks were appearing in the Republican front. Legendary GOP marketeer Frank Luntz has more evidence:
… the new reality for Trump is messy. Frank Luntz, a veteran GOP pollster, conducted a focus group the night after the Capitol attack with 12 Trump voters from 11 different states. He said they fell into three camps: those who believe the fact that President-elect Joe Biden won the election and think it’s time Trump move on; those who think it was stolen from Trump but he still should move on; and those who think it was stolen and Trump should continue to fight.
Luntz was flabbergasted by the sharp, even angry tone of the discussion.
“They were very emotional with each other, very harsh with each other,” he said. “This has never happened in a Trump focus group I’ve done. . . . Trump voters are like single moms with kids. They back each other, they empathize with each other, because they know the stresses and strains they each have. Not anymore. These Trump voters are ready to declare war with each other.”
That spells trouble for the president, Luntz concluded. “When you’ve got a unified force, you can speak to them as their general and motivate them to change their behavior,” he added. “But when they have broken down into tribes, it’s impossible to deliver a message that reaches everybody. Trump is much less powerful today than he was 72 hours ago.” [WaPo]
I will be interested in how the various groups that precipitate out of the Party of Trump are categorized. My suspicion is that the first one will be the anti-liberals group, who hate Democrats and liberals and therefore voted and adhered to Trump. Discovering that being a not-liberal doesn’t make anyone competent, admirable, or even patriotic, I’m expecting we’ll be seeing them streaming away soon, if not already, embarrassed but determined in their anti-liberalness.
Other groups we may see giving up on Trump:
- The “democracy sucks” crowd, some of whom are already on their way off the train because Trump abandoned them during the Insurrection push. As fascist wannabes, they don’t read the parts of history that says at some point, they’re the ones up against the wall because they’re a danger to their fascist leaders. After all, they pulled a trigger to kill the former leaders; maybe they’ll do it again. Best to be rid of them, the smart fascist leader says. A few trumped-up – forgive me – charges later, and the “traitors” to the cause of fascism are gone.
- The “He’s me!” crowd. This group consists of people who saw in Trump an incompetent boob who ran his mouth incessantly, but didn’t think so well – just like themselves. So long as he held the Presidency, their approach to life is validated. They are the ones bitterly chanting “But it was rigged!” without evidence, because they see Trump chanting loudly. Their model yells and screams, so do they. When Inauguration Day comes and goes, some of them will give up and reluctantly conclude that maybe crazed chanting doesn’t work. Even invoking Divinities to come down and satisfy their selfish urges doesn’t work.
- The evangelicals, who loved him because their pastors said to. So long as those grifters and conmen continue to see advantage in backing Trump, they’ll stay pro-Trump, but as soon as he is seen as toxic – and that’s true for a vast majority of the country – they’ll turn their backs on him. If they’re smart. Not all grifters of the theological category are smart. Some even believe the crap they drivel out of their mouths.
If you can think of any other categories, let me know.
