Josh Marshall on TPM comments on former President Trump’s demand that the infrastructure deal being negotiated in the US Senate be scrapped:
Blah blah blah. Whatever. I don’t know how much impact this will have on [the] infrastructure deal. As I’ve argued earlier, the Dems approach to this seems, rightly, that they want Republicans to join but will move along without them. What this signals more is Trump’s role in the 2022 midterm.
Trump will not only intervene to push his issues to the forefront and maintain his own dominance of the GOP. He’ll also intervene just to undermine any potential rival power centers in the party.
Right. And it’s important to note that this is a form of exclusionary intolerance – My way or the highway, as a slogan from Trump’s era said.
His base will stick with him. At this point, the serious politicians, which is to say those that understand that governance is a serious business, have mostly leaked away, as has that part of the base with a conscience. This includes people such as former Representatives Amash and Walsh, who are themselves notably far-right conservatives, but NeverTrumpers as well. There are, of course, a few NeverTrumpers, like Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger, still in the ranks – but the state-level GOP parties seem intent on liquidating them as well.
So the Republican Party’s adherence to Trump will continue at eye-popping levels.
But the independents will continue move away from the Republican Party. The right-of-center members will vote, when possible, for former moderate Republicans who have turned independent, or centrist Democrats who decry, for better or worse, certain left-wing Democrat policies. Or they may not vote at all.
But the narcissism of Trump will damage, and possibly even destroy, the Republican Party as a national force. That selfish urge to control everything alienates voters who might otherwise agree with his policies, so long as announcements such as yesterday’s become public. Why? Because it becomes apparent that the policies they agree with are merely accidents of Trump’s selfish needs of the moment. They are not the children of rational approaches to the difficult questions of governance, but rather the foul brood of Trump’s narcissistic urges.
And the latter can change on a moment’s notice for reasons unintelligible.
Wise voters don’t vote for such people or their entourage, by whom I mean such names as Gohmert, Gaetz, Greene, and oh so many more. Yes men people are merely enablers of deeply untrustworthy leaders, and should be distrusted by voters.
And so Trump’s frantic need for control will result in so much squeezing of Jello. He may gain complete control of the Republican Party, but it’ll be a Party which has lessened in real influence. Only its voter suppression strategies may keep it relevant in some states.
